Mrs Edith Hobbs, of 13 Milton Road, Luton, received an interesting Easter letter from her husband, Cpl Arthur Hobbs in the Holy Land. Arthur (522385) had served with the East Anglian Royal Engineers in Egypt and Palestine since 1915. Extracts from his letter were published in The Luton News on April 4th, 1918. In it Arthur wrote:
"After carrying our kit seven miles up to our necks in mud, we arrived at Ramleh [now is Israel]. New morning we started our journey of 25 miles. I have never witnessed better scenery. It is 300 ft above sea level.
"We arrived at Jerusalem at 2am and were soon out sightseeing. We started by going through the Jaffa gates, built on the big square Tower of David, and then came the Convent of St James, which belongs to the Armenians, many of whom were taken away by the Turks.
"We went to the gates of Zion and to the supper room in which our Lord partook of the Last Supper. We went to another room, the doors of which are closed with iron gratings and containing what is supposed to be the tomb of David. The room is only entered by the chief of the descendants of David for prayer, and the custodians of this place claim to be descended from King David.
"We next visited a German Catholic church which took six years to build, 250 men being employed. The mosaic work inside is splendid. It has a high tower from which we could see the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the village of Siloam.
"We visited the Temple of Solomon, where the Jews pray for a return of their old power. It is known as the wailing place, and they can cry.
"We then came to the mosques of Asha and Omar, which are guarded by Indian soldiers, and the former contains beautiful carpets which had been presented by the Sultan of Turkey. The latter contains the stone on which Abraham presented Isaac as a sacrifice."
Cpl Hobbs went on to describe other interesting places, including a stone archway under which Pilate sat when he condemned Christ to death, and the stone road along which Christ walked to Calvary.
He describes how the Garden of Gethsemane had been modernised, but adds that the olive tress spoken of in the Bible still remain. Cpl Hobbs also relates his visit to the spot where Christ ascended, and to the hold tomb.
The next day he went to Bethlehem and saw the spot where Christ was born. The letter is very interesting, especially at this time of Easter celebrations.
[Arthur Hobbs had married Edith Holliman at Wellington Street Baptist Church, Luton, on Christmas Day, 1911, and the couple had two children at the time. Before enlisting, he had worked as a moulder at the High Town Iron Works.]