Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Landsdowne House
Tonbridge, Kent
Jan 6th, 1941
Dear Family,
This has been a cheerful day, rejoicing over the capture of the ‘Bardia’ and feeling very
pleased with the Australians. It must have been a wonderful piece of generalship.
Here I am in Tonbridge again, kind old Mrs. Such welcomed me back and runs round after me with
glasses of hot milk all day because she thought I looked pale. As a matter of fact, I am quite well
again but they said I must have a couple of teeth out, so I insisted on coming to my own dentist and
they gave me leave for the purpose. He refused to take out more than one – said it wasn’t necessary
– so I was pleased. I had gas and shall never have a tooth out any other way if I can help it. It was
quite pleasant!
Every morning when I look out my window, I congratulate myself on being here as it has been
snowing hard for a week and I wouldn’t have enjoyed plunging out into it in the early mornings. It is
nothing like as heavy as last year, but still, it’s pretty cold. It is very beautiful though; everything
looks so different.
I wondered what you were all doing on Xmas day. I hope you had had some rain and weren’t
parched with heat.
I had quite a pleasant day. I was out of bed, but it was very cold for travelling and the train services
were curtailed, so I stayed at the hospital till after the holidays. So that I shouldn’t feel lonely in a
room by myself the Matron suggested that I should help in the ward, just as much as I felt inclined to
and we had a jolly day. The patients were in good spirits and enjoyed the Xmas tree and various little
festivities arranged for them. On Boxing Day, the hospital gave the nurses a slap-up dinner, while the
sisters carried on the work in the ward.
I expect I shall be back there next week, but I thought I might as well take a little spell while I had the
chance, so I am not hurrying.
I went up to London yesterday to do a little shopping in the sales and to view the damage in the City
after the incendiary raid of last week. It certainly must have been a glorious blaze! There are
numbers of good-sized areas with every building gutted, but it is a marvel it didn’t spread through
the whole district. The fire services did wonderful work. Gracechurch Street, with my bank in it, was
quite untouched, for which I was grateful as my passport and any valuables I have are in the safe
there. St Paul’s stands serenely unburnt, though practically every house immediately surrounding it
is burnt. I saw a film the other day, which is sure to go out to you, giving a good idea of the blaze.
The Guildhall, I fear, is beyond repair, though bits of the walls are standing still. Certain trades are
very hard hit – they tend to congregate in the same parts – the soft-goods merchants (I think they
deal in sheets and blankets etc) had their centre in the damaged part, and the booksellers too have
had a bad time. Still, do not imagine that the whole of the City is wiped out, it is only patches here
and there. My bank, which has only a skeleton staff in the London office, had one of the soft-goods
merchants established and carrying on in their premises.
Housekeeping is getting very difficult – I feel glad I don’t have to cope with it. The shortages occur
suddenly and very often just locally due to transport difficulties. The meat ration is reduced to half
worth this week, which seems to hit people hard. I don’t think the English are very adaptable about
food – they like things they’ve always been used to, and not to be able to have their two solid meat
meals a day hurts them – also the meat substitutes such as eggs and cheese none too plentiful, and
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
one can’t eke things with fritters and things like that because of the shortage of frying fat. However,
I find I am always provided somehow with satisfying meals, and at Xmas I don’t believe anyone went
without the usual fare, though a bit curtailed.
Well, love to you all, Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Tonbridge
Jan 22nd, 1941
Dear Family,
I have very little news so this will just be a scribble.
I go back to Farnham to the hospital tomorrow, where I hear they are very short-handed and busy.
I have had a lovely rest – had my teeth satisfactorily fixed up, had several trips to London, had a
permanent wave, and am going back feeling quite cheerful. It has snowed on and off all this month –
lovely for walking when it is fresh, and very sloppy when it is thawing.
I saw a couple of ballets in London – one lovely one “The Wise Virgins”. The wise virgins were very
superior and smug, and the foolish ones delightfully foolish and inconsequent.
Today I am going to “The Great Dictator”.
Air activity has been much less. The concentrated incendiary raids must be rather terrifying, but they
are learning to deal with them quickly and thoroughly.
Helen Taylor has beaten them out on the roof of her hospital several times.
They are battering at Tobruk today – so I hope tonight we shall have good news.
Much love to you all
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
Feb 15th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have settled down to this busy life again and am liking it much better now. I am in a more
interesting ward with quite nice staff, and more method, and also, I am getting used to the pretty
rough conditions of life and am getting the hang of the work. At first it was very hard to find out
what was expected of me as no-one ever had time to explain anything, but I learned by my mistakes
and now feel more or less at home. There seems to be a shortage of nurses, in contrast to the
oversupply of masseuses, so I expect I shall stick to this for a while now.
There is a bit of spring in the air the last few days which make all the difference to one’s outlook. The
air is not so piercingly cold, and the black-out does not last so long. I still have to find my way here
by torchlight in the mornings, but the evenings are getting much lighter.
I have thought about changing my billet to somewhere nearer the hospital, but I have got used to
the long walk now and rather like it, and the two Miss Andrews with whom I live are extremely kind.
Also, I can have unlimited hot baths, which are sometimes a difficulty and I have an electric point in
my room and a radiator. So, I think I’ll stay where I am.
My Xmas parcels arrived all together on Feb 1st and I am enjoying all the good things in them. We are
really very well fed here considering everything, but a few extras do make a nice change. All the jams
you can buy seem to taste the same as they all appear to be made with a basis of apple. If I want to
have a meal in my billets on my day off it is quite hard to buy anything, as the shops will only sell a
small quantity of eggs, cheese etc to the people registered with them for their rations and you have
no hope of just walking in and getting some.
The latest rather alarming shortage is face-creams and powders! They are unobtainable in this
district, but I believe can still be bought in London.
On my last day off I went to Winchester by bus – a pretty run of 2 hours. I hoped to meet Susie
there, but she was prevented from coming at the last minute.
Yesterday Helen Taylor came down from London and spent the day. It was nice to see her. She
seems very happy with her work at a London Hospital.
There are some nice girls on the nursing staff. The nicest one unfortunately left last week. The VHD’s
and Auxiliaries like myself come from all sorts of places and jobs. One is an opera singer and a very
nice girl on my ward has been an interpreter in Central Europe for the last 5 years and speaks 7
languages. Most of them, though, are rough good-hearted Irish girls. They are having a grand time
with hundreds of soldiers, mostly Canadian and New Zealand billeted round about. Aldershot is only
3 miles away.
The situation in the Balkans seems very critical, and Australia must be watching Japan anxiously.
Ethel Stuckey said to me some months ago that she thought she’d go home soon as she believed the
centre of war was going to move away from England and she didn’t think there was any great need
to stay. It looks as if she might be right. I believe all the casualties from the Sudan are being sent to
South Africa not back here.
Wavell’s action has been most spectacular and thrilling, hasn’t it?
Love to everyone,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
March 18th, 1941
Dear Bunny and David,
Your parcel arrived a week or so ago and I am thrilled with the cardigan. It is a perfect fit and just the
right colour to go with my things. It also has a particularly nice neck which suits me, so I am very
pleased. I suppose Bun chose it – she is a very good picker. Thank you ever so much.
Also thank you for the Xmas cable which I was very pleased to get. I thought of you all on Xmas
morning with probably a Xmas tree on the veranda.
I went up to London last week to say goodbye to Ethel Stuckey. I hate the idea of her going just now
– the sea is a most dangerous spot, but she was most anxious to get away before, having been here
2 years as she thought there might be difficulties in leaving. I hadn’t heard it, but she tells me men
aren’t allowed to leave after that time and the same might apply to women. Also, she is rather
homesick and not very keen on her job and she doesn’t think there is any desperate shortage of
nurses here yet. So, she is going back and if it seems desirable, will enlist with the AIF nurses out
there. She has said for a long time that the centre of the war is going to move away from England,
and she may be right.
Anyway, I think I will stay till summer and see how things are then.
I hope you have weathered the drought alright. It must have been grim from all accounts. The last
letter said it seemed by the papers to have rained on the NW slopes.
I hope the boys are well. I loved the last snaps, showing how much they had grown. I suppose you
have again been facing the problem of whether to send John to school or not.
I hope Mrs Bowling is better and happily settled at Glen Leigh.
There doesn’t seem to be much news. I am very busy, and the weeks fly by. I quite like the work now
and am quite happy though I wish I had a little more leisure. The life seems to suit me, as I am very
well.
I don’t seem to have any news these days as one week is very much like another. The air has been
fairly quiet lately, though the last few nights we have heard the bombers going over pretty steadily.
They haven’t bothered to leave anything here though.
The weather is warming up which is a great relief. It hasn’t been a very severe winter, but I have had
to be out in it at unpleasant times which made me notice it.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
March 21st, 1941
Dear Family,
I know I have neglected you lately, but I didn’t realise how badly until I came to write. The weeks just
fly by. I grudge spending any of my time off writing letters, and my daily 2 hours goes just nowhere!
Sometimes I sit down and start to read the paper and drop off to sleep and there it is wasted! Other
times I can’t resist getting out for a breath of air, after the much-heated wards in spite of letters
calling to be written. And then there are always necessary bits of mending, shopping etc to be done.
However, I must manage better in future.
I am very well – the busy, regular life seems to suit me, and I am liking the work now. I think I’ll stay
here for a few months but will try eventually to get moved to an orthopaedic hospital where the
work will be more interesting for me. I don’t regret the nursing experience at all, it has been
interesting to see things from a different angle.
They are mustering up all the women now, so I may feel before long that there are plenty of people
to do all the work here, particularly if the war doesn’t get any more intense in England. In that case I
should probably come home at the end of this year, but I haven’t made up my mind yet.
I always make good use of my days off. Last week I went to Reading for the day and met Dorothy
Gurner (Daisy Osborne’s cousin). She has a volunteer job in Reading hospital looking after the card
index. The week before I went up to London to have a farewell lunch with Ethel Stuckey. I suppose
she has left by now. I’m afraid she has chosen a very bad time to leave. I heard of someone today
who after a week at sea was landed at home again - I suppose the risks were considered too great.
We had a nice day together and went to see an excellent performance of “Dear Brutus”. I went up
the night before so as to have plenty of time there and was lucky in striking a very peaceful night.
London looked pretty much the same. I was interested to see the tube dwellers again. They looked
very much more at home there than when I saw them last. They have their places booked now –
either in 3 tier bunks ranged along the walls, or a space on the platform where they make up their
beds, spreading newspapers then, perhaps, a bit of old carpet, and then a few cushions and
blankets. They seemed to be spending the evening quite contentedly with their knitting or playing
cards and they can buy their supper there. The canteen girls walk along the lines filling their mugs
from huge watering cans of tea or coffee.
The raids have not been so bad lately. Certainly, Farnham is very peaceful. We hear them overhead
pretty often at night, but they never stop here. They have been concentrating on ports.
