Ethel Della was the eldest child of Edwin Arthur Cade and Sarah Elizabeth Smith (Trot). She was educated at home with her sister, Gladys Mary (1886) until, in 1901, they were sent, to boarding school at The Beehive, Bexhill on Sea.
It seems the lease on their house in Southgate was up and most of their furniture sent into store so, being more or less homeless – because Edwin Arthur could not decide on where to live – boarding school for the girls seemed the best option. At the time, their father was very unwell, which made planning the move difficult.
Eventually, the family settled on a house in Finchley and the girls were able to return home. However, that was the end of conventional school for both of them with Ethel going on to a finishing school in Belgium with Nell and Lilian Daw, daughters of John Daw, mining engineer, who worked in Ashanti with Edwin Arthur Cade; Ethel then went, with Nell and Lil, to Paris, where they all stayed for several months.
Ethel met Arthur Cecil Stair, an architect and decorator, who had returned to his parents’ house in Finchley after living for several years in New York, where he ran the decorating department of the Crawford Company. While in New York, Arthur met his future business partner, Valentine Andrew.
Ethel and Arthur married in July 1908 and their first daughter, Elizabeth Della, was born in June 1909.
In 1911, Arthur and Val Andrew set up a decorating and antiques business at 25 Soho Square, London, calling the company Stair & Andrew. Directors of the company included Mr Percy MacQuoid, author of the well-known ‘Dictionary of English Furniture’.
In 1912, Stair & Andrew opened a small branch in New York City, which Val Andrew ran while Arthur remained in London.
Ethel and Arthur’s second child, a son, Alastair Arthur, was born in March 1913. Their third child, another daughter, Virginia Cade, was born in June 1918.
Ethel kept a diary from 1918 until 1965 and these will be published in due course: the first is entitled ‘A Private Life – Linden Lodge; 1918-1926)
Ethel died in September 1968.
1906 Journal
THEATRES and THINGS – 1906
Mostly Things
1906
MAY
9th An account of plays, etc seen by me is to be kept in this book. E D Cade
Bluebell
About Jan 5th of this year, Mother and I saw ‘Bluebell’. This, I think, was the first thing I saw this year. Seymour Hicks and Nell Carter were playing that afternoon, as Ellen Terry was indisposed. Seymour Hicks was quite too charming over his diary, and also when he and Bluebell were playing at Operatic antics.
Brother Officers
Mother took Mrs Dalby and me to see this play. I enjoyed it more than I can say, as the lamblike Violet Vanbrough was taking the part of Lady Roydon; Arthur Bourchier was playing as John Hines. The scene, when John Hines opens champagne for his guests, in the afternoon, and everyone refuses till Lady Roydon comes to his relief is …………!!!!!!!!! Superb!! Any love scene which Violet Vanbrough plays in, is totally different from any other actress’s rendering that I have ever seen. We had the three front seats in the middle of the stalls. (Very badly put: I should say, the three middle seats in the front row).
Little Cherub
A party was made up for this play, on Monday, March 12th. Arthur, Gertrude, Vernon, Stem and I went to see it, after dining at the Florence with Mr and Mrs Stair, and Val Paton. It was pretty. Gabrielle Ray, Zena Dare, and I forget who else, were the principal girls.
MARCH
She Stoops to Conquer
15th Fred took Kathleen Flower, Gladys and me to see this the day after Arthur sailed for New York. We all enjoyed it immensely, it was dear and quaint. Cyril Maude, Winifred Emery and Beatrice Ferrer were the principal persons. We had very good seats, as everyone does have with Fred, in the dress circle. Because he never paid for them!!!
MAY
Brigadier Gerard
2nd. Lovely! Mr Daw took a big party of us, and we had seats in the stalls – twelve of us – Mother, Mr and Mrs Daw, Messrs Albert and Jack Daw, Mr and Mrs Harry James, Nell, Lil, Gladys and me. Lewis Waller and Evelyn Millard – she almost too lovely for this earth; he, Lewis Waller, just too lamblike. Her dresses were the acme of beauty. Her purple velvet cloak, trimmed with ermine, exquisite. Napoleon was grand; taller, and a beast, and a spiteful cat. Poor Napoleon had too much brainwork to do to have the least room left in him for patience. But he was very just, and made his soldiers love him.
Fred’s fore-car (Mother’s, I know now). On Wed 16th May 1906 Fred brought it home. On Friday I went to town in it. Sinclair came on the arm of Fred’s seat. On Saturday, he took Mother to Haileybury to see Jim. Today, Sunday, Mother has gone with him to Halstead to see Bobs and Theo, who are staying there with Nurse, at her home. It is raining fast, has been since 2o’clock, and it is now 6.20pm.
My brown habit and hat came yesterday. They are both beyond reproach.
Books.
The Hill by Horace Annesley Vachell. Splendid
Extracts: Head Master’s sermon after Desmond’s death
Tall, eager, a face to remember,
A flush that could change as the day;
A spirit that knew not December,
That brightened the sunshine of May
Chap 13 – Harrow’s term ending hymn the same as the Beehives. Chap 13
If I perish, I perish
Since we deserved the name of friends
And thine effect so lives in me
A part of mine may live in thee
And move the on to noble ends
Chap 11 – self-questioning.
Friend, of my infinite dreams
Little enough endures
Litle however it seems
It is yours – all yours
Fame is a fleeting breath
Hope may be false or fond
Love shall be love till Death
And perhaps beyond
This was John Verney’s friendship for Desmond. In my idea, it is the most beautiful friendship I have ever met. I should say this and Tennyson’s love for Arthur.
Chap 1 – The Manor
Five hundred faces, and all so strange
Life in front of me – home behind
I felt like a waif before the wind
Tossed on an ocean of shock and change
Chorus
Yet the time may come, as the years go by,
When your heart will thrill
At the thought of the Hill
And the day that you came so strange and shy
Chap 2 – Caesar
You come here where you brothers came
To the old school years ago
A young new face and a Harrow name
Mid a crowd of strangers. No!
You may not fancy yourself alone
You who are memory’s heir
When even the names in the graven shone
Will greet you with ‘Who goes there –
You? Pass friend, all’s well.
Chap 3 – Kraipale – the result of a debacle
Life is mostly froth and bubble’
Two things stand like stone
Kindness in another’s trouble
Courage in your own
In this chapter, John says I am not a liar but all the same, I would lie if I thought a lie might save a friend’s life. Truth is not always the right thing to speak (EDC)
Chap 5.-.Fellowship
Fellowship is Heaven and the lack of it, Hell
Chap 6 – A Revelation
John sings at the school concert. First two verses to Earl Roberts, then to Caesar. The Harrow song -40 years on, was Fred’s school song, too
To abuse or curse another is almost as degrading to oneself as to strike him.
JULY
M 30 Mother taken ill at Mother’s meeting.
T 31 Mother got up after breakfast, but she saw Dr Armstrong and was told to lie on the sofa all day. Maurice came in the evening. Dr Armstrong says Mother has a very bad heart.
AUGUST
W 1 Mother worse. Day fixed for Devon. Nurse Cross arrives 7.pm. Dr Armstrong brings Dr Woodcock in the afternoon; her heart very bad; feared appendicitis.
T 2 Bit better, but she had a pain in her right side, and she must be kept very still. Uncle John, came, and Auntie Adeline, but they are not allowed to see Mother.
F 3 Mother a bit better, but her temperature is still up. Bobs left for Wallington with Auntie Grace
S 4 Nurse and Theo go to Wallington, to stay with Auntie Adeline. Mother is apparently better.
S 5 Today Mother has bad pain, and her temperature is up again
M 6 Pain bad, ditto
T 7 Ditto ditto. I write to Mr Collier
W 8 Mr Collier comes, about 3pm, says he must operate at once – he believes there is a small tumour there.
T 9 Mr Collier comes to operate at 11.15am. Auntie Polly is not allowed near Mother, for fear of infection – supposed measles. Nurse Symons comes
F 10 Mother sends down word to pay the men cash from the £10 note. Mr Collier comes to dress the wound in the evening. Awful pain for Mother, but we are allowed to kiss her goodnight.
S 11 Mother going on well, as far as we know – we are allowed to see her for a minute. I brush her hair. Mr Collier comes.
S 12 Mother wishes us to go to church to return thanks. First three days are over at 1pm.
M 13 Mother going on well still – we may see her a little while each day.
S 18 Gladys, Jim, Eric, Nurse and the children went down to Tavistock. Fred and I saw them off at Waterloo.
S 19 Fred has a bad throat – lies on the sofa all day.
M 20 I pack Fred’s things, and he goes off to Folkestone in his car. I went to the QH with Uncle Hillier Antill. Came home in the motor bus, find Nurse up, and Dr Woodcock here. Mother’s temperature is up and they have sent for Mr Collier. Mr Collier arrives at 3am – Dr Woodcock sits up for him. Mother has colitis.
T 21 Mother’s temperature is better, and she is going on all right so far.
W 22 Still going on well; Mr Collier comes to see her.
T 23 Nurse called me at about 6 o’clock to go and bring up some brandy for Mother – then a hot water bottle and then I ran across to ask Mr Cooper to go for the doctor. Came back to find Nurse had fainted!! I sit and fan Mother while Nurse dresses. Auntie Polly comes in. I get dressed. Dr Woodcock rides five miles, in nineteen minutes, to get here. Strychnine is injected every four hours. Nurse Symons comes for night work and Mother slowly gets better. Her heart had been unable to stand what must have been a drop in her temperature of seven degrees. Nurse Symons is a dear. Mother goes on well each day now. The night nurse only stops for a week.
Fred had an accident on his way down at Hythe. Turning a corner too suddenly, he ran into the wall. The car turned over on top of him. He hurt two fingers on his right hand. He wires to write each day. On Mon 27th, he came home in the evening – looked in through the open dining room window and called to me while Nurse and I were having our supper. All the week Nurse dresses his hand, which is really bad. On Saturday they find his little finger is broken.
