Letter from 'H' [Harry Delamere Dansey], from the 'Main Trunk Engine' [train], to 'My Sweetheart' [Winifred Patience Dansey], dated 3 August [1915]

Extracts from the text read as follows:

Extract 1

[Page 1]

"We are just passing Ruapehu...

There are two ladies on my right - one has been weeping since leaving Auckland. The poor thing - I feel so sorry for her. I surmise she has heard of her husband’s death at the front. It is exceedingly sad... Human suffering & woe

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that reduces our dearest ones to such tears and distress & is an incentive to all able-bodied men to step forward and take up their natural position of protectors."

Extract 2

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"War is a terrible thing to the individual members of a nation but nationally there is no doubt in my mind...human blood & suffering are the most cementitious elements - they bind the atoms of the Empire as cement does

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in a brick structure. This war is going to bring England and her overseas Dominions closer together, our outlook on alien powers will totally alter, our social status will undergo unforeseen changes. The aggregate of these alterations will make the British Empire as great again as she was before the war. We must win dear & this is why you are contributing...suffering at our parting."

Extract 3

[Page 4]

"I am quite

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conscious dear heart that yours is the harder part but I know you will be brave."