Description
Object description
Ms letter (10pp), dated 5 October 1939, written to her younger sister 'Blessed' (Mary) who was living in Sarawak, covering her experiences in Hawkchurch, Devon, during the early weeks of the Second World War, describing in excellent detail her reaction to the phoney war "the feeling everywhere is queer and tense and in a way the most difficult thing to bear is the absence of events", her role on the village committee for receiving evacuees, the difficulties faced in housing five evacuees for three weeks, their lack of adequate clothes, their health, diet, behaviour and discipline, and the strain on the village water supply, the disparity in living conditions, noting the return of many evacuees to London (including her five), and her decision not to house further evacuees due to the disease, cost and the welfare of her own children, her daughter Jill's education at Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College, Stanway, mentioning naval camouflage and how the Admiralty "don't seem to be at all afraid of submarines and expect to get them all swept up in a few weeks", her impressions of London and the atmosphere during the black-out as "weirder and eerier than anything you can imagine", and her strong criticism of the New Statesman's attitude in reporting the actions of the war government.
Content description
Ms letter (10pp), dated 5 October 1939, written to her younger sister 'Blessed' (Mary) who was living in Sarawak, covering her experiences in Hawkchurch, Devon, during the early weeks of the Second World War, describing in excellent detail her reaction to the phoney war "the feeling everywhere is queer and tense and in a way the most difficult thing to bear is the absence of events", her role on the village committee for receiving evacuees, the difficulties faced in housing five evacuees for three weeks, their lack of adequate clothes, their health, diet, behaviour and discipline, and the strain on the village water supply, the disparity in living conditions, noting the return of many evacuees to London (including her five), and her decision not to house further evacuees due to the disease, cost and the welfare of her own children, her daughter Jill's education at Miss Kerr-Sanders' Secretarial College, Stanway, mentioning naval camouflage and how the Admiralty "don't seem to be at all afraid of submarines and expect to get them all swept up in a few weeks", her impressions of London and the atmosphere during the black-out as "weirder and eerier than anything you can imagine", and her strong criticism of the New Statesman's attitude in reporting the actions of the war government.
History note
Cataloguer MLA