SEPTEMBER
10th I should tear this page out if I could but it means I should have to destroy bits about Mother. Goodness only knows, I would wipe his name out if I could, from everything except his debts to Mother. She loaned him the money to buy his car, and he has not repaid one single penny of it. ‘And better had they n’er been born who read to doubt, or read to scorn’. (Sir Walter Scott)
DECEMBER
19th Mother and I went, in the front row of the stalls at the Apollo, to see ‘Peter Pan’ – it was lovely, one of the best things I have seen for a long time. Marion Terry was Peter’s mother.
A Schoolboy’s Essay
Henry VIII was the greatest whichever whoever lived. He was born at Anno Domini in the year 1066. He had five hundred and ten wives, besides women and children. The first was beheaded and afterwards executed, the second was revoked, she never smiled again.
The greatest man in the reign was Wolsey. He was called the ‘Gay Bachelor’, being born at the age of fifteen, unmarried. Had he served his wife as he served his King, she would not have deprived him of his grey hairs. In this reign, the Duke of Wellington discovered America and invented the Curfew Bell to prevent fires in theatres. The Bible was translated into Latin by Titus Gates, who was ordered by the King to be chained up in the Churches. Henry VIII was succeeded by his great grandmother, the beautiful and accomplished Mary, Queen of Scots, sometimes known as the Lady of the Lake.
Anne hesitated a moment, and then began to read:
I had journeyed some way in life, I was travel-stained and weary when I met Love. In the empty, glaring highway I met him, and we walked in it together. I had not thought he fared in such steep places, having heard he was a dweller in the sheltered gardens, which were not for me. Nevertheless, he went with me. I never stopped for him or turned aside out of my path to seek him, for I had met his counterfeit when I was young and I distrusted strangers afterwards. And I prayed to God to turn my heart wholly to Himself, and to send Love away lest he should come between me and Him. But when did God hearken to any prayer of mine?
And Love was grave and stern. And as we walked he showed me the dew upon the grass and the fire in the dew, the things I had seen all my life and had never understood. And he drew the rainbow through his hand. I was one with the snowdrop and with the thunderstorm. And we went together upon the sea, swiftly up its hurrying mountains, swiftly down into its rushing valleys. And I was one with the sea. And all fear ceased out of my life and a great awe dwelt with me instead. And Love wore a human face. But I knew that was for a moment only. Did not Christ the same?
And Love showed me the hearts of my brothers in the crowd. And, last of all, he showed me myself with whom I had lived in ignorance. And I was humbled.
And then Love, who had given me all, asked for all. And I gave reverence and patience and faith and hope and intuition and service. I even gave him truth. I put my hands under his feet. But he said it was not enough. So I gave him my heart. That was the last I had to give. And Love took it in a great tenderness and smote it. And in the anguish the human face of Love vanished away.
And afterwards, long years afterwards, when I was first able to move and look up, I saw Love who, as I thought, was gone, keeping watch beside me. And I saw his face clear, without the human veil between me and it. And it was the face of God. And I saw that Love and God are one and that, because of this exceeding glory, He had been constrained to take flesh even as Christ took it so that my dim eyes might be able to apprehend Him. And I saw that it was He, and He only, who had walked with me from the first.
To be vain, a woman must be unselfish because it means a certain amount of trouble taken for others. To dress well, you know, and all that.
A Musset
You are more than the earth, though you are such a dot
You can love and think and the earth cannot!
W B Rands
1908
FEBRUARY
8th I wonder if I shall ever put down anything about a theatre again. I have been heaps of times since the last account. The thrushes are singing so hard all round the house. EDC
I wonder if Jock will ever see all this foolishness EDC
21st In Absence
All that thou art not, makes not up the sum of what thou art, beloved, unto me;
All other voices, wanting thine, are dumb; all vision, in thine absence, vacancy
J B Tabb
I’ve had a lovely lot of dances this year. I wonder if I can remember them all:
I think Gladys’ 21st was the first, on the 7th October. It was lovely, and all went well.
At the end of October, the first Cotillion;
Nov 30 or 31st, the second Cotillion, also jolly;
Dec 31st, the Hunt Ball, lovely;
Jan 7th Hockey dance at Woodside Hall, again lovely;
Jan 29th Third Cotillion dance, still lovely;
Feb 10th, the Young’s dance at the Midland Hotel. A real live piper piped up and down during supper. A leap-year lancers, I missed the leap part, I mean, as Arthur had to come to it late;
Feb 26th. Fourth and last Cotillion dance. This was, if possible, better than any of the preceding ones. Arthur, and Mr Andrew, were not able to come till an hour after it had started, so I made their programmes for them. Daisy Cooper came with us, also Tom ,
Mrs Butler and Mr C H Scott. Arthur and Val Andrew (VSA) came back to spend the night here.
MARCH
4th Mother, Gladys and I went yesterday to see the things at Warings that Arthur and I had previously chosen. Arthur looked a dear
OUR WEDDING
|
Acceptances Dr & Mrs Tom Godfrey Mr & Mrs Butler Rev & Mrs Mayall Rev Stooks Mrs & Miss Compton Mr & Mrs W G Rice Mr & Mrs Hay Mr & Mrs H J Mason Mrs & Misses Palmer Miss Mason Miss Langley Dr & Mrs Armstrong Mr & Mrs Jones The Misses Smith Mr & Mrs Giles Mr & Mrs Heathcote Mr G Mellor Miss K Berry Mrs & Miss Flower Rev & Mrs Thornton Smith Mrs & Miss Hare Mr & Mrs Layton Miss & Mrs Hugh Layton Mr & Mrs Munro Mr & Miss Edwards Miss Chown Mrs Burn The Misses Burn Dr Leigh Canney Mr & Mrs White Miss White Mr Tom Blackman Mr & Mrs Paterson Mr W Butler Mr Arthur Tannahill Mr & Mrs Humpreys Mr & Mrs Herbert Nield Mr Val Andrew Mr & Mrs Burgin Messrs Burgin Mr, Mrs & Miss Nicholls Mr & Mrs Jutrum Mrs Mellor Miss Gill Dr & Mrs Bainbridge Dr & Mrs Ted Godfrey Mrs Child Mr McAdam Mr Leicester Homan Mrs & Miss Scarfe Misses Planbeck Mrs Hill Mrs Arthur Haydon Mr & Mrs Herring Mr & Mrs Cranfield & family Mr & Miss Spencer Mr M Maine Miss Lois White Mr & Mrs Morgan Mr & Mrs Cooper Misses Cooper Mr & Mrs Stair Mr & Mrs Daw Misses Daw Capt & Mrs Knight Mr Fenning Mr & Mrs Kerly Mrs Andrew Mr & Mrs Arthur White Mr & Mrs Morris Mr & Mrs Jack Chivers Mr & Mrs Swell Mr & Mrs Layton Mr & Miss Burgess Mr & Mrs C H Clayton – Mr & Mrs Charter – vase Mr Harold Cooper Mr & Mrs (May) Neale Turner Mr & Mrs Pitcher Mr & Mrs Sturn Nicholls Mr Walter Andrew Miss Elston Mr W R Andrew Misses Fowler Mrs Cowen Mrs Alexander |
Refusals Mr, Mrs & Miss Lyle Mr Compton Mr & Mrs Simmons Mr Walter Blake Odgers Mr & Mrs Pixley Mr Palmer Mr & Mrs Stead Mr & Mrs Harry Hanson Mrs & Miss Munro Mr R Mellow Mr & Mrs Olive Dr & Mrs Chadwick Mr & Mrs Atthill Mr & Mrs Haslehurst Mr & Mrs Dilley Mr & Mrs Parker Mr & Mrs Teil Mr & Mrs A Tannehill Mr & Mrs Tunnicliff Miss Fenning Mr, Mrs & Miss Gill Mr & Mrs F Archer Mr & Mrs Tillie Miss Valetta Dark Dr, Mrs & Miss Blake Odgers Mr Cecil Brown Mr & Mrs Jay Mr C H Scott Mrs & Miss Planbeck Mr Haydon Miss Edith Stair Misses Messervy Mr Arthur Smith Mr & Mrs Cowen Mr & Mrs Wagner Miss Grace Stair Mr George Haydon Miss Kellett Mr & Misses Stair Mr & Mrs Mann Mr & Mrs W Stair Mr & Mrs Wallace Mr & Miss Goody Br G Blackman Mr & Mrs Wimbush Mr Leslie Miss Childe Mr & Mrs Bruckman Mr & Mrs Tomkins Miss Ada Perry Mr Childe Dr & Mrs Woodcock Mr Harold Woodruff Mr John Burton Mr Messervy Miss Grace Perry Mrs Dyson & family Mr & Mrs Parry and family Mr & Mrs Parry Mrs Harold Cooper Mr & Mrs Rothbarth & family (4) Mr & Mrs W Berry Miss H White Mr & Mrs Sprigg Mr V Bendell Mr & Mrs Geo Belshaw July 31st The Lyles (no Liles) have not answered yet and I have been married three weeks yesterday!! Too bad |
Wedding presents
Mr & Mrs Butler Silver sauce boat
Nurse Chown Sandwich server
Auntie Parker Evening cloak
Mr and Mrs Val Paton Gold bracelet and cufflinks
Mr & Mrs Park Lyle Silver-handled carvers
Mr & Mrs Rice Pair of entrée dishes
Gladys and Jim Embroidered linen bedspread
Dr & Mrs Armstrong Long white feather
Mr & Mrs Jones Silver tea knives
Auntie Grace and Adeline Royal Crown Derby tea set
Dr & Mrs Chadwick Muffin dish
Mr & Mrs Nicholls Four silver vases
Mr & Mrs Dilley Entrée dish
Grandpapa Travelling clock
Mr & Mrs Cooper Silver salver
Mr Fenning Cur glass rose bowl
Mr & Mrs Teil Silver cigarette box
Mr George Haydon Bread platter
Mr Willie Butler Photograph frame
Mr & Mrs Giles Tea set
Mr C H Scott Silver sweet basket
Mrs & Miss Edwards Silver tea knives
Mrs Stair Sewing machine
Mrs Dyson Silver table centre
Miss Onslow Cheque
Mr & Mrs Daw Set of liqueur glasses
