Amongst Mum’s possession when she died in Spain was this list of letters and paperwork
Many letters from my Dad to my Mum
Firstly before they were married and these include some indication of problems in there not being agreement by the mothers, my father’s worries (if not obsession with lack of money) and also it would appear that there were moments of near break-up. In some he is very morose. He talks of the Tennis club a lot and of wanting to give up smoking (he died from lung cancer). Quite a lot of humour including a conversation from a phone box and addressing letters to Head Milkmaid as she worked at Express Dairy etc. They obviously used the post a lot and there was certainly a number of deliveries a day and very quick. My father was living in Acton and Hammersmith area whilst Mum was living with her mother and family at 29 Luna Street in Chelsea.
Secondly whilst they were married and he was posted during the war initially in England and then the Gold Coast (now Ghana). These latter letters were all numbered and obviously my mother kept them all and there are over 250 with very few missing. Some of interest describing things in Africa such as shooting at crocodiles who grinned at them etc
A few letters from my Mum to my Dad
From Dad’s letters Mum had written about 500 letters to him (again all numbered) but these are not there. Whether they were left in the Gold Coast or whether she destroyed them we do not know.
However other than just a few letters there is a little book in which she filed some letters which look as if they were on their wedding anniversaries etc.
One letter in particular written on December 1940 is of particular interest. Included within it are the following excerpts:
“Then came these last months when we’ve both been so happy about our PA coming and all the excitement of your seven days leave” PA?
and then shortly after
“then that beastly horrid time when I thought I ought not to have our Patricia Anne – wasn’t I a silly dar (darling) – so very reluctant to give up all my dreams – and now having found peace of mind on that point I am so happy about her. I shall never forget dar (darling) that morning when I decided to have her – felt such a different being afterwards dar (darling) – just a little taste of the joy we are going to have when this beastly war is over.
Well they were married in September 1939 and this was written 15 months later. This was written less than five months before I was born. Obviously in those days they could not tell the sex of the baby. However it makes you think if … especially for me and Diana!
There are in all these letters are a lot of true love stories and thoughts and a different world with them spending so many birthdays and anniversaries apart because of the war. Lots of mentions of me with my Dad always calling me “ the boy” and not Tony and a letter from me to him when I was 5 days old – joined up writing so early (in Mum’s letters).
Although not all need be kept I will leave for Diana to review and prune down in time. One thing I promised Mum faithfully that I would throw nothing away but burn letters etc and this I have done with other paperwork and would ask Diana to respect that promise.
Sundry Paperwork
There is also a lot of other papers including
An airmail letter from Jimmy where he has drawn excerpts of The Times and The Chicago Tribune with headlines of their marriage and my birth etc etc. Really remarkable.
Drawings by my Dad of Mum, me, Porge or Porgie (the dog often referred to in letters – picture in photo albums)
Letters from Dad to me from the Gold Coast including a macabre tale of goblins coming in from the garden and going in my mouth and eating what you have in my mouth and going to sleep in my teeth and leaving dirt in my teeth which makes my teeth go bad. They would have been better off keeping me away from sweets and Tizer (pop). Also about the bears eating a family one by one. I couldn’t have been more than 3 at the time – is this why I like horror stories!
Some old fabric postcards sent within Mum’s family
Various Christmas, birthday and anniversary cards some 60 years old
A variety of other bits and pieces including a lock of Mums hair in January 1939 with a note by my Dad which seems to say “before it withered”
Also a selection of letters from Jan, Don and Diana when they were living away from us