Letter to Marjorie Smith from Tom

Letter to Marjorie Smith from Tom

Tom is a soldier and comments on the poor standard of living of the members of the Army not withstanding the promises of the powers that be. Says that he and his wife try and stay within the official allowances. He also does not like being parted from his wife and new son.

Three page handwritten letter

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EChessumT[Recipient]M[Date]-010001, EChessumT[Recipient]M[Date]-010002, EChessumT[Recipient]M[Date]-010003

Dear Marjorie,

Have just had a great surprise by drawing a P.O for 15/-. The magnitude of this amount can best be judged by realising that it is a whole weeks wages, as you, whom I have known over a period of years that extends from our not so distant schooldays, will know I am not exactly on my beam ends, but Nancy & I have decided that we will, to the best of our ability, live on the pittance that is the Official allowance considered by the government to be sufficient for a common soldiers wife, to obtain the necessities of

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life, I did not realise before that there was such a great disparity in the Army & civilians standard of living this being no doubt due to the debates etc that have taken place in Parliament & elsewhere [deleted] be [/deleted] where by it was proved that the standard of living was the same in the Army & in civvy life. I can now assure you first hand that this is a fallacy, a very bad one. I hope yourself & Morris are getting along in the usual fashion & hope that you will not be called upon to separate in the manner of Nancy & myself, I know that millions of others

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[underlined] 3 [/underlined]

are in a like state indeed they [deleted] are [/deleted] have many anxieties that we do not yet possess, but believe me being parted from my wife & the son whom I have so recently been privileged to know is the very devil

Sincerely

[underlined] Tom [/underlined]