Fenton, Edith Millicent (b.1898 - d.1990) and Fenton, Minnie Grace (b.1898 - d.1954)

Collection relating to the First World War service of 9963 Private Harold Edwin Best, 9 Field Ambulance, 6121 Private Ebb Richard Parker, 17 Battalion, and 12045 Sapper William Poole, 60 Australian Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company, France, England, 1917.

Wallet 1 of 1 - consists of four letters, four postcards, and one poem that were sent by Best, Parker and Poole to twin sisters Edith and Minnie Fenton of Sutherland, New South Wales, in 1917. From Best, the collection includes: one silk postcard and a small watercolour painting that were sent to Minnie; one religious poem entitled "Thoughts" sent to Edith; one souvenir postcard sent to Minnie; one postcard sent to Edith bidding her a happy New Year; and one postcard sent to both sisters with details of Best's voyage to England on the hospital ship Aquitania.

Also with the collection are two letters sent by Parker to Edith, dated February and March 1917, while he was undergoing training at Salisbury Plain in England. He discusses the winter weather and the scenery in Salisbury, visiting the local Baptist church, the sport of "snowballing", and the architecture of the old churches in the United Kingdom. The collection also includes two letters by Poole to the twins, dated June and November 1917. He discusses his work with 9 Field Ambulance and, later, with 60 Australian Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company following his transfer to that unit, writes of coming under shell fire, the heavy fighting and victory during the Battle of Messines, and of Sutherland.