Norfolk siblings letters tell of life during First World War

The armistice celebrations in Norwich during November 1918. Our paper from the time includes photos of the event taken by the official photographer Mr G Swain. For more of his wonderful photographs, visit www.picture.norfolk.gov.uk (Image: Mr G Swain/Newsquest Archive)

During the so-called “Great War” more than a century ago worried relatives and friends would anxiously wait for the post to arrive to discover what was happening to their loved ones.

These letters home were the only way for people to keep in touch and as time moves forward they become more important than ever. They often included vivid accounts of war in its many forms.

Armistice Day celebrations in Norwich at the end of the First World War (Image: Newsquest Archive)

Philip and Ruth Hewetson were the children of the Rev William Hewetson, rector of Salhouse, and his wife Kathleen. Both were involved in the First World War and their letters home provide a very full account of the experiences of a young man and woman in wartime.

Philip Hewetson, whose letters paint a vivid picture of life on the front line during the First World War (Image: Norfolk Record Society)

Those from Philip, number almost 250, covering August 1914 to May 1918 – he died in July – while there are about 60 letters from Ruth covering April to October 1918.

We can read them in a fascinating book produced by Norfolk Record Society and edited by author Frank Meeres.

Philip was born in 1893, educated at Repton public school and then Oxford University before signing up for the Army in August 1914.  He served as an officer with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment because of his education and time in the Officer Training Corps there.

To begin with his letters home described training procedures, social activities and the latest news on the war.

He was sent to France in June 1915 and his letters were about life in the trenches, on the front line, and coming under fire for the first time.

An extract from one of the many letters Philip Hewetson sent to his family in Salhouse during the First World War (Image: Norfolk Record Society)

Philip’s first major action was at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. He was wounded and lay out in no man’s land for nine hours. No more letters for a while.

He was brought back to England to recover from his wounds and eventually arrived back in Salhouse to recuperate.

Back in uniform he returned to France in March 1917 and was at the Battle of Messines in June, taking over C Company but was later found to be unfit for active service and returned to England spending the winter with the regiment at Felixstowe.

In April 1918 he finally persuaded the authorities he was fit for active service and went to France for the third, and final time.

His last letter home was on May 19 1918. The family received a telegram saying he was missing on June 16. Several months later they heard he had been wounded during a German attack.

Captured and taken to a war hospital where his leg was amputated. He died in captivity on July 3 and is buried at Vendress British Cemetery in France.

He was aged 24.

Ruth Hewetson, born in 1897, was a 16-year-old pupil at Norwich High School for Girls when war broke out.

Former Norwich High School pupil Ruth Hewetson who kept around 250 letters from her brother sent during the First World War (Image: Norfolf Record Society)

Comments in Philip’s letters show her considering various possibilities in the war effort and she went on to join the Voluntary Aid Development as a General Service Manager and was sent to the military hospital at Fargo in Larkhill, Wiltshire.

A poster asking women to join Voluntary Aid Development during the First World War (Image: Norfolk Record Society)

For the first six months she undertook duties such as cleaning and kitchen work. It was her first time away from home and this parson’s daughter grew up very quickly.

The letters show her gaining in confidence as an individual, she writes of events at the hospital, such as the presence of American nurses – and of German prisoners of war.

Ruth describes an outbreak of influenza in 1918 saying: “The hospital is crammed – two or three wards opened today, men lying out on the grass waiting for beds.”

After hearing her brother was missing she returned to Salhouse to be with her parents…moving to Bedford in later life.

The family letters were clearly very important to her and before she died in the 1980s she passed them on to her local vicar for preservation and eventually they were deposited with Norfolk Record Office.

We will remember…Philip’s name on the war memorial outside Salhouse Church (Image: Norfolk Record Society)

“They are of great importance for the detailed and vivid description they provide of Norfolk men and women playing their part in the First World War,” said Frank Meeres.

The First World War Letters of Philip and Ruth Hewetson was first published by the Norfolk Record Society in 2014. The volume costs £18 to non-members but readers of the EDP/EN get a 20 per cent discount when ordering from the society website – using the promo code EDP202023 (valid until December 31 2023).