Holmes, Cook and Alice Silver-plated sugar basin
Mrs Radley Butter knife, bread fork and jam spoons
Mr & Mrs Walter Stair Fish servers
Mr & Mrs Harry Hanson Egg boiler
Mr & Mrs Gill Coffee service
Misses Gill Paper knife
Mr & Mrs Hill Silver-topped scent bottle
Mr & Mrs Walter Berry Silver fruit spoons
Mr & Mrs Swell Silver photo frame
Mr & Mrs Hartshorne Fan
Mr & Mrs Tilly Two silver candlesticks
Mr & Mrs Simmons Copper flower jar
Mr & Mrs Thornton Smith Embroidered tablecloth
Mr & Mrs Tunnicliff Drawn thread tray cloths
Mr & Mrs Edell Silver sugar sifter
Mr & Mrs Bruckmann Silver candle sticks
Mrs Burgess Bread platter
Mr & Mrs Hay Oriental jar
Mr & Mrs Neild Silver ink stand
Mr Messervy Silver candlesticks
Mr & Mrs Pritchard Copper rose jar
Mr & Mrs Compton Silver tray
Mr & Mrs Mellor Silver rose bowl
Mr & Mrs Ernest Hare Silver purse
Mr Frank Clayton Silver sugar sifter and cream jug
Grandmama Cade Tea tray
Mr & Mrs Kirby Folding table
Mr & Mrs Chas Layton Silver ink stand
Mr Leslie Cut glass jug
Nell Picture
Dr & Mrs Ted Godfrey Hammered copper spirit kettle
Mr & Mrs Cranfield Old copper scuttle
Mr & Mrs Flower Silver sugar and cream set and tray
Mr & Mrs Archer Copper candlesticks (pair)
Mr & Mrs Childe Cloissone bowl
Miss Childe Coffee tray
Mr & Mrs Spencer Silver cheese, butter and biscuit tray
Miss Spencer Silver cake knife
Mrs & Miss Scarfe Silver tea spoons
Mr & Mrs Nicholls Silver salt cellars
Mr A C Smith Breakfast plate heater
Mr & Mrs Paterson Barometer
Mr & Mrs Heathcote Entrée dish
Mr & Mrs A Haydon Rose Bowl
Miss Langley Book
Mrs Planbeck Cushion
Mr & Mrs Stair Perry Two silver vases
Mr & Mrs Herring Cigar lighter
Rev & Mrs Charter Vase
Mr & Mrs Nicholls Toast rack
Misses Fowler Cushion
Mrs Craven Cushion
Mr & Mrs Mann Four silver vases
Mr T Blackman Pair of silver salt cellars
Mr W Black Odgers Books
Mrs and Miss Munro Two volume Jane Austen
Mr & Mrs Mason One dozen tea knives
Mr & Mrs Layton and Miss Layton Tea knives
Mr John White Miniature
Mrs Alexander Vase of Satsuma
Mr & Mrs Wallace Sliver ink stand
Mr Leicester Homan Terracotta figures
Capt & Mrs Knight Picture
Mr & Mrs Parry Cake basket
Mr & Mrs John Morris Glass rose bowl
Mr &^ Mrs Wimbush Silver menu holders
Mr & Mrs Haslehurst Cruets (salt)
Mr & Mrs George Belshaw Two pictures
Dr Leigh Canney Japanese panel
Mr & Mrs Neale Turner Pewter and enamel inkstand
Stanley Neale Turner Silver pepperpots
Margaret Butter knife and jam spoon
Mr Pixley Silver flask
Mr Maine Grape scissors
Mr & Mrs Flynn Silver vase
Miss Kate Berry Drawn thread cloth
Mr & Mrs Birch Silver salt cellars
Mother’s meeting Silver spoons
Dr & Mrs Tom Godfrey Antique silver sifter
Gladys Embroidered cushion
Misses Stair Dinner service
Mr Waring Silver mounted claret jug
Mr & Mrs Pitcher Two pairs nut crackers
Mr & Mrs Morgan Two gravy boats
Mr Douglas Morrison A pipe
Mr Valentine Andrew Salad bowl and servers
Mr & Mrs Ellis Young Lamp
Mrs Jay Scent bottle
Mr & Mrs Humphreys Pair of silver vases
Mr McAdam Picture
Miss Eva Stair Coffee machine
Mrs Milner Jutsem Two pepper pots
Mr James White Case of ivory hairbrushes
Mr & Mrs Oliver Fruit dish
Rev & Mrs Mayall Silver butter dish and knife
Mr & Miss Palmer Afternoon tea cloth
Mr & Mrs J Rothbarth Silver cake basket
Miss Rothbarth Silver-topped jam jar
Miss Theo Cade Picture of herself
Mr Bobbie Cade Picture of himself
Mr Walter Andrew Silver-mounted claret jug
Mr & Mrs Layton Silver muffin dish
Mrs Andrew Rose bowl
Mr & Mrs Chivers Fruit dish
Nurse Jam jar
Mrs Burn Pewter coffee set
Penrose Fitzgerald Silver pencil
Vernon Stair Salad bowl and servers
Mrs Clayton Silver salts (4)
Dr & Mrs Bainbridge Butter dish knife
Mrs John White Tea service (china)
Miss Elsie White Tray cloth
Mother Pearl pendant
Bride Pearl tie pin
Bridegroom Diamond and sapphire bracelet
1908
JULY
30th Waltz Dream
Valli, Valli, charming and graceful, my first ‘married’ theatre! Tickets for the stalls given us by Mrs Heathcote.
Lady Frederick
Ethel Irving – forget the date. Perfectly splendid. Tickets for the stalls given us by Mr Douglas, who came with us.
SEPTEMBER
2nd Arthur, Gertrude and I saw Maud Allen, Simply wonderful. Lost my comb, but found it next day.
10th Evelina
“Remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman: it is, at once, the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.”
Frances Burney, in a letter
14th Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther
“All is clean for ever and ever. Everything is natural and everything is clean, except for the person who is afraid it is not.”
Goethe
Then one evening I heard lovely sounds, lovely, floating, mellow sounds coming up in floods through the orchard into my garden, where I was propped against a tree trunk, watching a huge yellow moon disentangling itself slowly from the mists of Jena. Oh, but exquisite sounds, sounds that throbbed into your sould and told it all it wanted to hear, showed it the way to all it was looking for, talked to it wonderfully of the possibilities of life.
First they drew me onto my feet, then they drew me down the garden, then through the orchard, nearer and nearer, till at last I stood beneath the open window they were coming from, listening with all my ears. Against the wall I leaned, holding my breath, spell-cound, forced to ponder great themes, themes of life and death, the music falling like drops of liquid light in dark and thirsty places.
_____
The house feels very odd tonight. So do I! It feels haunted. So do I. I want to scold you, and yet I cannot. I have the strangest desire to cry.
______
Saturday afternoon, 188 Clarence Gate Gardens
26th My boy has gone from us for usual game of golf. It is a glorious afternoon, the brown and yellow leaves are just beginning to drop off the trees, how beautiful it will be on the links. I believe Jock guessed a wee bit today how I felt, an unusual thing for him to do because he asked me if I would like him to stay with me. Of course I said no, certainly not. Still, I think even then he did not quite believe me. He went out to the lift but came back saying ‘no, I won’t go today. I’ll stop with you and we’ll go for a walk in Regent’s Park!’
Poor old boy, did he think I would really take him at his word? I rung the lift up myself and so now he has gone; heavens, how I wish I were a man who could play a really good game of golf. I dare not stop to think, or I know I shall cry, when I think of all the spirits of fine Saturday afternoons that mock at me with golf clubs in their hands. How glorious to go off for a whole Saturday afternoon with my boy, I hardly know what it would be like, I think I could make it happy for him too. Once, when we were engaged, we went off for a whole day by ourselves. We went to Godalming – looking for a house for Mother. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
I really am not jealous of his favourite game, but I always feel so lonesome when I realise each week how, to thoroughly enjoy himself, he must be miles away from me. Of course, on our honeymoon we were together alone, except when he was rummaging in curiosity shops, but those days, heavenly as they were, have not the same feel as the one afternoon in the week.
Tomorrow we are to spend in town. It will be the first Sunday we have done so, so I have thought of lots of lovely things we can do but, just now, at lunch, Jock said that one of Waring’s men wanted to show him a photograph of a chair, so I am sure he will go and look at it. He said he would only be gone an hour, I know now what that means, therefore I shall walk with him to the house of the man and wait outside, he couldn’t possibly be so long then. It is rather housemaid-ish is it not! But I don’t see how it can be helped. I really envy those shop men and things that go off on Saturday afternoons with their best girls, on their bicycles. Lucky girls, to look forward to the end of the week. I will not cry, it is too weak. Will he always go from me I wonder? Or will he, when we have a boy, stay with me sometimes. Every other week. Anyhow, I will not think of these dreadful, awful Saturday afternoons.
OCTOBER
3rd My birthday; the twenty-fourth of my life. In the morning, Arthur gave me a lovely purple dressing case; Mother a sweet pale grey purse bag, which I chose the evening before at Vickery’s with her. Gladys gave me a pair of grey suede gloves to match my costume; the girls, a love of an ‘early tea set in deep blue; Mrs Stair, a white, china hot water jug; Vernon, two volumes of Sense and Sensibility. Maud and I looked over flats in Hampstead in the morning. After lunch, Maud went home and Jock and I went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was ripping. We came back to dinner, and then went and saw Marie Tempest in ‘Mrs Dot’. One of the nicest plays I have seen. This was the loveliest Saturday I have had since my honeymoon, I had Jock all to myself, he even gave up golf for the whole afternoon – and he enjoyed himself, I know he did.
I forgot to say, Margaret gave me a lovely bunch of lilies of the valley and roses, wasn’t it sweet of her?