After all this time I am beginning to take an
interest in my surroundings, and I learn that
Farnham is an interesting old town. They
have very complete records of it back to the
time of the Norman conquests, and
particularly about the time of John and
Henry III when the barons were so
powerful. The old castle which dominates
the town was originally the home of the
Bishops of Winchester, but now he lives
nearer to the cathedral and the Bishop of
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Guildford lives here. I am reading an interesting book about it all written by the local RC priest who is
a learned student of mediaeval times. Many of the buildings, mills etc are still standing, and it is
interesting to compare the conditions of living, farming methods, expenses, etc with these times. As
the weather improves, I shall do some exploring on my bicycle.
Rationing of jam has come in this week – 8oz per month. As I easily use 16oz per week, I won’t like it
much, but I have a very nice little store in reserve from my Xmas parcels, so I am luckier than most
people. It is hard on the children, who have to do with a good deal of filling up on bread. Treacle and
golden syrup are included in the ration.
The shortages are often only temporary. The butter ration has been increased to 4oz this week,
though the total fat ration, including cooking fat, remains the same – 8oz per week.
I found I was able to buy face-creams in London. The production has been reduced to 25% of the
normal, but the smaller amount will be appearing at regular intervals.
They are producing a rayon stocking instead of the silk, which doesn’t look bad.
The shops were full of pretty clothes – spring hats etc.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Wortley Cottage, Wortley
Wotton-under-Edge
Gloucestershire
April 30th, 1941
Dear Family,
I am having a few days holiday between jobs. I said goodbye to Farnham a few days ago, spent a
night with Susie and a night in London and then came here to the Humphrey Lloyds. Humphrey is in
the army and Crewdson, the eldest boy, was at preparatory school near here, so Becky brought the
rest of the family to a cottage nearby. One of her sisters is also here with her 2 children. They have a
charming cottage, and they like to take a PG in their spare room to help make ends meet. I am
enjoying it very much. Gloucestershire is very lovely – all steep green hills, grey stone cottages and
magnificent trees. It is quite new country to me.
I saw Helen in London. She has just come to an end of her job too and has got a very good
appointment for a new one. She has a few days to spare, so I have persuaded her to come here too
and she arrives tomorrow. London has had a couple of bad blitzes lately which must have been very
nerve racking and of course they mean busy nights for her attending to casualties. She was quite
cheerful though, in spite of it all.
I got my invitation to Farnham Castle the day before I left and went there for tea and saw all over it.
It is a most interesting old place, the home of the bishop of Winchester from about 1100 to 1800.
Much of the architecture is pure Norman though it has been added to at different periods ever since
and so is an awful jumble of styles. It has been tastefully and cleverly modernised and furnished in
recent years. The moat makes a charming sunken garden surrounding it. Much of the furniture is old
and interesting. There is a chair in the chapel presented by Charles II to his friend Bishop Morley who
lived there. In order to make it more episcopal he had a carved bishop’s mitre added to the top of
the back, but two voluptuous nude ladies carved in the arms look rather out of the picture.
When I arrived at Susie’s they had just made the tragic discovery that a fox had killed 5 of her 12
precious fowls. In view of the meat position, we could not waste the mutilated corpses so spent the
morning hacking off the useable bits which made a very good stew.
There was a raid on Portsmouth, 6 miles away, that night. The guns sounded very loud to me, but
Rosemary assured me it was very mild. The whole sky was lit up by the fires and we could see the
flames. Portsmouth has had a bad time. It is hard the way the same places get hammered again and
again while in others they hardly know there is a war on. Most country places are very peaceful. The
ports and industrial towns, of course, have to expect it.
I suppose you heard Mr Churchill’s speech on Sunday night. It was grave, but on the whole
encouraging, and was as cheerful as we had any right to expect. Things are certainly very grim just
now. I am waiting anxiously to hear if they have got the Anzacs away from Greece successfully. I’m
afraid it will be harder than Dunkirk, even.
It is comforting that America is bucking up and helping with the shipping problem in the Atlantic.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ and St Martin’s Orthopaedic Hospital
Pyrford, near Woking
Surrey
May 16th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have been here a fortnight now and am settling down well. It is a very nice hospital, really a ‘Waifs
and Strays’ home for crippled children but for the war it has been enlarged with extra temporary
buildings to take soldiers and adult civilians. All the cases are orthopaedic and some of the leading
surgeons in that line are there, so I have the opportunity of seeing some very good work. As far as
nursing goes it is rather dull, as the patients are mostly healthy people and, after their operations
are usually popped into plaster of Paris splints, so there is not a great deal to do for them. Serving
meals and housework occupy most of my time, but I am able to watch the operations and am
bringing my knowledge of modern orthopaedic methods up to date a bit.
There is a very pleasant
atmosphere about the place –
none of the bullying, carping
attitude towards the junior nurses
which I found hard at Farnham at
first, although I got used to it. I
haven’t heard a harsh word since I
got here! I think it is partly that
they have a better class of nurse
here (many are evacuated from St
Thomas’), and also that the
working hours are so much shorter
that everyone is not eternally tired
and ragged out. Also, there is no
shortage of nurses, so there is no
need to hound them on all the
time to get through the work. I am finding it quite a rest-cure, though I must admit I find it very dull
from the nursing point of view. I go on duty at 8am instead of 7 most days, have 3 hours off instead
of 2 and get off a little earlier in the evening.
I am in very comfortable billets
just at the foot of the drive,
with a nice large room and
every comfort, and the hospital
has lovely grounds with grass
and trees, to sit in on one’s off
time.
It is pretty country – rather flat,
being an extension of the
Thames valley. At present it is
lusciously green, and the trees
and fruit blossom are lovely. It
is ideal for bicycling and
This is one part of the hospital - there are 3 blocks like this. You can see the
long veranda wards.
1I was billeted in the house at the end of the road
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
practically everyone does. We are a mile and a half from a village and 3½ mile from the nearest
town, Woking. Pyrford is nothing but a collection of houses, a few farms, a charming little Norman
church and a wee post-office -store.
I am billeted with very kind and agreeable working people in one of the Council houses which are
becoming an eyesore all over England – rather showy looking but very jerry-built. However, I am
very comfortable.
Yesterday I bicycled over to Chobham to see Cousin Constance Lloyd and Marabel – they are only
about 6 miles away and are very kind and friendly. Marabel is also nursing at a nearby hospital. She
is a very capable girl with lots of character and is Commander of her VA detachment.
The Spring has been very late and cold. We are only just beginning to get warm weather and it is still
very nippy when I get up in the morning. Of course, it is still pretty early, as the clocks have been put
on 2 hours this summer as a special war measure, to save lighting. It is light up till 11pm now and
lovely for bicycling after work.
I am in a ward consisting of an enormously long veranda housing 60 convalescent soldiers. They are
a cheerful lot of ruffians, most of them up and about all day. There is one free Frenchman there and
2 Belgians, so I practise my French a little. Many wards are open-air and are, of course, lovely now
but must be freezing in the winter.
We are watching Iraq and Syria anxiously at the moment – France seems likely to completely turn
dog on us at any moment and I shouldn’t be surprised if Turkey did too.
Hess’s arrival in Scotland last week was a sensation and we hope before long to hear an explanation
of his motives if it has been possible to discover them.
I haven’t been to London since the last very damaging raid, but I believe they made an awful mess of
parts of it. The Abbey had been so lucky up to date that one hoped its luck might hold.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas Hospital
June 17th, 1941
Dear Family,
Here it is the middle of June and this is the first really warm day we have had! I thought we were
going to miss the summer altogether. It is a lovely evening. I got off at 5:30, bicycled along the
towpath of the Wey River Canal, which is quite close, and am now sitting on the bank toasting in the
sun and writing. It is 8:30 pm and as warm as can be, and people are swimming in the river and
fishing and canoeing. A really good summer’s day in England is hard to beat, but they are so few of
them. The two hours extra summer time are very nice. It is light till midnight now. In fact, it is never
really dark.
I am still liking the hospital and am
glad I moved. I sometimes get a bit
restless with all the housework etc,
but there is a lot that is interesting
too.
I went up to London yesterday. Did a
little shopping and got my tennis
racquet and golf clubs out of Harrod’s
store. I don’t know whether my hand
will hold a racquet yet, but I’ll try it
out. There are several nice en-toutcas courts here and a golf course
nearby.
One has to shop cautiously now that clothes rationing has come in. There are 66 coupons allowed
per year. A dress takes from 10 to 20, shoes 5, stockings 2, a handkerchief 1, a nightdress 7, an oz of
knitting wool 2 etc. It really doesn’t worry me at all. I have a good stock of clothes and don’t want to
buy anything except an occasional pair of stockings or gloves. I spend nearly all of my time in
uniform so haven’t much opportunity to wear out what I have got.
Since I wrote last there has been all the tragic and disappointing business of Crete. Mr Churchill in
his last speech in parliament justified the attempt to hold it against such hopeless odds, but the
losses have been very sad. However, I suppose we must expect that sort of thing, and more of it yet.
Things seem to be going well in Syria.
I have been moved to another and much more interesting ward. The patients, all either soldiers from
Dunkirk or air-raid casualties, are more ill and need more attention. The open-air wards are very nice
just now.
They feed us wonderfully well here considering the restrictions. I think the hospitals are allowed a
certain amount of extra and there is a dietitian on the staff who plans a reasonably well-balanced
diet with what is obtainable. Shortages fluctuate with bombing and shipping losses, but we manage
quite well on the whole.
I go to the pictures in Woking now and then, ‘The Long Voyage Home’ was the last one and was very
good.
You can cycle for miles along this towpath and it is always cool and pretty.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
I listened to a recorded broadcast from Australia about the war effort a few nights ago. It was
impressive, particularly the increase of manufacture of war materials. One of the speakers was an
engineer lecturing to air-force students on mathematics in his spare time. It might have been
Howard, but it wasn’t. It was all rather out of date as the first lot was sunk and this was repeated.
Helen is coming down here for the next weekend. I have managed to get her a room. She is usually
free in the weekends, but accommodation is hard to get out of London as every inch is full. I am
hoping for good weather so that we can row on the river in the evenings, which is really very
delightful.
The air-raids have been very light here. A few planes come over but there have been few bombs. It is
rather noisy as the outer ring of the London AA defences is just here and the guns are louder than
anything, I have heard yet and the shrapnel rattles down through the trees in the garden. It doesn’t
worry us at all now as the hours of darkness when they can come over are so short. In the winter,
the girls all wear tin helmets going to and from their billets.
I had dinner with the Roberts at Putney yesterday. They were cheerful and have weathered the
blitzes well. They have all moved their beds downstairs into the sitting rooms and have sent all the
furniture they set much value on to the basement of a friend’s large house, but otherwise were
carrying on much as usual. Cousin Harrie has always kept a good table, so restrictions must worry
her, but I noticed she gave us a very good meal yesterday.
