“My letters were found on his body. I couldn’t imagine him not being there”
FLORENCE BILLINGTON 1898–1998
Florence was still bursting with energy when I filmed her, a few months before she died. She was just 16 when she met and fell in love with Ted Felton. When war broke out, he joined the King’s (Liverpool Regiment). He was killed in the second battle of Ypres in early 1915. Florence had no picture of him, but her memory of the boy she had hoped to marry remained vivid in her mind more than 80 years on.
“We were desperately in love with each other. I was thinking of him day and night and he was of me. We made the promise that, as soon as the war was over, we’d get engaged. But he was quite convinced he was going to be killed. I didn’t know what to say – I knew nothing about war but all I could do was tell him to look on the bright side, that there were better days in store when it was all over.
That was a promise he went away with in his heart – that it wouldn’t be for long. I used to write letters to him and tell him I missed him, missed him an awful lot and wished and wished he was a bit nearer so I could see more of him. I always told him that I wouldn’t look at anybody else while he was away and that I’d wait for him – I’d wait for him to eternity. I said just think of the future, the future and us, and that’s what I thought of. I was living for the future and my future with him.
I was working at the Palace Hotel Buxton [in Derbyshire] as a little housemaid, and one of the porters came up with this letter from the War Office. When I saw it, my heart sank a little bit. I thought it must be something very important. When I opened it, it was to say that they regretted to tell me Ted had been killed. The letters from me were found on his body. I couldn’t really imagine him not being there. I thought maybe they’d find out they’d made a mistake and perhaps he might turn up one day. I couldn’t imagine life without him.”
I’m really pleased that, 100 years on, Florence’s story has been one of the inspirations for the Royal Ballet’s First World War centenary production of The Unknown Soldier, to be performed at the Royal Opera House in London on 20–29 November.