Below is a 27 March 1917 letter sent from France from Lawrence Pridham to his Uncle Will in Toronto in which he mentions the death of his grandmother, the sad state of local villages and the miserable weather which has left the trenches very sloppy.

Once again you can see the envelopes have been opened and re-sealed by the censor.

You can click on any page of the letter to see a larger image and a transcription is available at the bottom of this page.

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Please send to H.A.P and R A.P.
Return this one to Uncle Will

France
March 27/17

Dear Uncle Will,

Received your very welcomed letter, also 50 Players [cigarettes] and a bundle of newspapers for which I thank you.

I am very grieved to hear of Grandma’s death and I send my deepest sympathies to you all. I was hoping that she might be there when I came back as I was so disappointed at not seeing her before I left. I am sure Hal [Lawrence’s brother] and I realize that we owed a lot to dear old Grandma and we will miss her thoughtful letters very much. I am sure you all miss her greatly.

As for my trip here there is nothing to note unless it is hardships, as most of the moving is made at night and we see very little and what we do see is nothing but old fashioned villages, deserted mostly except for troops. The villages themselves are mostly composed of barns. Anyway that is what you would think. They were in a very dilapidated condition at that.

The weather is very miserable and the trenches are sloppy.

Well, I will close and again send my heartfelt regrets for dear old Grandma.

With love to all
I remain as ever,
Lawrie

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• 27 September 1916 (Base Borden)
• 30 September 1916 (Tottenham)
• 07 October 1916 (Base Borden)
• 14 January 1917 (London)
• 15 February 1917 (France)
• 27 March 1917 (France)
• 5 July 1917 (France)
• 23 September 1917 (France)
• 31 January 1918 (France)
• 1 February 1918 (most likely from France)
• 21 April 1918 (France)
• 11 July 1918 (France)