I hope you are all well and happy. Much love to everyone.
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford, Surrey
July 13th, 1941
Dear Family,
We have just had almost a month of unbroken heatwave – plunged into it suddenly from the depths
of winter, and it is now breaking up with a series of thunderstorms. It really has been hot – round
about 95 degrees on the wards and 110 on the asphalt outside where we wheel the beds. I must say
I have enjoyed it, although on duty in a starchy uniform is not where one would choose to be. We
spend most of our spare time cooling off in the vicinity of the river, and everyone one has a healthylooking coat of tan.
I have been over several times to see Cousin Constance Lloyd at Chobham and she introduced me to
a Mrs Bray, who has a charming home on the canal only a mile from the hospital, and I have been to
see her 2 or 3 times.
Helen came down for a week-end last month and I borrowed a bicycle for her and we had a great
time cruising around the country, swimming and picnicking, except one evening when I led her to a
pretty pine wood near a swamp for our supper and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes, midges etc.
They usually seem to be there in millions to spoil the pretty cool looking little dells and woods.
Germany’s marching into Russia was a thunderbolt, and a serious turn of events unless the Soviet
can hold them, which they seem to be doing now better than appeared likely at first.
America’s taking over Iceland is a helpful and encouraging event.
I have been playing tennis quite a bit in the evenings lately and have been delighted to find that my
hand stands up to it quite well and I seem to be neither better nor worse than when I last played in
Australia. I had doubted that I would ever play again. It is not very brilliant tennis – singles with
another nurse, who is not very good, but it is good exercise.
I went to Farnham to see Susie last week, bicycling a good part of the way and taking the bike on the
train when I got tired. Susie’s rabbit farm was going ahead. Her 4 have increased to 50 and her first
lot of babies are ready to eat, so she is doing a useful bit of production. It is quite a business keeping
them in food, as the ration of bought food is very small, so it means growing vegetables for them
and tramping the countryside gathering green plants that they like.
A fortnight ago I was suddenly moved on to the theatre which I found intensely interesting. It was
rather nerve-racking at first, as the technique of the theatre has to be absolutely perfect and there is
no room for any cog in the wheels to make the slightest error. Just as I was over the initial part and
was thoroughly enjoying it, I was switched yesterday on to a new ward, so am now going through
the settling down process again. Every ward is differently run, according to the Sister’s ideas. What is
important in one, is negligible in another, so moving about needs a lot of adaptability.
The dry weather, following a cool damp spring has been very good for the crops, which promise to
be record ones, but it has been very bad for the vegetable gardens and peas, beans etc dried up
almost before they ripened. Allotment holders tried to water their holdings with buckets and ARP
stirrup-pumps, but it has been a job to keep things alive. However, it is raining now. It has been
glorious year for roses and the delphiniums have been as lovely as ever but were over very quickly.
Jean Blake, with whom I was friendly at Farnham has been over several times and spent the night
with me. My billeter kindly put up a stretcher in my room.
I hope you are all well, Love from, Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford
August 14th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have been on night duty for several weeks. It is a rather weird experience – not quite so bad as I
expected, but it takes a bit of adjustment of one’s self. I manage to sleep quite soundly in the
daytime but do grudge spending all the hours of sunlight in bed. Sometimes I try sleeping early or
late and going out somewhere during the rest of the day, but it is an awful struggle to keep awake all
night afterwards.
I went into Woking to the pictures yesterday – “Pimpernal Smith” – very good.
Helen came down last Saturday afternoon. We went for a ride and had tea out and when I went on
duty, she went to my billets and spent the night in my bed and the next morning I rode part of the
way home with her. He tells me Andrew is in Canada with the Empire Air Scheme and may shortly be
over here.
Tonight, we lose one of our 2 hours of extra summer time, so the blackout jumps back to 9:30pm
tomorrow. It has been a good idea and has given people useful evenings after work.
They are just starting harvesting about here and a good yield seems likely. Fruit is just beginning to
come in but is very dear and scanty. I fancied a peach yesterday but jibbed at the price 2/6 each and
finally bought a 1/3 nectarine, which was delicious. I believe they are fixing the price of plums when
they come in next week, but as soon as a price is fixed the foodstuff in question disappears from the
market, as there are always a certain number of people willing to pay the high prices secretly. The
government is trying to deal with this “black market”, but it is hard to catch them at it.
Helen brought down a S.M. Herald and I enjoyed all the familiar advertisements etc – and recipes
saying “Take 2 onions, 3 eggs, ¼ of grated cheese and other fantastic things!
In it I noted that you are still short of water on the catchment area in spite of the state-wide rain. I
hope you have had enough by now, as it would be a bad lookout for the summer.
I also noticed that Mrs Sheppard had died.
Relations between the Pacific powers are very strained at present and the atmosphere must be
pretty tense in Australia. I scan the papers anxiously for any bits of news, but they don’t have very
much. The Times is the only one that reports Australian affairs at all fully and that costs 3d now and
is very hard to get at all. Owing to the paper shortage there are limited numbers of papers printed
and if you are not a permanent and old established resident you don’t have much chance.
Russia seems to be holding on wonderfully. May she continue to do so!
Some weeks ago, I went to Goring, a pretty little town on the Thames near Reading to spend the day
with Dorothy Gurner (Daisy F-C’s cousin). We had a lovely day and went for a swim in Thames from
the private garden of some friends of hers.
Cousin Jean Fowler has come to live in Farnham. It was a pity she wasn’t there when I was at the
hospital. Her sister has a house there, and when Cos J. sold Gastard, she rented this place.
I went some weeks ago to spend a night with Ailsa Bragg (Cutler). She has a charming home on a
farm in a perfectly lovely part of Sussex. She seems very happy and takes a great interest in the work
of the place.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Your last letters say you haven’t heard from me for 6 weeks, so I don’t know if a letter has gone
astray. I am not very good, but I don’t think I have ever left writing more than a month. I find letters
take quite indefinite times, up to 3 to 4 months, but I have been lucky that I seem to have received
everything so far as I can tell. Often an early letter arrives weeks later than one written a month
later.
We have had a few weeks of rather dreary wet weather, so I hope there is a good dry spell waiting
for September when I get my holiday.
Much love to you all
Rachel
There has been very little enemy action overhead lately. Only on one night since I have come on
Night duty have the sirens gone. We hear planes overhead quite often – they are droning away at
the moment – but whereas last year they were inevitably German, now they are more often our own
night-fighters or bombers setting out or returning.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford, Surrey
Aug 22nd, 1941
Dear Family
My idea of getting lots of letters written during the long nights fell rather flat as I find one feels so
terribly dull and sleepy in the early hours of the morning that the old brain just won’t function. Even
if one gets adequate sleep in the daytime, which is unusual, one still suffers from an overpowering
drowsiness at night. I daresay in a very busy ward where there was no time to sit down it would be
different, but this ward, being mostly convalescent soldiers is chiefly busy in the mornings and
evenings. Night-duty has its compensations, though, one is free from all the routine of dusting and
cleaning and one has more to do with the patients themselves.
I am thinking of leaving here shortly. I have been quite happy here and have seen a lot of interesting
work, but I things, but I think it has served its time and I don’t want to settle here for the winter. I
believe the cold is unspeakable in the open-air wards, and the situation is very low and damp. It has
been ideal for the summer.
I am due for 3 weeks holiday in September, so don’t intend to come back afterwards unless I can’t
find anything else to do. I have given notice, but the Matron will have me back if I want. I shall have
a good look round and might even consider going home if things seem slack, though that is not very
likely.
I have applied for a massage job at a military hospital in Harrogate through the Massage Association,
which may lead to something, and have also answered several other adverts in the papers which are
not likely to.
I am thinking of going to the north of England and perhaps Scotland for my holiday. In fact, I have
taken a room at a hotel in Northumberland kept by some friends of Jessie Wishart, but now the idea
of possibly going to Harrogate to work makes me uncertain if I want to go there beforehand. I may
change my plans.
I have just had 3 nights off duty – one gets that once a month. I went up to London, saw Helen and
various other people, went to some theatres – “Blythe Spirit” was the best of them, did some
shopping, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Sept 14th Exmouth, Devon
Things have moved rapidly for me in the last couple of weeks. The Harrogate job fell through, but to
my surprise, I got an acceptance to one of my other applications and have been appointed to the
massage staff of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-on-Tyne. Not much of a town to go to, but
I hear it is a good hospital and I am very pleased about it. I start there on Oct 1st.
I therefore cancelled my holiday arrangements in the North as I shall see lots of that part of the
country in the future, and I am enjoying myself in the South and in London.
I left St Nicholas’ on Sept 2nd, stayed on in my billets for a few days to pack up etc, went down to
Susie’s for a few days, spending a night at Ailsa’s on the way, and now I am having a very pleasant
week at a hotel at Exmouth. I came here because the old cousins from Bath, Cha and Jessie, have left
their house and are living here and I thought I’d like to see them. It is a very comfortable hotel – I
have a lovely room looking over the sea and am wallowing in luxury – staying in bed late in the
morning etc and eating marvellous meals – I don’t know how they manage them on the rations. It is
a change after hospital food, good though that was for these times.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
September is providing beautiful sunshine – quite a belated summer and I am doing a lot of
sunbaking on the beach. I’ve had a few swims, but the water is icy.
Yesterday I took the ferry across the estuary to Dawlish to see the old Misses Cooke. They are
unchanging and still keep an enormous correspondence with a lot of Sydney people, so were able to
give me lots of Hunters Hill news.
England is very peaceful at present and one forgets it was ever anything else. Stray planes wander
over now and then but nothing much.
Russia still holds out magnificently and gives us a breather, of which I hope the powers that be are
taking advantage. The essential thing seems to be to produce arms and more arms.
This is a pretty little sea-side resort about 10 miles from Exeter at the mouth of the Exe. The whole
length of the beach is barricaded with barbed wire but there are a couple of small sections on which
the public is allowed to go. The sandhills behind the beach bristle with guns, but everything is very
quiet.
I enclose a few postcards of Pyrford (inserted in previous letters) – if they make this overweight, I’ll
send them separately. I was sorry to leave there in many ways, it was a nice hospital and I enjoyed
being in the country. Still, I used to get pretty fed up with nursing.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
I should very much like a few pictures of Australia, of the sort one gets in the Xmas numbers of
pictorial annuals – “Home, Australasian” or something of that sort. People so often ask me
questions, and anyway I’d like to have them for myself.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Royal Victoria Infirmary
Newcastle – on - Tyne
Oct 5th, 1941
Dear Family,
Here I am settled in my new job. Settled for about a year I suppose unless anything drastic changes
my plans. I am very pleased with everything. It is grand to be working in my own field again, and it
seems as if it would be a very good experience. I have struck, just by luck, a first-class hospital, one
of the best in the north I should think. It is a medical training hospital, so the standard of work is
high. It has about 650 beds.