Extract from ‘The Wingless Victory’
In that second, she hated him with the petty, pin-point hatred that is half-contempt. She remembered only the tiny mannerisms that jar in closest intimacy – how he gulped his food, how he shuffled his feet, how he scraped the spoon on his plate.
____
One of the most frequent of the many wonderful statements made about woman by man is that she is the inarticulate portion of the race. He usually proves his point by reference to the epic, the opera, and the creative arts in general, forgetting in his haste the greatest creative art of all, of which the others are but shadows, the great creative art of motherhood.
1909
APRIL
24th Arthur sailed for New York on March 6th. He was to be home in three weeks time – at the most in four weeks. He is not back yet. I went, on the 10th of March, to Devon for five weeks. This morning I had a note, from Val Andrew, saying SJW has promised to sail next Friday, the 29th. His promise means absolutely nothing. He has been promising to go on the next boat for the last four weeks. Arthur cannot be home for another four weeks at the least. Will he be in time, I wonder? I feel in my most inward part, my heart, I suppose, that if he is not in time I shall not be able to keep alive.
Mrs Stair came yesterday and rammed, with all the force of her powerful tongue, the fact down my throat that everyone knows my secret and mine no longer as I had to tell her. She says herself she tells everyone who asks, and I begged her not to.
MAY
7th Arthur comes home next week, the end of it. I had a wire from Val Andrew last Wednesday night saying he had cabled for him to come home!!!
17th Arthur came home yesterday. He arrived about 3.pm. Mother and Gladys went to meet him at Euston. He walked – or ran? – from the station, because he could not wait for a cab. We had lunch – we two – Gertrude went up to The Chestnuts with Mother and Gladys. After lunch we went upstairs to unpack. Arthur had brought me six shirt waists and four pairs of lovely stockings – also a back scratcher. We forgot about tea till 7pm, when it was time to get ready to go to No 1 for supper. He brought me three books too, two by Browning and one Oscar Wilde.
JUNE
7th Why will people sort of take for granted that a girl with a pale face must wear pink and one with a lot of colour in her cheeks must wear blue or green? It is silly. If a pale faced girl wears a pink frock, the wee bit of colour that she has in her face is quite drowned, poor thing – whereas blue would bring into relief a very small amount of face colour. Also, if a very pink girl wears blue, the contrast is so great that it almost knocks you down whereas if she were to wear a pale pink it would take off from the colour in her face and instead of a hard contrast, she would have that lovely pink glow all over her like a pink sweet pea. Besides, very pink girls almost always have a bluish tinge in their face which is aggravated by wearing blue.
1910
JANUARY
3rd English things last forever – English peace, English power, English fidelity. It is a country of much serenity, of order, of stable affection.
FEBRUARY
24th This morning I heard that Aure is dead! It is awful to me to know that I shall never have my dear, obedient, dog again. On Sunday, Arthur and I left her at the vet – and a man held her in his arms; that was my last sight of her alive. The poor little thing, they say, must have had an internal blood vessel burst during the night. I saw her dead this morning. So thin, her eyes half open. She must have wanted me, when she died. I wish I had never let her go there. Poor little dog, to die all alone. I thought they could do her more good if they had her with them. Mother gave her to me on my 20th birthday – she was only three months old then. What evil spirit ever induced me to let her go? I know she wanted me. She always loved me more than anyone else, and I loved her so much.
1915
FEBRUARY
5th Jim returns to the War tomorrow. He came home for leave last Sunday – how quickly the time has gone, how awful the return to all the horrors and terrors.
APRIL
19th From Jim’s letter, written at the Front, after the battle of Neuve Chapelle, where his regiment had seven officers killed, one died of wounds and seven wounded. The Colonel, Young and Jim are among the only officers left. It all took place within a quarter of an hour!! Jim is in command of B company, which came out with six officers and 240 NCOs and men – they stand now: 1 officer (Jim) and 143 other ranks – and that in spite of the fact that they were almost up to strength on the fatal morning.
‘However, what does it matter, our regiment has been wiped out before this war – it will rise, Phoenix like, afterwards, with extra honours on its colours. We are only pawns. I am afraid this letter is not a happy one but please excuse me. Remember, I lost many of my best friends and saw my regiment almost knocked out. Life is bound to appear grey after that.’
At the end, he puts
‘What if the best of our wages be an empty sleeve, or a stiff set knee
A crutch for the rest of life, who cares
So long as the old flag flies and dares.’
How proud Father must feel of Jim.
JUNE
21st Jim came home on seven days leave. He arrived at Bay Tree Cottage at 6pm. We did not expect him till the next day.
28th Mother, Gladys, Theo and I went up to town with Jim in Eaton’s car. We sat in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace while Jim went in to receive the Military Cross from the King!!! Had lunch at the Regent Palace Hotel and saw dear old Jim off from Victoria by the 2o’clock train. He was so funny at the station. When we kept asking him what the various badges were, he turned to Arthur and said ‘It is like having them all at the zoo, isn’t it?’ Jim was mentioned in dispatches also while he was on leave.
OCTOBER
8th Jim and Reggie arrived at Victoria about 2am, Leicester met them. Ada and I went to Bay Tree Cottage directly after breakfast.
9th We spent that day at Bay Tree Cottage
10th Mrs Young and Reggie came to lunch. We all went to Bay Tree Cottage for tea and supper. Val Paton came to Bay Tree Cottage and returned with us to spend the night
11th Mother, Mrs Young, Evelina, Gladys, Ada, Leicester, Jim, Reggie and I dined at the Trocadero and then went to see ‘The Man who stayed at Home’.
12th The dance here. The boys were in mess kit.
13th Lunch at Bay Tree Cottage, Ada, Gladys, Reggie and I went to ‘Push and Go’ and then had tea at the Piccadilly and taxied all the way back to Bay Tree Cottage for dinner. After dinner, the Zeppelins came (Strand theatre time) and we went out to see what we could. Reggie and I watched the shells burst from the Mall. Jim and Reggie walked home with Ada.
14th Lunch at Bay Tree Cottage. Jim and Leicester went first to town – then I – to buy Jim a pipe and Reggie a stick. Met Jim and Leicester at the Criterion; went shopping with Jim, and then to Victoria. The car with Mother, Mrs Young, Gladys, Ada and Reggie arrived – Theo was almost late. Jim gave us four girls a box each of Fuller’s chocolates. Reggie loved the stick I gave him – it’s like the one I gave Jim. They went off, smiling and cheery. It is a great thing to have them for brother and friend. Something to be very proud of. God bless them.
DIARY 1914
January
At the start of the year, Ethel, Arthur and the two children –Elizabeth and Alastair – live in a rented house: Holmwood, The Mall, Old Southgate
W 14 May’s day out. Ordered a skirt from Shoolbred’s yesterday.
T 15 Elizabeth goes to ‘Peter Pan’ with Mrs Stair.
F 16 The dentist, Mr Shelton, at 2 o’clock
S 17 I go to the theatre with Maud, a matinee performance.
S 24 Jim goes to Malta
W 28 Dentist 2 o’clock
S 31 Gladys comes to play with Alastair. Arthur and I go to a fancy dress ball.
February
M 2 Dentist, 2.15pm and then back to Bay Tree Cottage for tea.
W 4 We go to Saltwood till Sunday
W 11 4.30pm to see Mr Shelton
T 17 To Mr Shelton
W 18 May out for the day
T 24 Go to town to shop – a book from The Times Bookshop, a green coat for Elizabeth, some pink crepe de chine, and other small things.
T 26 May’s evening out. Arthur and I dine at the Trocadero and then go and see ‘The Attack’
F 27 Arthur and Elizabeth are at Saltwood till Monday
S 28 Lilian Bevan’s birthday
March
M 2 Elizabeth and Arthur return. Mr Stair dies half an hour after Arthur and Elizabeth leave The Croft.
T 3 I go to town to order wreaths, change Elizabeth’s coat, buy shoes for Alastair and a black blouse for me. At 4.30pm, Miss Gosling comes to tea. Val Andrew dines here.
W 4 May’s evening out.
T 5 Lunch, with Lilian Bevan, at Woolwich.
F 6 Lunch with Lois Moffatt
T 10 Nell’s birthday. Mr and Mrs Hawes dine here.
W 11 May’s day out
F 13 Lunch with Lois
M 16 Alastair’s 1st birthday. We go to Westgate.
F 27 A bazaar at Wood Green – Mother is to open it
T 31 Bobs birthday – he is fifteen! Lois to lunch etc.
April
W 1 Go to St Albans
T 2 Go to Enfield and see Red Roofs
F 3 Have my hair shampooed, and then meet Lilian Bevan. Go and see Mr Shelton about a plate.
S 4 Go to Richmond to see the international lacrosse.
M 6 Take Elizabeth to see Grandpa
T 7 Take Elizabeth to Charing Cross to meet Eva at 1o’clock to go to Saltwood, and then I go on to meet Lilian Bevan for lunch.
W 8 Arthur and I dine at 60 Harley House at 7.30pm
T 9 Arthur and I go to Saltwood
M 13 We all go to the point to point races at Smeeth.
T 13 Arthur and I return to town.
T 16 Go to Bay Tree Cottage, at 10am, so that Gertrude can ring me up there. I then go on to Hampstead to look for a house.
F 17 Go to Great Missenden
S 25 Arthur’s birthday – he is thirty-four years old!
S 26 Gladys is engaged to Fritz!
W 29 Kathleen Cairn’s reception. May goes for a week’s holiday. Call on Mrs Green.
T 30 A whist drive at the Village Hall
May
M 4 Father died this day in 1903, three weeks before Theo was born.
T 5 Buy a new bed for Elizabeth
W 6 May comes back.
S 10 Lil and George Bevan at Bay Tree Cottage.
M 11 Elizabeth’s bed arrives
T 13 Gladys and I go to see the King of Denmark from Fritz’s office
W 13 May goes out for the evening
T 14 Go to Mary Hay’s wedding
F 15 Go to Esher
S 16 A tennis party at Hollywood. Grace Owen comes.
