Letter
Ida Carroll, Geoffrey Griffiths
1939

Geoffrey Griffiths is in a bad mood, blaming the cold weather. "I wrote a foul letter last night, and burnt it! Too much 'forbidden subjects' about it." It possibly contains some criticism of war systems and groups that he briefly goes into. He criticises opposite ends of the scale, from the Peace Pledge Union (a pacifist group in Britain) and the Blackshirts (a paramilitary force in Italy). He calls them "quaint" and argues that "though many governments' systems have disappointed me, I can't in all honesty see the view points of those quaint societies." He argues that volunteering in war time to help people is commendable, but that he would much prefer to keep his own job since "so far as I am concerned even my small wage has had much to commend itself in comparison with the inadequate pocket money given to the lower ranks of the service."
He jokes(?) that the reason Britain cannot match or outmanoeuvre Germany's military system is that "our gallant Generals earn only £9.1.0 per day, so maybe it is too small a sum to buy military brains." That's a pretty nice wage there, Griff.

He remarks that "frankly I look to the adventure of war and its outcome to change lie and the condition of life for me, Things cannot be worse." Oh, Griff.

Ref: CARROLL/IGC/3 GG
With thanks to the Ida Carroll Trust
Date is unknown.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.