It is also a massage training school, so a great variety of work is done in the Massage Department for
the benefit of the students.
It is an old hospital but has a lot of new and up to date buildings attached to it. The orthopaedic
department is one of them and has been built for the purpose and beautifully equipped. It is divided
into 7 different sections with a different type of work done in each. A qualified masseuse is in charge
of each room and is responsible for the work of the students working there. My room is the “Bath
Room” which contains every imaginable sort of electric bath and a warmed swimming pool. To
exercise one’s patients in that one dons waders and enters the pool up to the waist.
I do not live in but am lodging in a small private hotel about a mile away in a quiet suburban street. It
is just a nice walk there, but a trolley bus runs almost from door to door if required. I have settled
down in quite a nice attic room. It is a bit dingy, but I am going to brighten it up with some fresh
cretonnes, and as it has a gas fire, gas ring and reading light, I should be quite comfortable for the
winter. The food is good, and they keep a good fire in the sitting room if I don’t want to be in my
own room.
I feel quite guilty about food at present. The hospital gives us a good midday dinner without
requiring any coupons and I get another dinner at night, so it means I often have meat 3 times a day
when people outside often only get it 3 times a week. The food position is quite good at present
though. Rations have been increased this week and I don’t think anyone is suffering any hardship.
Eggs, one a fortnight, are the most tiresome shortage just now. It says a lot for the state of the Battle
of the Atlantic that shipments are coming through so well and that food can be actually increased at
this time. One feels almost ashamed when one thinks of conditions in France, Greece etc.
Newcastle, I like better than I expected. It is rather a homely sort of town, and the people have a
friendly air though they speak a strange language! I find it very hard to understand them but
suppose I’ll get used to it and will probably catch it myself. The town is very dirty and most of the
buildings are of an ugly style, but it has wide streets and some nice open spaces. My hospital is in the
middle of town but on a hill a little apart from the crowded buildings and surrounded by a park and
university buildings.
I had not realised how separate the North is from the South, where everything centres around
London. Here they don’t bother about it and lots of people have never been there.
My holiday simply flew. I raced about rather too much to find it really restful, but I enjoyed it and got
through a lot of business, dentists etc. I took a room in London when I returned from Exmouth,
dumped my luggage there, and, keeping it as a centre, went away for odd days – 2 to Cousin Jean in
Farnham, 2 to the Burrows in Bucks etc. The best theatre I saw was “No Time for Comedy”, a clever
play by an American writer with a very good cast, Diana Wynard among them. I went to “Forty
Thousand Horsemen” one day and enjoyed it, though it had a very amateurish air among the more
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
sophisticated and finished pictures one usually sees. It was exciting though and I liked hearing the
Australian voices again. It was well received by the audience who clapped and cheered.
I saw Helen quite a lot. She is very busy at her hospital and very happy there, getting very good
experience.
I have been watching the political situation out there with interest. Mr Curtin has just taken over. I
don’t suppose the change will make any vast difference, but I should think it will probably mean an
election before long as his position won’t be any more stable than Mr Fadden’s.
The chief idea at the moment is support for Russia – tanks, planes and more and more arms. The
production is speeding up well both here and in America, but the difficulty is to get them there, and
to get them there in time.
If this should happen to arrive at Xmas time, a Happy Xmas to you all, and lots of luck in 1942.
Much love,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Newcastle-on-Tyne
Nov 6th, 1941
Dear Family,
On Nov 3rd I got news about Lorraine and Howard’s daughter and am very pleased and excited.
I think I wrote to you last just after I arrived in Newcastle. I feel quite settled here now and am very
happy in my work.
Work has settled down into a routine – busy but interesting. For the first fortnight it was terribly
hectic, and I felt dazed, but I have the hang of it now. We are left very free in charge of our own
sections of the department, which is very nice, but is difficult at first. I found it particularly so as
much of the work was new to me and I found the students an awful nuisance. I still do – they come
in fresh batches every fortnight to do in practice the electricity they have learned in theory. There is
no time to show them just how you like things done or supervise them properly, but you are
responsible for all the stupid things they do, and just when they are really useful, they pass on.
However, that is only a detail. The regular staff of 10 are a particularly nice lot – you couldn’t find
nicer. Unless very busy we get one and a half hours at lunchtime, so one can slip out and do a little
shopping then, and we are usually away by 5. One of the staff, a Miss Welton (who has a brother
living at Bay View in Sydney) took me one Sunday to her little weekend shack (if you can call a solid
little one-roomed hut with walls 2 feet thick, a shack). It was about 20 miles away in the country and
we had a lovely carefree day, having al fresco meals by a big fire and going for walks.
It is getting pretty cold now, but the air is very fresh and exhilarating and makes you feel very fit. You
can walk for miles. The real winter hasn’t started yet, but I don’t think I shall mind it.
I got a fright a few days ago on finding that all my woolly underclothes had disappeared, and me
with scarcely any coupons left for the next 3 months! However, it was traced to one of the little
maids, a girl of 15, and I have got most of them back, somewhat shrunken and spoiled but still warm.
It was a great relief. I am fairly careful, but it is impossible to lock up everything when you go off
early in the morning, and once I have gone, they know the coast is clear till evening. I have
considered moving my lodgings but doubt if I can find such good value elsewhere, so shall probably
stay.
There are only a few boarders – quite a nice lot on the whole. An elderly Mr Reynard who has been
here for many years and is very well read and quite interesting; an old Miss Curtin, a retired
schoolteacher and native of Newcastle, whose whole horizon is bounded by a 20 mile radius around
the town; a Major and Mrs Scott-Moncrief, his job is to do with making smoke-screens over the
district; and a Sheila Kennedy, a motor transport corps driver of about 18, quite a nice kid but she
will invade my room every night around 10 and sit by my fire talking about her love affairs until after
midnight. I get a bit bored with it as I want to write letters, read or sleep at that time. I pay 2 guineas
a week and have a gas fire (shilling in the slot) so I don’t think I do too badly.
Last week I went to stay with a nephew of Cousin Jean Fowler and his wife (Sir Edward and Lady
Pease) at Guisborough in Yorkshire. It is in a pretty part of the country not far from Middlesbrough, a
busy industrial town. They have a very jolly little flat. The owner of the big house of the district (Lord
Guisborough) is evidently a bit impoverished and has turned his stables into flats, so the Peases have
a combination of a compact little home with all mod cons, set in the middle of the lovely park-like
grounds of a mansion. The Mansion has mostly been taken over by the military, and Lord G. and his
family seemed to be living in about 2 rooms of it. I went to tea there. The entrance hall was like a
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
museum with heads of rhinoceros and other African animals evidently shot by some members of the
family.
Another week I went up north to a little place called Wark about 30 miles away. Rather wild moorland country and very attractive. The Northern Country is very different from the soft, luscious
South, all thick with trees. It is more open and windswept and there are grey stone walls instead of
hedges. The houses are all grey stone. The farms are compact little settlements with house, stables,
pigsties, haystacks and everything enclosed within a stone wall. They look very snug; ready to
withstand a severe winter or raiders from Scotland, which they had to do a few hundred years ago. I
believe this part of the country is teeming with history, which I intend to read up sometime.
At Wark I stayed at a little hotel kept by 2 friends of Jessie Wishart. (The Wisharts were in Newcastle
while the “Sydney” was being built). It is a nice little private pub. With about 15 boarders and will be
a nice place to go when I want a change. I get a bus after lunch on Saturday but have to come back
on Sunday afternoon as I can’t get back in time on Monday.
Things have been quiet here lately. A few stray raiders over now and then, but nothing much.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Newcastle-on Tyne
Dec 7th, 1941
Dear Family,
The news has just come through on the wireless of Japan’s attacking Hawaii and Manila, which
sounds pretty ominous. I had hope Japan was only bluffing. By tomorrow I suppose America will be
in it up to the neck. It is all so horribly close to Australia that I feel very uneasy. By all accounts,
though, the government seems to have been well awake to the danger lately, and I suppose
preparations are well in hand. The trouble is to know what to prepare against. Australia is such a big
place to defend.
Before long we may be sitting back here, feeling a long way from the war and wishing there was
something we could do, as you have often felt out there! I shall feel like taking the first plane home if
things start out there!
All goes well with us here. Winter is beginning, but so far has not been at all severe – more damp
than cold, in fact some days lately have been positively hot and muggy. Tonight, however feels like
snow.
Work goes on as usual, busy but quite pleasant. We have just heard that we only get Xmas day off,
so I shall not be making any exciting plans. It is not worth going away. The government does
everything possible to discourage travelling this year, as the drain on the transport system becomes
very great, with half the population away from their homes and wanting to get home for Xmas.
There are not only no extra trains, but the services are curtailed, and no guarantee given that any
train will run as advertised.
It was sad news this week about the loss of the ‘Sydney’, she has had a fine career, but it is tragic to
have lost her, and worse still, her personnel. I felt nervous about Rupert, too, on hearing of the loss
of the Parramatta, knowing that he was doing convoy work, though, of course, I don’t know what he
is in.
I have moved my lodgings a couple of blocks down the street. I told you in my last letter that I had all
my winter woollies stolen. Well, finally all 3 maids were found to be involved in it, and in the
resultant dust-up (during which I got most of my things back) they all decided to leave.
Advertisements for new ones produced no results, so the hotel was closed at a few days’ notice. It
was rather hard on the old people who had been there for years, but all eventually found digs. Mine
is much more homely and simple, but I really like it better. I have a nice large room with a gas fire,
and the food is excellent – nice home-cooking on a most generous scale. There are 7 of us here – not
so much my own kind as at the other place, but I like them all – A dour old Scotsman, and 2 younger
men in business, I don’t know of what kind – one of them seems rather literary and artistic; one very
vivacious and amusing Scotch woman who is the fitter in a dress shop and another woman who is
the manageress of a photography business; the last one is an art student, a girl of 20.
The landlady, Miss Halliday, is a kindly, energetic woman (with a very bad temper, I hear, but no one
seems to take any notice of it and they stay here for years). She makes you feel comfortable and at
home and is managing all the work by herself as maids are unobtainable (they are all called up to the
services and working in munitions – very rightly). We all give Miss Halliday an occasional hand, and,
as a compensation, it is possible, if you come in late from a show, to have your dinner kept in the
oven and eat it by the kitchen fire with no bother to anyone, or to make yourself a cup of tea
whenever you like.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
We have had some very good shows here lately. It is one of the great advantages of Newcastle that
everything seems to come here for a week. Since the war, the best companies come too, as the
theatre world in London is not as live as usual. We have just had a very excellent ballet, and the
seats range from 1/- to 6/- for the very best, it is very satisfactory altogether. I generally go to
something every week. There have been some good pictures lately too. “49th Parallel” was grand.