M 18 Arthur goes to Sandwich – via Saltwood, so he can see Mrs Stair
T 19 Have my hair shampooed. Dine at Bay Tree Cottage – Auntie Grace and Will there.
W 20 May and Grace go out.
T 21 Go to White City, to the Anglo American meeting, with Mary Hanson
S 23 Go to Knotty Green till Sunday to stay with the Pinchards
T 26 Theo’s birthday, she is eleven years old. Arthur and I go to see ‘An Ideal Husband’.
W 27 May’s evening out
T 28 Elizabeth goes to Saltwood
F 29 Mr Willis comes to dine – and also Kate, too.
June
M 1 Go to Hollywood
M 8 Kate goes to Margate
T 11 Fritz and Gladys dine here
S 13 Mrs Stair and Eva come
T 18 Evelina Hawes, and co, come to dinner.
S 20 Go to Nazing for the weekend
M 22 Write to Elizabeth
T 23 Elizabeth’s birthday, she is five years old today.
T 25 Lois and Douglas Moffatt come to dinner. Write to Jim for his birthday.
F 26 Go to Mr Shelton
July
F 3 Jim’s birthday. Elizabeth has her birthday party today.
M 6 Dentist at 3pm. Kitty comes home
T 7 May goes for a week and a day.
T 9 Married six years ago today
T 14 Arthur and I go to the Templar’s concert.
W 15 May comes back
T 16 A fete at Southgate House.
M 20 Lunch with Arthur and Mont, and then go to the dentist at 4.30pm
S 25 I go to Hurlingham with Joan in the morning and, in the evening, Arthur and I go to White City. The children both go to Westgate to stay.
W 29 Auntie Grace and Uncle Will come to Bay Tree Cottage for the day.
August
T 4 WAR!!!!!!
F 7 Go for our holidays. Jim starts for home. No, because War has been declared, all is off.
S 8 Go and see Lil
M 10 Go to Westgate
F 14 Go to Margate with Kate and Mont
There is then a time when the only pages written are full of shopping lists. I believe they are interesting and shows what people bought then – and how they had to buy food almost every day. The shopping, I presume, was done while she was at Westgate, as there is no mention of her returning to town.
W 19 Loaf sugar, cheese biscuits, strawberry jam, ale, stout, broad beans, blackberries, apples, cake, veal and ham pie, blancmange powder.
T 20 Haddock, melon, onions, potatoes, castor sugar, cheese tarts, candles, white loaf stuff, Goddard’s
F 21 A joint, fish, raspberries and red currants, bacon, mushrooms, mustard, china tea and salad.
S 22 Ale, fish, kippers, potatoes, biscuits, veal, vegetables, fruit, melon, sponge cakes, sardines, jelly, corner of gammon, flour and soda.
M 24 Loaf and demerara sugar, jam, marmalade, onions, cutlets, flour, veal and ham pie, and fruit.
T 25 White socks, Arthur’s stockings, paper and envelopes, war map, face powder.
W 26 Cooking eggs, lemon cheese, cheese, steak, fruit and dessert, salmon
T 27 Joint, vegetables, potatoes, onions, carrots, vinegar, eggs and a comb
T 28 Wood, coffee, carrots, onions, potatoes, blackberries, apples, kippers
September
M 28 Move to Linden Lodge, Winchmore Hill
October
S 3 My birthday – I am thirty!!!! Jim and Leicester come to see me.
M 5 Grandpa’s birthday
W 7 Gladys’ birthday
S 17 Marie comes
F 23 Fritz’s birthday
F 30 See Hanfield Jones
November
T 3 Wash the spare room furniture, and ask Arthur if he can find a mirror to go in there. Put up pictures in our room, and ask Arthur for a cushion to go in there. Do Elizabeth’s frock – hang the pictures in the night nursery – put a bow on Alastair’s cot! I ask Arthur if he can find a fender for the spare room grate.
M 9 We hear that Jim went to the front on Wednesday, 4th.
Nothing more is written in this diary, just empty pages.
DIARY 1916
January
M 10 The boys come home on leave.
F 14 I have tea at North Villas,
S 16 The boys go back to the Red Lion – on Jim’s Indian motorcycle.
M 17 The boys go back on the 1.30pm train from Victoria
February
M 7 Go to see Mr Shelton, the dentist at 1.45pm
T 8 Auntie Adeline’s birthday
W 9 Reggie’s birthday. I go to Scunthorpe for the night
T 10 17 Park Lane but before, at 1.45pm, I go to the dentist. Mrs Stair comes to stay.
M 14 The dentist again – 2.15pm
W 16 Park Lane
T 17 Park Lane
M 21 Mr Shelton at 2.15pm
March
S 4 8 years!! Gertrude and Maud come
M 6 Nurse out. Dentist at 2.15pm
W 8 Lunch at Bay Tree Cottage and then to Park Lane
T 9 Send Nell’s present off. Go to Park Lane in the afternoon, and then Arthur and I go to the theatre.
F 10 Nell Mackenzie’s birthday
S 11 We go to the theatre with Gertrude and Maud
M 13 Dentist at 2.15pm
T 16 Alastair’s birthday
April
S 15 Margaret died
M 17 Go shopping and buy coat stuff for Elizabeth and Alastair, and roses for Margaret’s funeral.
T 25 Arthur’s birthday
S 29 Reggie came home on leave
May
M 1 Hugh came home on leave
W 3 Reggie came up to Linden Lodge with me to see Arthur
M 4 Reggie and Mrs Young lunch here, and then I go to have tea at the Savoy with Arthur and we go to the cinema.
F 5 Lil and Mrs Gregory dined here.
S 6 Baby ‘Wood’ came home on leave. Bobs walked home with me from Bay Tree Cottage
S 7 Reggie returns to France
M 8 Hugh returns to France
M 26 Theo’s birthday. Jim came home on leave
S 27 We go to a party at the Trocadero in town
M 29 Lunch in town with Arthur
W 31 Arthur goes to New York – he catches the 10.30am train from Euston, and sails in the ‘Finland’, an American ship.
June
T 6 We all went to Westgate to stay for about three weeks. We heard today that Kitchener had drowned.
F 23 Elizabeth’s birthday
July
S 1 Return from Westgate. We heard Reggie had been wounded.
J 2 Arthur returns from New York – arrives at Euston at 4 o’clock, and comes home in one of Eaton’s cars.
M 3 Jim’s birthday. I take Elizabeth to have her hair cut.
W 5 Arthur is on RC (Reserve Commissioned Officer) duty all night
T 6 Heard from Mr and Mrs Young about Reggie and I received a card from him that night.
S 9 Eight years since we were married!
F 14 Tea at Woodside.
August
M 7 Mrs Stair’s birthday
October
T 3 My birthday
T 5 Grandpa’s birthday
M 23 Hugh’s birthday
Nothing more is written in this diary but it is very small indeed so it is remarkable that it has survived at all!
DIARY 1917
January
M 1 Nothing written today
T 2 Dine with Sir Alfred Figgis at 19 Portland Place. A car is coming for us at 6.10pm.
W 3 Nothing written today
T 4 I go to town to change my blouse at Debenham & Freebody. Arthur goes to Ross. Miss Berkeley was out today.
F 5 Nothing written today
S 6 Let Miss Britton know I cannot go to 17 Park Lane on Monday
S 7 Write to Jim, Miss Beutelle, Auntie Adeline, May and Mrs Stair
M 8 Mother takes me and the children to ‘Where the Rainbow Ends’ – Arthur supplies a car for us all.
T 9 The oak dresser is to come, and also George to polish the oak furniture here.
W 10 Nurse is out for the day.
T 11 17 Park Lane. Then I go to Wallington to stay with Auntie Adeline
F 12 Return from Wallington – a bus from Croydon to Oxford Circus and then on. Hear of Mr Cooper’s death. Miss Berkeley is out. When I get home, the children are in the bathroom with Nurse and Elizabeth says ‘it seems as if you have been away a month, Mummy’.
S 13 Arthur sleeps at the YMCA, as he is on duty.
S 14 We, Arthur and I, go to Bay Tree Cottage for tea and supper. There is an almost tame vixen in the garden.
M 15 Nothing written today
T 16 Arthur brought home a lovely chandelier. Mrs Young comes to tea.
W 17 Nurse goes to the hospital; Arthur is on RC duty.
T 18 17 Park Lane. I go to town to do some shopping – get cretonne for May and then on to Shoolbreds to buy some things for the house.
F 19 Go to Sainsbury’s, and the on to see Kitty. I hear an explosion at the gunpowder factory – near Palmers Green – heard it quite distinctly. Later I hear it was at Silvertown, and was very bad.
S 20 Gertrude returns from Stamford!
S 21 Do the pianola rolls at Bay Tree Cottage. Jim came home today to stay for a month.
M 22 17 Park Lane. The picture arrived from Stair & Andrew but there is still no coal.
T 23 Call at Bay Tree Cottage, and then go to the gas shop at Palmers Green about out little stove.
W 24 Go to Bay Tree Cottage for the evening – Jim was there.
T 25 17 Park Lane. Nurse goes to the policemen’s concert.
F 26 Go to Bay Tree Cottage after dinner. Miss Berkeley is out today.
S 27 Go to Bay Tree Cottage – Arthur comes with me, and Mont is already there.
S 28 Mrs Stair comes to tea and then we go to Bay Tree Cottage to supper – Eva is there to dinner, too.
M 29 17 Park Lane. Go to the Ritz to get a baby angel and on to Evans re the cretonne and to John Lewis for baize.
W 31 Miss Berkeley goes to 17 Park Lane for me re Mrs Britton. I tell Eaton’s car to call at Number 25 for the screen, the chair and a wastepaper basket. Nurse goes out for the day
February
T 1 Dinner with the Maines – Jim and Gladys to be there, too.
F 2 Mother, Gladys, Jim, Kitty, Mont and Mr Potter dine here. I wash Fuzzy.
