Mrs Lineham receives a letter from her son

In February 1917, Mrs Lineham of  Yannathan received a letter from her son, William, who was serving overseas. William James Lineham was born in 1894 in Clyde to Benjamin and Eliza Maria Agnes (nee Knott) Lineham. They later moved to Yannathan. William (Service Number 2711) enlisted on July 19, 1915 at the age of 20 and he Returned to Australia April 13, 1919.  In  1927, William married Ellen May Gilchrist and the couple farmed at Yannathan. William had been granted a Soldier Settler farm, you can read his file, here, on the Battle to Farm website.  He died June 30, 1974, aged 79. William is listed on the Yannathan State School Honour Board, see here.

The letter to Mrs Lineham was published in the Lang Lang Guardian on February 28, 1917 (see here)

Letters From Our Boys

Mrs B. Lineham, of Yannathan, has received the following letter from her son, Driver W. J. Lineham, who has been ill for some time -

Dear Mother and Father,

Just a few  lines to let you know I am about well again. I had a touch of bronchitis, but it was not very severe, also a septic toe, but it is quite well again. I am in the British Red Cross Hospital at Netly [sic] near Southampton. I have been in four Hospitals, and have had no letters from you for over two months, so I expect the letters are still chasing me from one Hospital to another. I expect to be back in France by the time you receive this letter. I had a letter from father's cousin in England this morning, and was pleased to have one. We are very busy to-night decorating our ward and have nearly finished. I am very lucky, I think, to be in England for Christmas, and have had a real good time in every Hospital, being treated real well. 

Netley Hospital, where William was a patient for a time.

Image:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35998766

There are only three Australians in the hut, and nearly every day someone comes in to see us. In the Hospital I was in at Rouen, France, there was one Australian nurse, and there are a few here. One came in to see us last night. On the way over from Le Havre to Southampton our boat ran into the mud twice, and the second time it took two days to pull us off. The boat had a hole knocked into front of her, but it could not have been very large as we got to port safely. It was very foggy, so I suppose that accounted for it.