We each get a Saturday morning off every 2 to3 months, making a long weekend and I had mine a
couple of weeks ago and went to Edinburgh. It was delightful, I had forgotten what a lovely city it
was! It looked beautiful through a light November mist, tinted by a weak red sun. The castle looked
magnificent towering over the town. It is a fascinating town – gives me the same feeling of
enchantment that Paris does. It was full of soldiers on leave and was very gay, I talked to both
Australian and Canadian airmen who had been in England for a month and were having 10 days
leave and were very thrilled. There were uniforms of all nationalities there. They have particularly
taken the Poles under their wing and there are so many they have actually started a university for
them.
Here in Newcastle there are masses of Norwegians. There is a hostel for them just opposite.
In Edinburgh I met the Meares – Molly and Norah, the former, a Dr, is studying for her FRCS and the
latter is an officer in the WRENs. I spent a day with her at their headquarters in Dunfermline, near
Edinburgh and enjoyed it very much. They are a fine force.
On Saturday I went to see an elderly cousin, a Mrs T. Hodgkin, who lives a few miles out of
Newcastle. (Whatever part of England one goes to; one is liable to get a letter from a stranger
starting “Dear Cousin”). She is a funny old thing, living alone in a house just crammed with curiosities
and objects of art – mostly statues from Italy and Greece – Some are very beautiful and others not
so good. She seemed rather a managing old lady and may be a bit of a nuisance but was very kind. I
like seeing different homes, and it was in very pretty country.
Dec 9th Things have moved apace the last few days, and I watch with bated breath, terrified to hear
of an attack on Darwin. But I think the Japs will have to get past Singapore first and I hope that will
be too difficult for them. Fancy poor little Nauru getting it again! I’m afraid they will try to capture it;
it is so valuable. The gov seems to be tackling the situation energetically in Aust, I notice women are
being called up and everything put on a war time footing. It will be a jolt for those who have shut
their eyes to the danger threatening.
May you all be kept safe
Much love
Rachel
Landsdowne House
Tonbridge, Kent
Jan 6th, 1941
Dear Family,
This has been a cheerful day, rejoicing over the capture of the ‘Bardia’ and feeling very
pleased with the Australians. It must have been a wonderful piece of generalship.
Here I am in Tonbridge again, kind old Mrs. Such welcomed me back and runs round after me with
glasses of hot milk all day because she thought I looked pale. As a matter of fact, I am quite well
again but they said I must have a couple of teeth out, so I insisted on coming to my own dentist and
they gave me leave for the purpose. He refused to take out more than one – said it wasn’t necessary
– so I was pleased. I had gas and shall never have a tooth out any other way if I can help it. It was
quite pleasant!
Every morning when I look out my window, I congratulate myself on being here as it has been
snowing hard for a week and I wouldn’t have enjoyed plunging out into it in the early mornings. It is
nothing like as heavy as last year, but still, it’s pretty cold. It is very beautiful though; everything
looks so different.
I wondered what you were all doing on Xmas day. I hope you had had some rain and weren’t
parched with heat.
I had quite a pleasant day. I was out of bed, but it was very cold for travelling and the train services
were curtailed, so I stayed at the hospital till after the holidays. So that I shouldn’t feel lonely in a
room by myself the Matron suggested that I should help in the ward, just as much as I felt inclined to
and we had a jolly day. The patients were in good spirits and enjoyed the Xmas tree and various little
festivities arranged for them. On Boxing Day, the hospital gave the nurses a slap-up dinner, while the
sisters carried on the work in the ward.
I expect I shall be back there next week, but I thought I might as well take a little spell while I had the
chance, so I am not hurrying.
I went up to London yesterday to do a little shopping in the sales and to view the damage in the City
after the incendiary raid of last week. It certainly must have been a glorious blaze! There are
numbers of good-sized areas with every building gutted, but it is a marvel it didn’t spread through
the whole district. The fire services did wonderful work. Gracechurch Street, with my bank in it, was
quite untouched, for which I was grateful as my passport and any valuables I have are in the safe
there. St Paul’s stands serenely unburnt, though practically every house immediately surrounding it
is burnt. I saw a film the other day, which is sure to go out to you, giving a good idea of the blaze.
The Guildhall, I fear, is beyond repair, though bits of the walls are standing still. Certain trades are
very hard hit – they tend to congregate in the same parts – the soft-goods merchants (I think they
deal in sheets and blankets etc) had their centre in the damaged part, and the booksellers too have
had a bad time. Still, do not imagine that the whole of the City is wiped out, it is only patches here
and there. My bank, which has only a skeleton staff in the London office, had one of the soft-goods
merchants established and carrying on in their premises.
Housekeeping is getting very difficult – I feel glad I don’t have to cope with it. The shortages occur
suddenly and very often just locally due to transport difficulties. The meat ration is reduced to half
worth this week, which seems to hit people hard. I don’t think the English are very adaptable about
food – they like things they’ve always been used to, and not to be able to have their two solid meat
meals a day hurts them – also the meat substitutes such as eggs and cheese none too plentiful, and
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
one can’t eke things with fritters and things like that because of the shortage of frying fat. However,
I find I am always provided somehow with satisfying meals, and at Xmas I don’t believe anyone went
without the usual fare, though a bit curtailed.
Well, love to you all, Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Tonbridge
Jan 22nd, 1941
Dear Family,
I have very little news so this will just be a scribble.
I go back to Farnham to the hospital tomorrow, where I hear they are very short-handed and busy.
I have had a lovely rest – had my teeth satisfactorily fixed up, had several trips to London, had a
permanent wave, and am going back feeling quite cheerful. It has snowed on and off all this month –
lovely for walking when it is fresh, and very sloppy when it is thawing.
I saw a couple of ballets in London – one lovely one “The Wise Virgins”. The wise virgins were very
superior and smug, and the foolish ones delightfully foolish and inconsequent.
Today I am going to “The Great Dictator”.
Air activity has been much less. The concentrated incendiary raids must be rather terrifying, but they
are learning to deal with them quickly and thoroughly.
Helen Taylor has beaten them out on the roof of her hospital several times.
They are battering at Tobruk today – so I hope tonight we shall have good news.
Much love to you all
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
Feb 15th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have settled down to this busy life again and am liking it much better now. I am in a more
interesting ward with quite nice staff, and more method, and also, I am getting used to the pretty
rough conditions of life and am getting the hang of the work. At first it was very hard to find out
what was expected of me as no-one ever had time to explain anything, but I learned by my mistakes
and now feel more or less at home. There seems to be a shortage of nurses, in contrast to the
oversupply of masseuses, so I expect I shall stick to this for a while now.
There is a bit of spring in the air the last few days which make all the difference to one’s outlook. The
air is not so piercingly cold, and the black-out does not last so long. I still have to find my way here
by torchlight in the mornings, but the evenings are getting much lighter.
I have thought about changing my billet to somewhere nearer the hospital, but I have got used to
the long walk now and rather like it, and the two Miss Andrews with whom I live are extremely kind.
Also, I can have unlimited hot baths, which are sometimes a difficulty and I have an electric point in
my room and a radiator. So, I think I’ll stay where I am.
My Xmas parcels arrived all together on Feb 1st and I am enjoying all the good things in them. We are
really very well fed here considering everything, but a few extras do make a nice change. All the jams
you can buy seem to taste the same as they all appear to be made with a basis of apple. If I want to
have a meal in my billets on my day off it is quite hard to buy anything, as the shops will only sell a
small quantity of eggs, cheese etc to the people registered with them for their rations and you have
no hope of just walking in and getting some.
The latest rather alarming shortage is face-creams and powders! They are unobtainable in this
district, but I believe can still be bought in London.
On my last day off I went to Winchester by bus – a pretty run of 2 hours. I hoped to meet Susie
there, but she was prevented from coming at the last minute.
Yesterday Helen Taylor came down from London and spent the day. It was nice to see her. She
seems very happy with her work at a London Hospital.
There are some nice girls on the nursing staff. The nicest one unfortunately left last week. The VHD’s
and Auxiliaries like myself come from all sorts of places and jobs. One is an opera singer and a very
nice girl on my ward has been an interpreter in Central Europe for the last 5 years and speaks 7
languages. Most of them, though, are rough good-hearted Irish girls. They are having a grand time
with hundreds of soldiers, mostly Canadian and New Zealand billeted round about. Aldershot is only
3 miles away.
The situation in the Balkans seems very critical, and Australia must be watching Japan anxiously.
Ethel Stuckey said to me some months ago that she thought she’d go home soon as she believed the
centre of war was going to move away from England and she didn’t think there was any great need
to stay. It looks as if she might be right. I believe all the casualties from the Sudan are being sent to
South Africa not back here.
Wavell’s action has been most spectacular and thrilling, hasn’t it?
Love to everyone,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
March 18th, 1941
Dear Bunny and David,
Your parcel arrived a week or so ago and I am thrilled with the cardigan. It is a perfect fit and just the
right colour to go with my things. It also has a particularly nice neck which suits me, so I am very
pleased. I suppose Bun chose it – she is a very good picker. Thank you ever so much.
Also thank you for the Xmas cable which I was very pleased to get. I thought of you all on Xmas
morning with probably a Xmas tree on the veranda.
I went up to London last week to say goodbye to Ethel Stuckey. I hate the idea of her going just now
– the sea is a most dangerous spot, but she was most anxious to get away before, having been here
2 years as she thought there might be difficulties in leaving. I hadn’t heard it, but she tells me men
aren’t allowed to leave after that time and the same might apply to women. Also, she is rather
homesick and not very keen on her job and she doesn’t think there is any desperate shortage of
nurses here yet. So, she is going back and if it seems desirable, will enlist with the AIF nurses out
there. She has said for a long time that the centre of the war is going to move away from England,
and she may be right.
Anyway, I think I will stay till summer and see how things are then.
I hope you have weathered the drought alright. It must have been grim from all accounts. The last
letter said it seemed by the papers to have rained on the NW slopes.
I hope the boys are well. I loved the last snaps, showing how much they had grown. I suppose you
have again been facing the problem of whether to send John to school or not.
I hope Mrs Bowling is better and happily settled at Glen Leigh.
There doesn’t seem to be much news. I am very busy, and the weeks fly by. I quite like the work now
and am quite happy though I wish I had a little more leisure. The life seems to suit me, as I am very
well.
I don’t seem to have any news these days as one week is very much like another. The air has been
fairly quiet lately, though the last few nights we have heard the bombers going over pretty steadily.
They haven’t bothered to leave anything here though.
The weather is warming up which is a great relief. It hasn’t been a very severe winter, but I have had
to be out in it at unpleasant times which made me notice it.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
County Hospital
Farnham, Surrey
March 21st, 1941
Dear Family,
I know I have neglected you lately, but I didn’t realise how badly until I came to write. The weeks just
fly by. I grudge spending any of my time off writing letters, and my daily 2 hours goes just nowhere!
