John Nancarrow of Tooma in NSW found the letter in a suitcase of memorabilia belonging to his grandfather, Private Richard Nancarrow, who served with the 17th Battalion in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) from 1915 to 1918. 

“Before my grandmother passed away in 1991 she gave me two suitcases filled with mementos of my grandfather’s, which nobody had bothered to go through,” Mr Nancarrow said. 

While recently sorting through the suitcases again he became intrigued by a letter written to his grandfather by a schoolgirl from Bega named Kyla Cowdroy. 

Private Nancarrow was recuperating in a British hospital after being shot in active duty in Bois Grenier, France, when he received the letter. 

“I think it was the practice in those days for school children to write to wounded soldiers as a morale booster,” Mr Nancarrow said.  

In the letter Kyla acknowledges his previous correspondence, but it is unknown if Private Nancarrow had written to the Cowdroy family specifically, or if Kyla was given the letter to reply to from her school or church.

In the letter she tells Private Nancarrow she has a cousin and uncle fighting in Europe and sweetly inquires about the weather and his health. 

“It is the simplicity of the letter that makes it so moving and poignant,” Mr Nancarrow said. 

Nr Nancarrow’s grandfather recovered from his injury and was sent back to the front in France - where he was shot twice more as well as bayonetted and gassed.

“He was wounded again at Lagnicourt in April 1917 and again at Morlancourt on 13 May 1918 when he was shot through the upper left chest,” Mr Nancarrow said.

“After that he was marked as ‘unfit for further service’ and sailed for Australia on the hospital ship Runic on September 24, 1918. 

“The ship was anchored off Fremantle when they received news that the war had ended on November 11, 1918. 

“He records in his diary that a number of men seized the lifeboats of the Runic and rowed in to Fremantle and Perth as they had signed up for the duration and the war was now officially over.”

Private Nancarrow joined the 17th Battalion in 1915 and arrived in Egypt where he was marked to go to Gallipoli, but he became ill was instead transferred to hospital.

He joined up with his brother Roland, who was also shot multiple times but like Private Nancarrow eventually retuned safely to Australia. 

His cousins Reginald and Claude Nancarrow, and his best friend Cyril Brooks, joined up also, but all were tragically killed in battle. 

Private Nancarrow returned to his hometown of Maitland where he started a business with Roland before he passed away in 1955.

Mr Nancarrow contacted the BDN in the hope he could learn something about Kyla Cowdroy or make contact with any living relatives.

“I was wondering if there are any descendants of Kyla still living around the Bega district who would like a copy of that letter written by a child nearly 96 years ago,” he said. 

“I would also be very interested to learn anything at all about Kyla and her later life.” 

Sandra Florance of the Bega Valley Historical Society said she didn’t know of Kyla Noreen Mary, born in 1907, or her only sibling Nora Magdalene Jane, born in 1901, having any children. 

Kyla’s parents were Alfred Ernest and Mary Ann (nee Howard), who were married in 1900. 

Alfred Cowdroy was one of 10 children born to Henry Ociola Thorp Cowdroy who owned Cowdroy’s Emporium on Church St, where Centrelink is now housed. 

Kyla’s name is taken from Kyla Park, the property where Henry and his wife Mary Ann Guest were married in 1869.

Henry Cowdroy, an Irish immigrant, was also mayor of Bega from 1888 to 1890.

Kyla left the Bega Valley sometime in the 1930s and moved to Sydney. 

She is last listed on the Commonwealth electoral roll as living in northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield in 1980.

Nora is listed as marrying Alfred Glanville in 1926 and moved to Randwick in Sydney, but there is no record of Kyla marrying. 

* Mr Nancorrow is keen for any information about Kyla’s life and family. Please contact the BDN at editor.beganews@ruralpress if you can help.