Arthur Douglas Crease Letters, Diaries and Scrapbooks
Letters from Arthur Douglas Crease of Victoria to his brother Lindley Crease and his mother Sarah Crease; instructions for the offensive of July 26, 1917; a regimental notebook, diaries and scrapbook. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
BC Archives MS-0055; BC Archives MS-2879
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much damaged by shell fire. In the Cathedral the roof has fallen in and the greater part of one wall but the chancel is intact and all the main fabric. The protection of sandbags for the organ has preserved it intact and a magnificent instrument it appears to be. The tones of colour in this town are perfectly exquisite and the whole place is full of splendid subjects for an artist. It is terrible of course to see all the best part of the town gutted by fire but there is much of it quite untouched. The town is generally free from the disgusting smells that one has learnt to associate with the desolation of war.
There are places where one's nose leads one to believe that there is still work for the burial officer to do. By the way the burial officer for this division is a chap from Victoria called Davies. I should not be surprised if he were of Jewish parentage. His father was a tent maker I believe. He himself has done exceedingly good work under the most difficult of all circumstances. I don't like him much but I admire the thorough way in which he had done his work.
However, to return to this town - the public gardens are really beautiful, not with flowers which I am beginning to think are rather
BC Archives, MS-0055 Box 15 File 4 / CREASE FAMILY / Letters from Arthur Douglas Crease to his brother, Lindley Crease, 1918.