Sometimes I sit down and start to read the paper and drop off to sleep and there it is wasted! Other
times I can’t resist getting out for a breath of air, after the much-heated wards in spite of letters
calling to be written. And then there are always necessary bits of mending, shopping etc to be done.
However, I must manage better in future.
I am very well – the busy, regular life seems to suit me, and I am liking the work now. I think I’ll stay
here for a few months but will try eventually to get moved to an orthopaedic hospital where the
work will be more interesting for me. I don’t regret the nursing experience at all, it has been
interesting to see things from a different angle.
They are mustering up all the women now, so I may feel before long that there are plenty of people
to do all the work here, particularly if the war doesn’t get any more intense in England. In that case I
should probably come home at the end of this year, but I haven’t made up my mind yet.
I always make good use of my days off. Last week I went to Reading for the day and met Dorothy
Gurner (Daisy Osborne’s cousin). She has a volunteer job in Reading hospital looking after the card
index. The week before I went up to London to have a farewell lunch with Ethel Stuckey. I suppose
she has left by now. I’m afraid she has chosen a very bad time to leave. I heard of someone today
who after a week at sea was landed at home again - I suppose the risks were considered too great.
We had a nice day together and went to see an excellent performance of “Dear Brutus”. I went up
the night before so as to have plenty of time there and was lucky in striking a very peaceful night.
London looked pretty much the same. I was interested to see the tube dwellers again. They looked
very much more at home there than when I saw them last. They have their places booked now –
either in 3 tier bunks ranged along the walls, or a space on the platform where they make up their
beds, spreading newspapers then, perhaps, a bit of old carpet, and then a few cushions and
blankets. They seemed to be spending the evening quite contentedly with their knitting or playing
cards and they can buy their supper there. The canteen girls walk along the lines filling their mugs
from huge watering cans of tea or coffee.
The raids have not been so bad lately. Certainly, Farnham is very peaceful. We hear them overhead
pretty often at night, but they never stop here. They have been concentrating on ports.
After all this time I am beginning to take an
interest in my surroundings, and I learn that
Farnham is an interesting old town. They
have very complete records of it back to the
time of the Norman conquests, and
particularly about the time of John and
Henry III when the barons were so
powerful. The old castle which dominates
the town was originally the home of the
Bishops of Winchester, but now he lives
nearer to the cathedral and the Bishop of
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Guildford lives here. I am reading an interesting book about it all written by the local RC priest who is
a learned student of mediaeval times. Many of the buildings, mills etc are still standing, and it is
interesting to compare the conditions of living, farming methods, expenses, etc with these times. As
the weather improves, I shall do some exploring on my bicycle.
Rationing of jam has come in this week – 8oz per month. As I easily use 16oz per week, I won’t like it
much, but I have a very nice little store in reserve from my Xmas parcels, so I am luckier than most
people. It is hard on the children, who have to do with a good deal of filling up on bread. Treacle and
golden syrup are included in the ration.
The shortages are often only temporary. The butter ration has been increased to 4oz this week,
though the total fat ration, including cooking fat, remains the same – 8oz per week.
I found I was able to buy face-creams in London. The production has been reduced to 25% of the
normal, but the smaller amount will be appearing at regular intervals.
They are producing a rayon stocking instead of the silk, which doesn’t look bad.
The shops were full of pretty clothes – spring hats etc.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Wortley Cottage, Wortley
Wotton-under-Edge
Gloucestershire
April 30th, 1941
Dear Family,
I am having a few days holiday between jobs. I said goodbye to Farnham a few days ago, spent a
night with Susie and a night in London and then came here to the Humphrey Lloyds. Humphrey is in
the army and Crewdson, the eldest boy, was at preparatory school near here, so Becky brought the
rest of the family to a cottage nearby. One of her sisters is also here with her 2 children. They have a
charming cottage, and they like to take a PG in their spare room to help make ends meet. I am
enjoying it very much. Gloucestershire is very lovely – all steep green hills, grey stone cottages and
magnificent trees. It is quite new country to me.
I saw Helen in London. She has just come to an end of her job too and has got a very good
appointment for a new one. She has a few days to spare, so I have persuaded her to come here too
and she arrives tomorrow. London has had a couple of bad blitzes lately which must have been very
nerve racking and of course they mean busy nights for her attending to casualties. She was quite
cheerful though, in spite of it all.
I got my invitation to Farnham Castle the day before I left and went there for tea and saw all over it.
It is a most interesting old place, the home of the bishop of Winchester from about 1100 to 1800.
Much of the architecture is pure Norman though it has been added to at different periods ever since
and so is an awful jumble of styles. It has been tastefully and cleverly modernised and furnished in
recent years. The moat makes a charming sunken garden surrounding it. Much of the furniture is old
and interesting. There is a chair in the chapel presented by Charles II to his friend Bishop Morley who
lived there. In order to make it more episcopal he had a carved bishop’s mitre added to the top of
the back, but two voluptuous nude ladies carved in the arms look rather out of the picture.
When I arrived at Susie’s they had just made the tragic discovery that a fox had killed 5 of her 12
precious fowls. In view of the meat position, we could not waste the mutilated corpses so spent the
morning hacking off the useable bits which made a very good stew.
There was a raid on Portsmouth, 6 miles away, that night. The guns sounded very loud to me, but
Rosemary assured me it was very mild. The whole sky was lit up by the fires and we could see the
flames. Portsmouth has had a bad time. It is hard the way the same places get hammered again and
again while in others they hardly know there is a war on. Most country places are very peaceful. The
ports and industrial towns, of course, have to expect it.
I suppose you heard Mr Churchill’s speech on Sunday night. It was grave, but on the whole
encouraging, and was as cheerful as we had any right to expect. Things are certainly very grim just
now. I am waiting anxiously to hear if they have got the Anzacs away from Greece successfully. I’m
afraid it will be harder than Dunkirk, even.
It is comforting that America is bucking up and helping with the shipping problem in the Atlantic.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ and St Martin’s Orthopaedic Hospital
Pyrford, near Woking
Surrey
May 16th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have been here a fortnight now and am settling down well. It is a very nice hospital, really a ‘Waifs
and Strays’ home for crippled children but for the war it has been enlarged with extra temporary
buildings to take soldiers and adult civilians. All the cases are orthopaedic and some of the leading
surgeons in that line are there, so I have the opportunity of seeing some very good work. As far as
nursing goes it is rather dull, as the patients are mostly healthy people and, after their operations
are usually popped into plaster of Paris splints, so there is not a great deal to do for them. Serving
meals and housework occupy most of my time, but I am able to watch the operations and am
bringing my knowledge of modern orthopaedic methods up to date a bit.
There is a very pleasant
atmosphere about the place –
none of the bullying, carping
attitude towards the junior nurses
which I found hard at Farnham at
first, although I got used to it. I
haven’t heard a harsh word since I
got here! I think it is partly that
they have a better class of nurse
here (many are evacuated from St
Thomas’), and also that the
working hours are so much shorter
that everyone is not eternally tired
and ragged out. Also, there is no
shortage of nurses, so there is no
need to hound them on all the
time to get through the work. I am finding it quite a rest-cure, though I must admit I find it very dull
from the nursing point of view. I go on duty at 8am instead of 7 most days, have 3 hours off instead
of 2 and get off a little earlier in the evening.
I am in very comfortable billets
just at the foot of the drive,
with a nice large room and
every comfort, and the hospital
has lovely grounds with grass
and trees, to sit in on one’s off
time.
It is pretty country – rather flat,
being an extension of the
Thames valley. At present it is
lusciously green, and the trees
and fruit blossom are lovely. It
is ideal for bicycling and
This is one part of the hospital - there are 3 blocks like this. You can see the
long veranda wards.
1I was billeted in the house at the end of the road
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
practically everyone does. We are a mile and a half from a village and 3½ mile from the nearest
town, Woking. Pyrford is nothing but a collection of houses, a few farms, a charming little Norman
church and a wee post-office -store.
I am billeted with very kind and agreeable working people in one of the Council houses which are
becoming an eyesore all over England – rather showy looking but very jerry-built. However, I am
very comfortable.
Yesterday I bicycled over to Chobham to see Cousin Constance Lloyd and Marabel – they are only
about 6 miles away and are very kind and friendly. Marabel is also nursing at a nearby hospital. She
is a very capable girl with lots of character and is Commander of her VA detachment.
The Spring has been very late and cold. We are only just beginning to get warm weather and it is still
very nippy when I get up in the morning. Of course, it is still pretty early, as the clocks have been put
on 2 hours this summer as a special war measure, to save lighting. It is light up till 11pm now and
lovely for bicycling after work.
I am in a ward consisting of an enormously long veranda housing 60 convalescent soldiers. They are
a cheerful lot of ruffians, most of them up and about all day. There is one free Frenchman there and
2 Belgians, so I practise my French a little. Many wards are open-air and are, of course, lovely now
but must be freezing in the winter.
We are watching Iraq and Syria anxiously at the moment – France seems likely to completely turn
dog on us at any moment and I shouldn’t be surprised if Turkey did too.
Hess’s arrival in Scotland last week was a sensation and we hope before long to hear an explanation
of his motives if it has been possible to discover them.
I haven’t been to London since the last very damaging raid, but I believe they made an awful mess of
parts of it. The Abbey had been so lucky up to date that one hoped its luck might hold.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas Hospital
June 17th, 1941
Dear Family,
Here it is the middle of June and this is the first really warm day we have had! I thought we were
going to miss the summer altogether. It is a lovely evening. I got off at 5:30, bicycled along the
towpath of the Wey River Canal, which is quite close, and am now sitting on the bank toasting in the
sun and writing. It is 8:30 pm and as warm as can be, and people are swimming in the river and
fishing and canoeing. A really good summer’s day in England is hard to beat, but they are so few of
them. The two hours extra summer time are very nice. It is light till midnight now. In fact, it is never
really dark.
I am still liking the hospital and am
glad I moved. I sometimes get a bit
restless with all the housework etc,
but there is a lot that is interesting
too.
I went up to London yesterday. Did a
little shopping and got my tennis
racquet and golf clubs out of Harrod’s
store. I don’t know whether my hand
will hold a racquet yet, but I’ll try it
out. There are several nice en-toutcas courts here and a golf course
nearby.
One has to shop cautiously now that clothes rationing has come in. There are 66 coupons allowed
per year. A dress takes from 10 to 20, shoes 5, stockings 2, a handkerchief 1, a nightdress 7, an oz of
knitting wool 2 etc. It really doesn’t worry me at all. I have a good stock of clothes and don’t want to
buy anything except an occasional pair of stockings or gloves. I spend nearly all of my time in
uniform so haven’t much opportunity to wear out what I have got.
Since I wrote last there has been all the tragic and disappointing business of Crete. Mr Churchill in
his last speech in parliament justified the attempt to hold it against such hopeless odds, but the
losses have been very sad. However, I suppose we must expect that sort of thing, and more of it yet.