S 3 Go to tea with Kitty
S 4 Bay Tree Cottage to tea and supper.
M 5 17 Park Lane
T 6 South Lodge re skating – Kitty came with Mr Potter, but she says she cannot find Arthur’s gloves.
W 7 Nurse is out for the day and Arthur is at RC.
T 8 17 Park Lane. Auntie Adeline’s birthday. There is thick snow today – we went tobogganing with the Tuckers, Mont and Bobs – got there in the Tuckers car!!
F 9 Reggie’s birthday, twenty four years old. Miss Berkeley out.
S 10 Arthur sleeps at the YMCA
S 11 Bay Tree Cottage for tea and supper
M 12 I go to town to do some shopping – Maples, Shoolbreds etc.
T 13 Mother, Jim, Arthur and I have lunch at Simpson’s in the Strand.
W 14 The screen, chair and picture etc come
T 15 17 Park Lane
F 16 Want to go and shoot with Jim, and I can’t as I have neuralgia – there is a hard frost today, dash it.
S 17 Jim goes to Buckingham Palace to be decorated by the King – a Bar to his MC. I go to Bay Tree Cottage for tea and supper – Jim reads to me after tea from a ‘Rhymes of a Red Cross Man’ a book by Robert Service.
S 18 Bay Tree Cottage
M 19 I go to town to shop – and to meet Jim at Number 25 Soho Square at 12.45pm – and we have lunch together at the Rendezvous. Came home to Bay Tree Cottage with Jim – but first a taxi to The Times, where I bought all four books by Robert Service. Kitty and Mont came in to Bay Tree Cottage for tea.
T 20 Jim returns to France at 4pm from Waterloo. ‘Oh! Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the Romans cry!’
W 21 Nurse out in the evening
T 22 Go to 17 Park Lane and then I do some shopping.
T 27 Take Elizabeth to have her hair cut and then I meet Gertrude at 12.45pm at Number 25
W 28 Go to 17 Park Lane
March
T 1 Do Mother’s desk. Welsh flag day today.
F 2 Nothing written today
S 3 Gertrude comes
S 4 Nothing written today
M 5 Nothing written today
T 6 Nothing written today
W 7 I go to see the dentist, Mr Shelton, and then on to 17 Park Lane.
T 8 Nothing written today
F 9 Go to Bay Tree Cottage. A cat with a bell on followed me home – a black one.
S 10 Joan comes for the weekend
S 11 Nothing written today
M 12 Nothing written today
T 13 Nothing written today
W 14 Go to Mr Shelton at 12o’clock, and then do some shopping.
T 15 Nothing written today
F 16 Alastair’s birthday. Kitty and Jimmy come to tea.
S 17 Nothing written today
S 18 Go to Bay Tree Cottage
M 19 To the dentist at 2 0’clock and then shopping in Shoolbreds
T 20 Nothing written today
W 21 Nothing written today
T 22 Nothing written today
F 23 Nothing written today
S 24 Nothing written today
S 25 Nothing written today
M 26 Nothing written today
T 27 Nothing written today
W 28 Nothing written today
T 29 Nothing written today
F 30 Go to town to try to find a letter case for Bobs’ birthday tomorrow.
S 31 Bobs’ birthday – there is snow and darkness all round.
April
S 1 There is thick snow and fog everywhere. The gas man comes at 10.30am
M 2 Thick snow on the ground – and I feel ill all day.
T 3 Even thicker snow.
W 4 17 Park Lane – and then to the dentist.
T 5 Nothing written today
F 6 Gertrude, Lilian and Mrs Pelham come to lunch and tea.
S 7 Gertrude and I go and flat hunt. Saw ‘Wonderful James’ at night, rotten thing. Gertrude came back for the weekend.
S 8 Got to Bay Tree Cottage – George and Lil there
M 9 Thunder and lightening – and snow!! Alastair was dear to me at lunch time – ‘Why are you looking at me like that, Mummie?’ ‘How, darling?’ ‘With a sad icicle face, Mummie.’
T 10 Snow!
W 11 17 Park Lane at 3pm, and then on to 22 St James’ Street re Mesopotamia Day. Still there is snow.
T 12 Call at St James’ Street re Joan of Arc day.
F 13 Mesopotamia Day. I have a city depot, 7 Falcon Square, Aldersgate, and arrive there at 8am. Arthur and I dine with Mr and Mrs Baker
S 14 Miss Isaacs comes for a week and the children go to Dorothy and Vernon for the weekend.
S 15 Nothing written today
M 16 17 Park Lane and then shopping at Shoolbreds.
T 17 The dentist at 2 o’clock, and then go to a concert at the Ritz – where I meet Victor Howard and bring him back to dinner.
W 18 Nothing written today
T 19 Miss Berkeley returns
F 20 In bed all day – dash it!
S 21 Nothing written today
S 22 Nothing written today
M 23 Go to the dentist at 11, and meet Mrs Brewer at St James’ Street at 12 o’clock. After, I buy a map of the Front and then go to Maples to get some material for dining room curtains, and also to Shoolbreds to buy Arthur’s present. I arranged, this morning, for the spare room and dressing room to be spring cleaned and the curtains there, too – and my room to be washed.
T 24 Spring clean my bedroom.
W 25 Arthur’s birthday. I meet Lady Rees in town between 12 and 1 o’clock
T 26 Spring clean the bathroom etc
F 27 Spring clean stairs and landings – all paint to be washed! Mrs Young comes to tea.
S 28 Spring clean both the day and night nursery.
S 29 The cuckoo!!! The first this year. Last year I heard it first on Arthur’s birthday so it is later this year. The wind is blowing from the south – I can hear Southgate church bells! There is a baby lamb in the field, quite near.
M 30 Dentist at 12 o’clock, 17 Park Lane at 3am. Go to the Corner House in Coventry Street re May 8th.
May
T 1 Lifeboat Day. I am near Kensington Town Hall. Dine, with Arthur, at d’Italia.
W 2 Lunch with Ada at Harrods, and then go on to 17 Park Lane, before shopping at Shoolbreds. Met Kitty, Jimmy and Mr and Mrs Potter
T 3 Spring clean the rest of the stairs and landing etc.
F 4 Fourteen years since Father died. There was a wonderful moon tonight. Arthur and I walked to see the Armstrongs – the doctor was out but we saw masses of daffodils in their garden!
S 5 Meet Kitty at Palmers Green at 1.15pm – she tells me that her maid ‘bolted’ on Monday!! Write to Will Daw.
S 6 Nothing written today
M 7 Take the children to Harrods to see the toys, and then to Shoolbreds for boots, shoes, hats, gloves and socks. Phone Miss Jenkins
T 8 Joan of Arc Day – I am at the Corner House in Coventry Street. I see Miss Baker and we go to tea with Hilda at 37 Clarence Gate Gardens
W 9 Miss Berkeley out. I go to Bay Tree Cottage, and then on to 17 Park Lane
T 10 Nothing written today
F 11 The dentist at 11.45am, and then I go on to buy presents for Donald Mackenzie, Mrs Maine and Theo and also to send flowers or fruit to Hilda.
S 12 Fourteen years today since Mrs Childe came and told us Father had died. Bobs had brought in a spray of white May that day – such an unlucky thing to have in the house.
S 13 Nothing written today
M 14 Donald Mackenzie’s birthday
T 15 Nurse goes home for a fortnight.
W 16 Nothing written today
T 17 Arthur takes Alastair to Saltwood for a long weekend
W 18 Nothing written today
T 19 Nothing written today
F 20 Nothing written today
S 21 Nothing written today
S 22 Nothing written today
M 23 Nothing written today
T 24 The gramophone arrives today!!!!
F 25 Nothing written today
S 26 Theo’s fourteenth birthday
S 27 Parish Church supper at The Hut.
M 28 Nothing written today
T 29 Nothing written today
W 30 Nothing written today
T 31 Nothing written today
June
F 1 Nothing written today
S 2 Reggie’s wedding day
S 3 Nothing written today
M 4 Nothing written today
T 5 Nothing written today
W 6 Nothing written today
T 7 Nothing written today
F 8 Nothing written today
S 9 Nothing written today
S 10 Nothing written today
M 11 Nothing written today
T 12 Nothing written today
W 13 Nothing written today
T 14 Things Elizabeth wants on her birthday: an exercise book, a bookshelf, a Hilda Cookham doll, a tennis ball, paint box and brushes and a picture postcard album.
F 15 Nothing written today
S 16 Nothing written today
S 17 Nothing written today
M 18 Nothing written today
T 19 Nothing written today
W 20 Nothing written today
T 21 Nothing written today
F 22 Lunch at Bay Tree Cottage – Aunt Polly there, as well as Margaret’s two boys. Nurse Griffin comes to tea.
S 23 Elizabeth’s eighth birthday. Elizabeth, Alastair and I go to the zoo, with Gertrude and the two Bostock boys, Miss Daw and her niece, Violet as well as Miss Berkeley and, after seeing the animals, we have a party there.
S 24 We were at tea at Bay Tree Cottage when who should walk in but Jim!!!!! Home till the 4th July. Arthur is at tea with the Maines – Mont is threatened with consumption! A spot on his lung, they say. Jim looks fine – he has just had three days in Paris.
M 25 To Bay Tree Cottage in the evening
T 26 Jim came on his red Indian motorcycle. Lil came to tea and I went to see Mont.
W 27 17 Park Lane and then do some shopping at Shoolbreds
T 28 Bay Tree Cottage with the children to tea – Auntie Adeline there, and also Leicester. Stay there to dinner – Arthur comes in afterwards.
F 29 Rain all day
S 30 Nothing written today
July
S 1 May’s birthday – and I forgot it!
M 2 Nothing written today
T 3 Jim’s twenty-sixth birthday. He came to say goodbye to the children – Arthur and I dined there and I had a long talk to Jim in the garden
W 4 Jim goes back to France on the 7.50am train – he takes the kitten, ‘Blighty’ with him – he has a Pullman car, on the right hand side with a window, but it opens only a wee bit at the top. Jim has his back to the engine and puts his kit on the rack high up. Blighty is on the floor.
