Description
Object description
24 ms letters (147pp, plus ts transcriptions, 42pp) he wrote to his sister, Doris Atkins, in New Zealand, between 1936 and his marriage in 1943, giving details of his moving to England from New Zealand to find work, writing from the boat from Freemantle (February 1936), his arrival in Britain (April 1936), his first impressions of London, meeting his relatives, seeing speedway racing at Wembley Stadium, a trip to the Soviet Union (June - July 1936) and detailing his Socialist views, he was involved in the Unemployed Workers' Union, a Communist Front organisation (the Soviet Union offered cheap tours of Russia to likely sympathisers), with very detailed descriptions of Leningrad and Moscow, being impressed with the building programmes, travelling across the Soviet Union to Rostov on Don, seeing factories built as part of the 5 year plan, and through Georgia and the Trans Caucasian Republic, returning to England, attending a meeting in Hyde Park to demonstrate against Fascists in Spain, and discusses the starting of the Spanish Civil War, with the possibility of a world-wide revolution (August 1936), buying a motorbike, describing television, watching football matches, buying and selling cars, ice skating, talking about the coronation of George VI (May 1937), working in several different jobs over the next few years, eventually ending as a machine fitter (May 1939), discussing the start of the war and hope that it would lead to revolution, with descriptions of the blackout, defences and air raid sirens (September 1939), food prices rising, the harsh winter, and listening to accounts of the Red Army in Finland (February 1940), descriptions of the bombing of London, and praise for the ARP, fire brigade and utilities repair men, colleagues and family being called-up, and his opinions on the course of the war and the countries' leaders (November 1940), his Army training near Bournemouth (he joined as a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) in April 1942, despite being over 40), his belief that only Russia can beat Germany on the continent, and that Socialism is on the rise, moving to a technical school in Brighton (July - August 1942), and descriptions of his wedding (July 1943). Throughout he describes life in the UK, his wages, and interest in cars and motorbikes. Together with: a brief biography by his son (2pp, 2013); 10 photographs, showing Butcher and friends, and the mouth of the Elbe, while with a LAD (Light Aid Detachment) attached to 21st Anti-Tank Regiment, Guards Armoured Division, and later the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in North West Europe (1944 - 1946), and copies of photographs of him, his family, and 78 views he took of his trip to the Soviet Union (1936).
Content description
24 ms letters (147pp, plus ts transcriptions, 42pp) he wrote to his sister, Doris Atkins, in New Zealand, between 1936 and his marriage in 1943, giving details of his moving to England from New Zealand to find work, writing from the boat from Freemantle (February 1936), his arrival in Britain (April 1936), his first impressions of London, meeting his relatives, seeing speedway racing at Wembley Stadium, a trip to the Soviet Union (June - July 1936) and detailing his Socialist views, he was involved in the Unemployed Workers' Union, a Communist Front organisation (the Soviet Union offered cheap tours of Russia to likely sympathisers), with very detailed descriptions of Leningrad and Moscow, being impressed with the building programmes, travelling across the Soviet Union to Rostov on Don, seeing factories built as part of the 5 year plan, and through Georgia and the Trans Caucasian Republic, returning to England, attending a meeting in Hyde Park to demonstrate against Fascists in Spain, and discusses the starting of the Spanish Civil War, with the possibility of a world-wide revolution (August 1936), buying a motorbike, describing television, watching football matches, buying and selling cars, ice skating, talking about the coronation of George VI (May 1937), working in several different jobs over the next few years, eventually ending as a machine fitter (May 1939), discussing the start of the war and hope that it would lead to revolution, with descriptions of the blackout, defences and air raid sirens (September 1939), food prices rising, the harsh winter, and listening to accounts of the Red Army in Finland (February 1940), descriptions of the bombing of London, and praise for the ARP, fire brigade and utilities repair men, colleagues and family being called-up, and his opinions on the course of the war and the countries' leaders (November 1940), his Army training near Bournemouth (he joined as a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) in April 1942, despite being over 40), his belief that only Russia can beat Germany on the continent, and that Socialism is on the rise, moving to a technical school in Brighton (July - August 1942), and descriptions of his wedding (July 1943). Throughout he describes life in the UK, his wages, and interest in cars and motorbikes. Together with: a brief biography by his son (2pp, 2013); 10 photographs, showing Butcher and friends, and the mouth of the Elbe, while with a LAD (Light Aid Detachment) attached to 21st Anti-Tank Regiment, Guards Armoured Division, and later the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in North West Europe (1944 - 1946), and copies of photographs of him, his family, and 78 views he took of his trip to the Soviet Union (1936).
History note
Cataloguer SJO