Things seem to be going well in Syria.
I have been moved to another and much more interesting ward. The patients, all either soldiers from
Dunkirk or air-raid casualties, are more ill and need more attention. The open-air wards are very nice
just now.
They feed us wonderfully well here considering the restrictions. I think the hospitals are allowed a
certain amount of extra and there is a dietitian on the staff who plans a reasonably well-balanced
diet with what is obtainable. Shortages fluctuate with bombing and shipping losses, but we manage
quite well on the whole.
I go to the pictures in Woking now and then, ‘The Long Voyage Home’ was the last one and was very
good.
You can cycle for miles along this towpath and it is always cool and pretty.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
I listened to a recorded broadcast from Australia about the war effort a few nights ago. It was
impressive, particularly the increase of manufacture of war materials. One of the speakers was an
engineer lecturing to air-force students on mathematics in his spare time. It might have been
Howard, but it wasn’t. It was all rather out of date as the first lot was sunk and this was repeated.
Helen is coming down here for the next weekend. I have managed to get her a room. She is usually
free in the weekends, but accommodation is hard to get out of London as every inch is full. I am
hoping for good weather so that we can row on the river in the evenings, which is really very
delightful.
The air-raids have been very light here. A few planes come over but there have been few bombs. It is
rather noisy as the outer ring of the London AA defences is just here and the guns are louder than
anything, I have heard yet and the shrapnel rattles down through the trees in the garden. It doesn’t
worry us at all now as the hours of darkness when they can come over are so short. In the winter,
the girls all wear tin helmets going to and from their billets.
I had dinner with the Roberts at Putney yesterday. They were cheerful and have weathered the
blitzes well. They have all moved their beds downstairs into the sitting rooms and have sent all the
furniture they set much value on to the basement of a friend’s large house, but otherwise were
carrying on much as usual. Cousin Harrie has always kept a good table, so restrictions must worry
her, but I noticed she gave us a very good meal yesterday.
I hope you are all well and happy. Much love to everyone.
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford, Surrey
July 13th, 1941
Dear Family,
We have just had almost a month of unbroken heatwave – plunged into it suddenly from the depths
of winter, and it is now breaking up with a series of thunderstorms. It really has been hot – round
about 95 degrees on the wards and 110 on the asphalt outside where we wheel the beds. I must say
I have enjoyed it, although on duty in a starchy uniform is not where one would choose to be. We
spend most of our spare time cooling off in the vicinity of the river, and everyone one has a healthylooking coat of tan.
I have been over several times to see Cousin Constance Lloyd at Chobham and she introduced me to
a Mrs Bray, who has a charming home on the canal only a mile from the hospital, and I have been to
see her 2 or 3 times.
Helen came down for a week-end last month and I borrowed a bicycle for her and we had a great
time cruising around the country, swimming and picnicking, except one evening when I led her to a
pretty pine wood near a swamp for our supper and we were eaten alive by mosquitoes, midges etc.
They usually seem to be there in millions to spoil the pretty cool looking little dells and woods.
Germany’s marching into Russia was a thunderbolt, and a serious turn of events unless the Soviet
can hold them, which they seem to be doing now better than appeared likely at first.
America’s taking over Iceland is a helpful and encouraging event.
I have been playing tennis quite a bit in the evenings lately and have been delighted to find that my
hand stands up to it quite well and I seem to be neither better nor worse than when I last played in
Australia. I had doubted that I would ever play again. It is not very brilliant tennis – singles with
another nurse, who is not very good, but it is good exercise.
I went to Farnham to see Susie last week, bicycling a good part of the way and taking the bike on the
train when I got tired. Susie’s rabbit farm was going ahead. Her 4 have increased to 50 and her first
lot of babies are ready to eat, so she is doing a useful bit of production. It is quite a business keeping
them in food, as the ration of bought food is very small, so it means growing vegetables for them
and tramping the countryside gathering green plants that they like.
A fortnight ago I was suddenly moved on to the theatre which I found intensely interesting. It was
rather nerve-racking at first, as the technique of the theatre has to be absolutely perfect and there is
no room for any cog in the wheels to make the slightest error. Just as I was over the initial part and
was thoroughly enjoying it, I was switched yesterday on to a new ward, so am now going through
the settling down process again. Every ward is differently run, according to the Sister’s ideas. What is
important in one, is negligible in another, so moving about needs a lot of adaptability.
The dry weather, following a cool damp spring has been very good for the crops, which promise to
be record ones, but it has been very bad for the vegetable gardens and peas, beans etc dried up
almost before they ripened. Allotment holders tried to water their holdings with buckets and ARP
stirrup-pumps, but it has been a job to keep things alive. However, it is raining now. It has been
glorious year for roses and the delphiniums have been as lovely as ever but were over very quickly.
Jean Blake, with whom I was friendly at Farnham has been over several times and spent the night
with me. My billeter kindly put up a stretcher in my room.
I hope you are all well, Love from, Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford
August 14th, 1941
Dear Family,
I have been on night duty for several weeks. It is a rather weird experience – not quite so bad as I
expected, but it takes a bit of adjustment of one’s self. I manage to sleep quite soundly in the
daytime but do grudge spending all the hours of sunlight in bed. Sometimes I try sleeping early or
late and going out somewhere during the rest of the day, but it is an awful struggle to keep awake all
night afterwards.
I went into Woking to the pictures yesterday – “Pimpernal Smith” – very good.
Helen came down last Saturday afternoon. We went for a ride and had tea out and when I went on
duty, she went to my billets and spent the night in my bed and the next morning I rode part of the
way home with her. He tells me Andrew is in Canada with the Empire Air Scheme and may shortly be
over here.
Tonight, we lose one of our 2 hours of extra summer time, so the blackout jumps back to 9:30pm
tomorrow. It has been a good idea and has given people useful evenings after work.
They are just starting harvesting about here and a good yield seems likely. Fruit is just beginning to
come in but is very dear and scanty. I fancied a peach yesterday but jibbed at the price 2/6 each and
finally bought a 1/3 nectarine, which was delicious. I believe they are fixing the price of plums when
they come in next week, but as soon as a price is fixed the foodstuff in question disappears from the
market, as there are always a certain number of people willing to pay the high prices secretly. The
government is trying to deal with this “black market”, but it is hard to catch them at it.
Helen brought down a S.M. Herald and I enjoyed all the familiar advertisements etc – and recipes
saying “Take 2 onions, 3 eggs, ¼ of grated cheese and other fantastic things!
In it I noted that you are still short of water on the catchment area in spite of the state-wide rain. I
hope you have had enough by now, as it would be a bad lookout for the summer.
I also noticed that Mrs Sheppard had died.
Relations between the Pacific powers are very strained at present and the atmosphere must be
pretty tense in Australia. I scan the papers anxiously for any bits of news, but they don’t have very
much. The Times is the only one that reports Australian affairs at all fully and that costs 3d now and
is very hard to get at all. Owing to the paper shortage there are limited numbers of papers printed
and if you are not a permanent and old established resident you don’t have much chance.
Russia seems to be holding on wonderfully. May she continue to do so!
Some weeks ago, I went to Goring, a pretty little town on the Thames near Reading to spend the day
with Dorothy Gurner (Daisy F-C’s cousin). We had a lovely day and went for a swim in Thames from
the private garden of some friends of hers.
Cousin Jean Fowler has come to live in Farnham. It was a pity she wasn’t there when I was at the
hospital. Her sister has a house there, and when Cos J. sold Gastard, she rented this place.
I went some weeks ago to spend a night with Ailsa Bragg (Cutler). She has a charming home on a
farm in a perfectly lovely part of Sussex. She seems very happy and takes a great interest in the work
of the place.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Your last letters say you haven’t heard from me for 6 weeks, so I don’t know if a letter has gone
astray. I am not very good, but I don’t think I have ever left writing more than a month. I find letters
take quite indefinite times, up to 3 to 4 months, but I have been lucky that I seem to have received
everything so far as I can tell. Often an early letter arrives weeks later than one written a month
later.
We have had a few weeks of rather dreary wet weather, so I hope there is a good dry spell waiting
for September when I get my holiday.
Much love to you all
Rachel
There has been very little enemy action overhead lately. Only on one night since I have come on
Night duty have the sirens gone. We hear planes overhead quite often – they are droning away at
the moment – but whereas last year they were inevitably German, now they are more often our own
night-fighters or bombers setting out or returning.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
St Nicholas’ Hospital
Pyrford, Surrey
Aug 22nd, 1941
Dear Family
My idea of getting lots of letters written during the long nights fell rather flat as I find one feels so
terribly dull and sleepy in the early hours of the morning that the old brain just won’t function. Even
if one gets adequate sleep in the daytime, which is unusual, one still suffers from an overpowering
drowsiness at night. I daresay in a very busy ward where there was no time to sit down it would be
different, but this ward, being mostly convalescent soldiers is chiefly busy in the mornings and
evenings. Night-duty has its compensations, though, one is free from all the routine of dusting and
cleaning and one has more to do with the patients themselves.
I am thinking of leaving here shortly. I have been quite happy here and have seen a lot of interesting
work, but I things, but I think it has served its time and I don’t want to settle here for the winter. I
believe the cold is unspeakable in the open-air wards, and the situation is very low and damp. It has
been ideal for the summer.
I am due for 3 weeks holiday in September, so don’t intend to come back afterwards unless I can’t
find anything else to do. I have given notice, but the Matron will have me back if I want. I shall have
a good look round and might even consider going home if things seem slack, though that is not very
likely.
I have applied for a massage job at a military hospital in Harrogate through the Massage Association,
which may lead to something, and have also answered several other adverts in the papers which are
not likely to.
I am thinking of going to the north of England and perhaps Scotland for my holiday. In fact, I have
taken a room at a hotel in Northumberland kept by some friends of Jessie Wishart, but now the idea
of possibly going to Harrogate to work makes me uncertain if I want to go there beforehand. I may
change my plans.
I have just had 3 nights off duty – one gets that once a month. I went up to London, saw Helen and
various other people, went to some theatres – “Blythe Spirit” was the best of them, did some
shopping, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Sept 14th Exmouth, Devon
Things have moved rapidly for me in the last couple of weeks. The Harrogate job fell through, but to
my surprise, I got an acceptance to one of my other applications and have been appointed to the
massage staff of the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-on-Tyne. Not much of a town to go to, but
I hear it is a good hospital and I am very pleased about it. I start there on Oct 1st.
I therefore cancelled my holiday arrangements in the North as I shall see lots of that part of the
country in the future, and I am enjoying myself in the South and in London.