T 5 Nothing written today
F 6 Nothing written today
S 7 An air raid – saw the squadron of aircraft from the bathroom window
S 8 Val Paton to tea and supper
M 9 Nine years today since we were married. I go to town shopping at Shoolbreds and met Mother, who gave me a blouse. We have lunch with Arthur at the Rendezvous, and then go to the V&A Museum. Arthur and I have dinner at the Berkeley and then go to see ‘Zig Zag’! Some Day!!!!!!
T 10 Arthur plays golf
W 11 17 Park Lane and then on to Wallington for the night.
T 12 Nothing written today
F 13 Nothing written today
S 14 Nothing written today
S 15 Nothing written today
M 16 Miss Berkeley takes the children to tea at Bay Tree Cottage. Bobs goes to Arnos Grove to see if there is any fruit to be had.
T 17 The children and Nurse go to Saltwood, they leave Charing Cross at 3 o’clock. Arthur and I go to Colville Gardens.
W 18 Meet Auntie Adeline at Victoria Station at 3 o’clock, and we have lunch at Selfridges and then go on to Shoolbreds to shop.
T 19 I make jam at Linden Lodge.
F 20 Nothing written today
S 21 I have lunch with Auntie Fanny
S 22 We go to lunch at Bay Tree Cottage.
M 23 The dentist at 12 o’clock, and then on to 17 Park Lane. I buy picture postcards for the children.
T 24 See Lil off at Waterloo at 12.30pm, for Swanage, to meet George and then I go back to Bay Tree Cottage
W 25 Nothing written today
T 26 Bob goes to Berkhamstead and I go to lunch at Bay Tree Cottage, and then on to tea with Mrs Brewer at Acton.
F 27 We get to Kingston at 9am, and then go on to lunch at Windsor and then to dinner and stay the night at the Red Lion in Henley.
S 28 We have lunch in Wallingford. Between Henley and Shiplake, we look at a houseboat and then at The White Hart at Sonning as a possible place to stay for a long weekend. There is no room at The Mitre so we dine and sleep at the East Gate Hotel, having looked round the town before we ate.
S 29 Nothing written today
M 30 Arthur goes to Birmingham, and I go to town and went to see ‘Where are my Children?. Had lunch at Selfridges, and tea at Fullers. It rained and rained and rained all day.’
T 31 To the dentist at 3 o’clock. Rain, rain and more rain.
August
W 1 17 Park Lane. Rain, rain, rain.
T 2 I went to town, and the children were due to go to see the dentist, Mr Shelton, at 3.45 but Nurse and the children came by train into town in the morning instead of the afternoon – and there was no-one there to meet them!!! They came to Number 25, and I found them there!
F 3 Mother gave me a tip of £3. I went to the Finsbury Park Empire with Mother and Gladys.
S 4 Nothing written today
S 5 Bay Tree Cottage to tea and supper.
M 6 Gertrude to lunch and tea.
T 7 Mrs Stair’s birthday. Went to see things at the sale of the Countess of Ely – I marked a gramophone I would like. I was ill in the night with a fever.
W 8 17 Park Lane in the afternoon, and then the dentist at 5.45pm, but as I am unwell, I stay in bed all day and Miss Berkeley goes to 17 Park Lane for me. Gladys and Theo come in to tea.
T 9 I stay in bed all day. We hear we have the gramaphone from the Countess of Ely’s auction
F 10 In bed till the evening, but I dress and come down to dinner. The gramaphone came and, with it, some lovely records.
S 11 I come downstairs, but I still feel rotten. Arthur is late home – Mr Paige comes in to give me a phone message from Arthur. The children go to stay the night at Colville Gardens.
S 12 An air raid warning sounds at 7.30pm – the children have not yet come back home. Arthur is to be late again – he has RC duty.
M 13 Go to Bay Tree Cottage for lunch and tea – Mrs Edwards is there with Agnes.
T 14 I stain Nurse’s floor, and then paint the garden seat while Nurse takes the children to Bay Tree Cottage to fetch Alastair’s hat, and my umbrella, as well as a book and a picture form Auntie Adeline. In the afternoon, I take plums to Mother and also a tablecloth that she wants.
W 15 17 Park Lane and then meet May at Liverpool Street Station off the 6.30pm train from Felixstowe.
T 16 Mother, May, Theo and Mr Mann came up this morning to see us.
F 17 Dentist at 3 o’clock.
S 18 Nothing written today
S 19 Nothing written today
M 20 Auntie Adeline to lunch and to stay the night.
T 21 Bay Tree Cottage to tea with Auntie Adeline. Mr and Mrs Paige come to dine with us – then the Paiges couldn’t come, so I invited Mrs Britton to come instead.
W 22 17 Park Lane and then shopping in Maples for a rug for the night nursery and then on to Bourne & Hollingworth for lace for the nighties I am making.
T 23 Nothing written today
F 24 Put another coat of paint on the garden seat and make some plum jam, bottle some greengages and wash the pink nursery rug.
S 25 Put an enamel top coat on the garden seat and then write to Jim, Hilda, Kitty and Gertrude.
S 26 Bay Tree Cottage – Will was there, he tells us he has a Commission in the Royal Engineers. Bobs is home for a time, too. The Hares, Mrs Berry, Ada, May and Lilian are all there for tea!
M 27 Nothing written today
T 28 Lilian and Will dine here
W 29 17 Park Lane and then some shopping.
T 30 Bay Tree Cottage for tea.
F 31 Will’s birthday – he is thirty-four years old. I go up to town to change the notecase I bought on Wednesday, and take back some records I got for the gramophone, and go on to Shoolbreds for some household shopping.
September
S 1 Will goes to Sandwich.
S 2 Nothing written today
M 3 Nothing written today
T 4 We picnic in the woods – but tea only. A bad air raid went on for a long time, so we all went next door and into their cellar.
W 5 17 Park Lane and then Shoolbreds shopping.
T 6 Bay Tree Cottage to tea – there is a poor horse in the field, so we contact the Police Station to let them know.
F 7 Nothing written today
S 8 Nothing written today
S 9 We all go to Bay Tree Cottage for tea – Mr and Mrs Brewer were there – Ada whimpers!!
M 10 Nothing written today
T 11 Mr and Mrs Paige to dine here.
W 12 17 Park Lane. Saw Captain Matthews there.
T 13 Gladys and Lil came to tea. Mrs Paige sent in some lovely red apples from her garden.
F 14 Go and see how Mrs Britton is.
S 15 The piano has to go, dash it. And May comes on Monday, too!
S 16 We go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea.
M 17 May and Billie come to stay. Heard from Jim that, at long last, he has been given the DSO. Winter time, dash it – had to light the gas at 6.30pm. In bed till tea time – I have a cold.
T 18 In bed all day – a fiendish cold on my chest.
W 19 In bed till tea time.
T 20 I go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea with May.
F 21 Phone the grocery order to Shoolbreds.
S 22 Nothing written today
S 23 The children and I go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea. Arthur is in bed all day with a cold.
M 24 A beastly air raid at night – it started just as we sat down to supper.
T 25 May and I walk to Enfield after lunch. In the evening, the children give a performance, simply sweet. Alastair is a Red Indian in the first scene and he attacks the Princess (Elizabeth), and he is slain by the Prince (Billie) and lies horribly still in a roll huddled heap for ever so long. Another air raid, and Arthur is held up at King’s Cross by it.
W 26 17 Park Lane but, before that, I have lunch with Arthur and May and then go back to Bay Tree Cottage for tea. Hugh comes home.
T 27 Left, at three hours notice, for the farm at Welwyn where Mr Gregory lived. Arthur met and saw us off at King’s Cross – May and Billie, too.
F 28 Nothing written today
S 29 An air raid at night.
S 30 Arthur came for the day to the farm – there is a gorgeous moon and May and I walk part of the way back to Welwyn with him. Another air raid tonight.
October
M 1 We go to Knebworth during the day. An awful air raid, so bad we had to bring the children downstairs.
T 2 Nothing written today
W 3 My birthday! We go to Alpha Cottage to see Mr Hewlitt. Had a wire from Arthur – I order the turkeys for Christmas for Mother and for us – 20 and 18lbs.
T 4 Pouring rain today. Don’t go out all day – Miss Berkeley and the children get caught in the rain in the afternoon. Miss Claire goes into Welwyn.
F 5 May and I walk to Bells Farm and have some hot milk and rum at Codicote – a ten mile walk!!!
S 6 Hugh returned to France today.
S 7 Gladys’ birthday – I give her some silk stockings.
M 8 Go home – on the 4.25 train from Welwyn.
T 9 Go to Bay Tree Cottage in the morning. Arthur phoned to Bay Tree Cottage to say that he had been to the War Office re Jim. He heard that he was at 2nd General Hospital, Rouen. At 9pm, when we are home, there is a phone message from Bay Tree Cottage to say that Jim is at Endsleigh Palace Hospital in London!!
W 10 17 Park Lane. In the morning, go and see Jim – the old dear makes no fuss of the horrible holes in his arm and back. Lots of roses in his room.
T 11 Miss Berkeley goes out to tea, and we go to Bay Tree Cottage, dear Doc is there as well.
F 12 Go to town with the children – we took some jam to Jim – Mother and Gladys were in the room with him, as well as Leicester and there was a girl waiting downstairs to see him as well as Mr Taggart and Mr Pennicuik – all in one afternoon! Mother, Gladys and Mr Taggart come to dinner with us.
S 13 Lois comes to lunch
S 14 May and I go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea and supper and, on our way home, see a man lying in the road. Bobs, at training camp, came up from Berkhamstead on Saturday for the weekend.
M 15 May and I shop in the Broadway.
T 16 Nothing written today
W 17 17 Park Lane. I wire the farm that Miss Berkeley, Nurse and the children are to go down there for a week on Friday, 25th.
T 18 Arthur goes to Saltwood to stay for as long as he can. I go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea – Jim rang up from hospital – downstairs for the first time. Alastair was funny – he said we were having ‘dead duck’ for dinner!
