It is May 1908 and Frances reads letters written by Bernard, Wilfred, Cuthbert, Arthur, Vera and Aldwyn.
The older family are: Enid, Edmund, Arthur, Neville and Wilfred. The 5 members of the younger family are: Bernard, Aldwyn, Cuthbert, Avice and Vera.
Enid, Bernard and Arthur travel to Hallam Fields in Derbyshire, for May and Edmund’s wedding celebrations. The women wear fabulous hats, the working-class locals are entranced by the wealthy visitors, and Edmund and Arthur set up booby traps in the Parsonage.
Cuthbert sets out the route for Berkhamsted School’s cross country run, using bags of paper.
Vera sits in the garden at Longton Avenue in Sydenham to write her letter, wearing a light blue cotton frock and a Liberty Panama hat; it is a hot day in June and she is surrounded by furniture in the garden, as the whole house is being spring cleaned.
There is discussion about characters and graphology and who the expert handwriting analyser might be.
Wilfred (working as a road builder) writes from O’Kanagan Falls in British Columbia, and Aldwyn (the Anglican missionary in Africa) writes from Kota Kota in Nyasaland, (now Malawi).
Intro - 00:00
Bernard's letter, 10 May 1908 - 2:14
Notes on Bernard's letter - 11:19
Wilfred's letter, 19 April (Canada) - 14:20
Notes on Wilfred's letter - 23:40
Cuthbert's letter 18 May - 25:49
Notes on Cuthbert's letter - 30:55
Arthur's letter, 20 May - 33:34
Notes on Arthur's letter - 42:40
Vera's letter, 1 June - 45:46
Aldwyn's letter, 29 March (Nyasaland) - 51:28
You can contact Frances by email - machellcoxletters@gmail.com
or X/Twitter - @CoxLetters
or Blue Sky - @Coxletters.bsky.social
All content is subject to copyright and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library.