F 19 Nothing written today
S 20 Gertrude came to tea.
S 21 Bay Tree Cottage for tea
M 22 May goes to Fourth General London to see Captain Pead.
T 23 Hugh’s birthday. The anniversary today of Jim’s Zenith Trench affair.
W 24 17 Park Lane, and then Shoolbred’s for general shopping. Wire Arthur to let him know what train I am coming by on Friday.
T 25 May goes to Selfridges, and the children to Bay Tree Cottage.
F 26 Miss Berkeley, Nurse, May and all the children go to Welsh’s farm, and I go to Saltwood to Arthur, but see Jim before I go, if possible. The children catch the 12.48 at Winchmore Hill and the 1.40 from Finsbury Park to Welwyn, and they should get to Sandling at 3pm. Tonight Arthur and I go to a dance!! Gorgeous! When I arrived at Saltwood, Mr Harris was at tea with them all.
S 27 Went, with Eva – in Major Maclean’s trap – to Hythe, and I bought some flowers for Mrs Stair for 2/-. Colonel Hooper came in to tea.
S 28 Miss Skinner and Colonel Hooper to tea, and Mr Harris and Captain Pead in to supper.
M 29 Colonel Hooper in to dinner, and Mr Harris and Mr Groves came in in the afternoon, as did Mr Mackintosh.
T 30 Go into Folkestone to do some shopping. In the evening, we went to the Thompsons and Colonel Thompson read lots of his poems to us.
W 31 Arthur and I went for a long walk across fields in the afternoon and, in the evening, we played bridge. There was a bad, horrid raid at night
November
T 1 We go to tea with Mr Haddon – walked into Hythe with Arthur in the morning, and went to the Castle and saw Mrs Day.
F 2 Arthur returns to town, by the 8.30am train. Eva goes to the Mackenzie’s dance and Colonel, Mrs and Miss Thompson, Major Madeleine and Colonel Hooper come to tea.
S 3 Mrs Stair and I go to Folkestone in the morning and buy some music and some household goods. Eva, Mrs Stair and I go to tea with the Thompsons, and then Eva, Mr Harris, Mr Grove and I go to see ‘Three Cheers’ in the evening.
S 4 Mrs Stair and I go to church, and Eva goes for a walk with Mr Harris, who comes back to tea and then I go, with them both, to see Mrs Day.
M 5 I go to Hythe with Eva about her boil and then get the 3.20 train back to London
T 6 Tea at Bay Tree Cottage – Auntie Adeline there. Theo went back to stay with her.
W 7 17 Park Lane
T 8 Meet May at 12.15pm at Bourne & Hollingworth and then on to meet Jim at Simpson’s at 1 o’clock, where we have lunch, and then go to see ‘Trelawny of the Wells.’
F 9 Kitty came to tea – I have beastly indigestion. May phoned the doctor who says I must stay in bed tomorrow.
S 10 I have such a rotten pain – gastritis – and am allowed only milk.
S 11 Only milk again today.
M 12 Gladys came for a few minutes in the morning, and again in the afternoon, with Miss Cooper to tea. Mr Paige also came in.
T 13 Nothing written today
W 14 Theo came in – she has had a lovely time with Auntie Adeline.
T 15 Mother came to tea. Feel beastly ill all day.
F 16 Arthur brought the gramaphone home this evening. I feel a bit better – Miss Cooper came in the car with a chicken for me from the St Dunstan’s bazaar. She’s nice, I like her.
S 17 Doc didn’t come, but I do feel better. Lil comes to tea and Bobs and Theo call in for a time en route to the Palmers Green pictures. Bobs has leave till tomorrow night – he looks fine.
S 18 May and Arthur go to tea at Bay Tree Cottage – Arthur complains to Mother about my being unwell!!
M 19 Nothing written today
T 20 Mother’s birthday. I go downstairs to tea!!
W 21 Nothing written today
T 22 Nothing written today
F 23 Nothing written today
S 24 Nothing written today
S 25 Go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea, and come back in a cab.
M 26 Nothing written today
T 27 Bay Tree Cottage to tea, and come back in a cab
W 28 Nothing written today
T 29 Go to Palmers Green, by bus with May and Billie, to get a grey jersey for him. Kitty was in the bus with us.
F 30 Go to the city with May – Mr Frank Turner – and then on to Shoolbreds for shopping.
December
S 1 May and Billie go back to Felixstowe. I go to Bay Tree Cottage to tea – Randall Berry there to tea, too. Lil and Gladys walk home with me.
S 2 Gertrude in to lunch, and Vernon and Dorothy come to tea and supper. I sold my British Eastern to Vernon for £1/10/-.
M 3 In bed till tea time.
T 4 Nothing written today
W 5 Mr Grover to tea and dinner – Arthur on duty, but returns at 9.30pm. Gladys and Miss Cooper call in the morning, and Lil came in in the evening. Arrange to meet Mr Grover at 2.45pm, at the Regent Palace Hotel, tomorrow. Arthur and I went to the New Gallery and dined at the Café Royal.
T 6 I go to town for Christmas presents
F 7 Gladys came in this morning, just as I got out of my bath, to say Jim is engaged to Ada Young!!! I go to Bay Tree Cottage for tea, and Arthur comes in to dinner, too. Feel beastly ill all day.
S 8 A note from Mr Grover to say he enjoyed his visit here. Gladys, Jim and Ada Young go to Westgate for a week. Still feel beastly ill all day.
S 9 Nothing written today
M 10 Arthur has his people in to play bridge here. The doctor came today and told me I am to see a specialist.
T 11 Nothing written today
W 12 Nothing written today
T 13 Doc came and told me I am to lie down for four weeks!!!!!
F 14 So I go to town to finish my Christmas shopping before I can be stopped! Maples, Shoolbreds, Debenham & Freebody – choose a sweet little blue gown – and then on to Marshall & Snelgrove. Have lunch at the Rendezvous with Arthur, and choose a lovely string of pearls in Bond Street – Arthur’s present to me. Go to Buzzard’s for tea, and then home.
S 15 Had a devil of a night last night, and feel beastly ill today. No margarine or butter to be had anywhere.
S 16 Kitty and Jimmy come in the morning, Gertrude comes to lunch – and Lilian to tea!
M 17 Write to Agnes Edwards, and make a shopping list for things Arthur will buy for me at Buzzard’s and at Shoolbreds. Must get some holly.
T 18 Auntie Adeline comes to see me before lunch, en route to Bay Tree Cottage. An air raid started soon after 6pm and went on till 9.30pm. The children and Miss Berkeley sleep downstairs.
W 19 Bobs comes home for Christmas leave. Came to see me as soon as he got home – he looks so fine in his cadet uniform.
T 20 Bobs and Theo come and also Doc.
F 21 Doc and Gladys came and collected a 13lb turkey and half a Stilton back to Bay Tree Cottage.
S 22 Stayed in bed till after lunch. Mother and Theo came for the 16lb turkey. Bobs, and his friend,Colwell came about 10am and took a 9lb turkey.
S 23 Jim and Ada came in the morning and also Kitty Maine.
M 24 Gertrude and Mrs Stair come for Christmas
T 25 Arthur gave me a lovely string of pearls, Mother a blouse etc. The children came in to us for their presents and Lilian, Maud, Vernon, Dorothy and Eva came about 12.30pm. After lunch, Eva, Elizabeth, Alastair and I went to Bay Tree Cottage in a cab – met Gladys along the road there! Jim gave both Elizabeth and Alastair scooters! All my people came here about 9.30pm, and Mother and Mrs Young were singing carols in the porch.
W 26 After lunch, I had a cab to Bay Tree Cottage and spent the rest of the day there. Bobs went back to Berkhamstead about 8pm.
T 27 Nothing written today
F 28 Nothing written today
S 29 Nothing written today
S 30 Nothing written today
M 31 Nothing written today
Letters Fomr Her Grandfather
Sunthorpe
Wallington
Surrey
June 23rd 1909
My dear Ethel and Arthur
We were delighted when we received the wire about half an hour ago. It is indeed good news and we all send you much love and heartiest congratulations and the best of wishes for all three of you. I have not have not yet decided whether I care about being a great aunt but we shall do our best to get used to it. It seems to pile a few years on to one’s already advanced age.
Anyhow, baby will just look sweet in her bassinette and blue ribbons and I am quite sure we all join in your gladness.
With much love
Yours affectionately
Grace
Sunthorpe
Wallington
Surrey
September 6th 1909
My dear Ethel and Arthur
What a perfectly delightful tea basket! We do thank you most sincerely for it. I am sure it will be a just most useful thing whilst we are travelling and also after we get to Hobart. They are great people for picnics, apparently. I do think it is so good of you to send it to us.
I have been packing my clothes today and cannot say it is a particularly cheerful thing to do. I am so glad we both saw you altogether on Tuesday. I did so much want Will to have seen you all.
With much love and many thanks
Yours, lovingly
Grace
Sunthorpe
Wallington
Surrey
October 7th 1910
My dear Ethel
Your beautiful baby arrived on the 5th to wish me all good wishes on the return of my birthday anniversary. I was very pleased to welcome her and see her bonny face amongst many other who came to greet me on that day. I shall be very proud to introduce her to our circle of friends, feeling sure that she will not only be admired but will bring much credit to her parents, whom I love very much.
May wisdom be given you to train her for a useful and happy life is the prayer of
Your ancient, loving
Grandad
Sunthorpe
Wallington
Surrey
October 2nd 1911
My dear Ethel
Just a line to wish you and Arthur a very happy anniversary of your birthday, and many more to follow; God has been very good to you in finding you such a good husband and giving you such a beautiful treasure of a daughter. I am almost inclined to be jealous of such happiness! The thought of a home like yours makes me wish I was young agin, but my old, shaky bones tell me this cannot be so I will try to be contented and wish you may long be spared and enjoy a long and happy life.
Your affectionate, old
Grandad
© VCRT