I left St Nicholas’ on Sept 2nd, stayed on in my billets for a few days to pack up etc, went down to
Susie’s for a few days, spending a night at Ailsa’s on the way, and now I am having a very pleasant
week at a hotel at Exmouth. I came here because the old cousins from Bath, Cha and Jessie, have left
their house and are living here and I thought I’d like to see them. It is a very comfortable hotel – I
have a lovely room looking over the sea and am wallowing in luxury – staying in bed late in the
morning etc and eating marvellous meals – I don’t know how they manage them on the rations. It is
a change after hospital food, good though that was for these times.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
September is providing beautiful sunshine – quite a belated summer and I am doing a lot of
sunbaking on the beach. I’ve had a few swims, but the water is icy.
Yesterday I took the ferry across the estuary to Dawlish to see the old Misses Cooke. They are
unchanging and still keep an enormous correspondence with a lot of Sydney people, so were able to
give me lots of Hunters Hill news.
England is very peaceful at present and one forgets it was ever anything else. Stray planes wander
over now and then but nothing much.
Russia still holds out magnificently and gives us a breather, of which I hope the powers that be are
taking advantage. The essential thing seems to be to produce arms and more arms.
This is a pretty little sea-side resort about 10 miles from Exeter at the mouth of the Exe. The whole
length of the beach is barricaded with barbed wire but there are a couple of small sections on which
the public is allowed to go. The sandhills behind the beach bristle with guns, but everything is very
quiet.
I enclose a few postcards of Pyrford (inserted in previous letters) – if they make this overweight, I’ll
send them separately. I was sorry to leave there in many ways, it was a nice hospital and I enjoyed
being in the country. Still, I used to get pretty fed up with nursing.
Much love to you all,
Rachel
I should very much like a few pictures of Australia, of the sort one gets in the Xmas numbers of
pictorial annuals – “Home, Australasian” or something of that sort. People so often ask me
questions, and anyway I’d like to have them for myself.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Royal Victoria Infirmary
Newcastle – on - Tyne
Oct 5th, 1941
Dear Family,
Here I am settled in my new job. Settled for about a year I suppose unless anything drastic changes
my plans. I am very pleased with everything. It is grand to be working in my own field again, and it
seems as if it would be a very good experience. I have struck, just by luck, a first-class hospital, one
of the best in the north I should think. It is a medical training hospital, so the standard of work is
high. It has about 650 beds.
It is also a massage training school, so a great variety of work is done in the Massage Department for
the benefit of the students.
It is an old hospital but has a lot of new and up to date buildings attached to it. The orthopaedic
department is one of them and has been built for the purpose and beautifully equipped. It is divided
into 7 different sections with a different type of work done in each. A qualified masseuse is in charge
of each room and is responsible for the work of the students working there. My room is the “Bath
Room” which contains every imaginable sort of electric bath and a warmed swimming pool. To
exercise one’s patients in that one dons waders and enters the pool up to the waist.
I do not live in but am lodging in a small private hotel about a mile away in a quiet suburban street. It
is just a nice walk there, but a trolley bus runs almost from door to door if required. I have settled
down in quite a nice attic room. It is a bit dingy, but I am going to brighten it up with some fresh
cretonnes, and as it has a gas fire, gas ring and reading light, I should be quite comfortable for the
winter. The food is good, and they keep a good fire in the sitting room if I don’t want to be in my
own room.
I feel quite guilty about food at present. The hospital gives us a good midday dinner without
requiring any coupons and I get another dinner at night, so it means I often have meat 3 times a day
when people outside often only get it 3 times a week. The food position is quite good at present
though. Rations have been increased this week and I don’t think anyone is suffering any hardship.
Eggs, one a fortnight, are the most tiresome shortage just now. It says a lot for the state of the Battle
of the Atlantic that shipments are coming through so well and that food can be actually increased at
this time. One feels almost ashamed when one thinks of conditions in France, Greece etc.
Newcastle, I like better than I expected. It is rather a homely sort of town, and the people have a
friendly air though they speak a strange language! I find it very hard to understand them but
suppose I’ll get used to it and will probably catch it myself. The town is very dirty and most of the
buildings are of an ugly style, but it has wide streets and some nice open spaces. My hospital is in the
middle of town but on a hill a little apart from the crowded buildings and surrounded by a park and
university buildings.
I had not realised how separate the North is from the South, where everything centres around
London. Here they don’t bother about it and lots of people have never been there.
My holiday simply flew. I raced about rather too much to find it really restful, but I enjoyed it and got
through a lot of business, dentists etc. I took a room in London when I returned from Exmouth,
dumped my luggage there, and, keeping it as a centre, went away for odd days – 2 to Cousin Jean in
Farnham, 2 to the Burrows in Bucks etc. The best theatre I saw was “No Time for Comedy”, a clever
play by an American writer with a very good cast, Diana Wynard among them. I went to “Forty
Thousand Horsemen” one day and enjoyed it, though it had a very amateurish air among the more
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
sophisticated and finished pictures one usually sees. It was exciting though and I liked hearing the
Australian voices again. It was well received by the audience who clapped and cheered.
I saw Helen quite a lot. She is very busy at her hospital and very happy there, getting very good
experience.
I have been watching the political situation out there with interest. Mr Curtin has just taken over. I
don’t suppose the change will make any vast difference, but I should think it will probably mean an
election before long as his position won’t be any more stable than Mr Fadden’s.
The chief idea at the moment is support for Russia – tanks, planes and more and more arms. The
production is speeding up well both here and in America, but the difficulty is to get them there, and
to get them there in time.
If this should happen to arrive at Xmas time, a Happy Xmas to you all, and lots of luck in 1942.
Much love,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Newcastle-on-Tyne
Nov 6th, 1941
Dear Family,
On Nov 3rd I got news about Lorraine and Howard’s daughter and am very pleased and excited.
I think I wrote to you last just after I arrived in Newcastle. I feel quite settled here now and am very
happy in my work.
Work has settled down into a routine – busy but interesting. For the first fortnight it was terribly
hectic, and I felt dazed, but I have the hang of it now. We are left very free in charge of our own
sections of the department, which is very nice, but is difficult at first. I found it particularly so as
much of the work was new to me and I found the students an awful nuisance. I still do – they come
in fresh batches every fortnight to do in practice the electricity they have learned in theory. There is
no time to show them just how you like things done or supervise them properly, but you are
responsible for all the stupid things they do, and just when they are really useful, they pass on.
However, that is only a detail. The regular staff of 10 are a particularly nice lot – you couldn’t find
nicer. Unless very busy we get one and a half hours at lunchtime, so one can slip out and do a little
shopping then, and we are usually away by 5. One of the staff, a Miss Welton (who has a brother
living at Bay View in Sydney) took me one Sunday to her little weekend shack (if you can call a solid
little one-roomed hut with walls 2 feet thick, a shack). It was about 20 miles away in the country and
we had a lovely carefree day, having al fresco meals by a big fire and going for walks.
It is getting pretty cold now, but the air is very fresh and exhilarating and makes you feel very fit. You
can walk for miles. The real winter hasn’t started yet, but I don’t think I shall mind it.
I got a fright a few days ago on finding that all my woolly underclothes had disappeared, and me
with scarcely any coupons left for the next 3 months! However, it was traced to one of the little
maids, a girl of 15, and I have got most of them back, somewhat shrunken and spoiled but still warm.
It was a great relief. I am fairly careful, but it is impossible to lock up everything when you go off
early in the morning, and once I have gone, they know the coast is clear till evening. I have
considered moving my lodgings but doubt if I can find such good value elsewhere, so shall probably
stay.
There are only a few boarders – quite a nice lot on the whole. An elderly Mr Reynard who has been
here for many years and is very well read and quite interesting; an old Miss Curtin, a retired
schoolteacher and native of Newcastle, whose whole horizon is bounded by a 20 mile radius around
the town; a Major and Mrs Scott-Moncrief, his job is to do with making smoke-screens over the
district; and a Sheila Kennedy, a motor transport corps driver of about 18, quite a nice kid but she
will invade my room every night around 10 and sit by my fire talking about her love affairs until after
midnight. I get a bit bored with it as I want to write letters, read or sleep at that time. I pay 2 guineas
a week and have a gas fire (shilling in the slot) so I don’t think I do too badly.
Last week I went to stay with a nephew of Cousin Jean Fowler and his wife (Sir Edward and Lady
Pease) at Guisborough in Yorkshire. It is in a pretty part of the country not far from Middlesbrough, a
busy industrial town. They have a very jolly little flat. The owner of the big house of the district (Lord
Guisborough) is evidently a bit impoverished and has turned his stables into flats, so the Peases have
a combination of a compact little home with all mod cons, set in the middle of the lovely park-like
grounds of a mansion. The Mansion has mostly been taken over by the military, and Lord G. and his
family seemed to be living in about 2 rooms of it. I went to tea there. The entrance hall was like a
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
museum with heads of rhinoceros and other African animals evidently shot by some members of the
family.
Another week I went up north to a little place called Wark about 30 miles away. Rather wild moorland country and very attractive. The Northern Country is very different from the soft, luscious
South, all thick with trees. It is more open and windswept and there are grey stone walls instead of
hedges. The houses are all grey stone. The farms are compact little settlements with house, stables,
pigsties, haystacks and everything enclosed within a stone wall. They look very snug; ready to
withstand a severe winter or raiders from Scotland, which they had to do a few hundred years ago. I
believe this part of the country is teeming with history, which I intend to read up sometime.
At Wark I stayed at a little hotel kept by 2 friends of Jessie Wishart. (The Wisharts were in Newcastle
while the “Sydney” was being built). It is a nice little private pub. With about 15 boarders and will be
a nice place to go when I want a change. I get a bus after lunch on Saturday but have to come back
on Sunday afternoon as I can’t get back in time on Monday.
Things have been quiet here lately. A few stray raiders over now and then, but nothing much.
Love to you all,
Rachel
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
Newcastle-on Tyne
Dec 7th, 1941
Dear Family,
The news has just come through on the wireless of Japan’s attacking Hawaii and Manila, which
sounds pretty ominous. I had hope Japan was only bluffing. By tomorrow I suppose America will be
in it up to the neck. It is all so horribly close to Australia that I feel very uneasy. By all accounts,
though, the government seems to have been well awake to the danger lately, and I suppose
preparations are well in hand. The trouble is to know what to prepare against. Australia is such a big
place to defend.
Before long we may be sitting back here, feeling a long way from the war and wishing there was
something we could do, as you have often felt out there! I shall feel like taking the first plane home if
things start out there!
All goes well with us here. Winter is beginning, but so far has not been at all severe – more damp
than cold, in fact some days lately have been positively hot and muggy. Tonight, however feels like
snow.
Work goes on as usual, busy but quite pleasant. We have just heard that we only get Xmas day off,
so I shall not be making any exciting plans. It is not worth going away. The government does
everything possible to discourage travelling this year, as the drain on the transport system becomes
very great, with half the population away from their homes and wanting to get home for Xmas.
There are not only no extra trains, but the services are curtailed, and no guarantee given that any
train will run as advertised.
It was sad news this week about the loss of the ‘Sydney’, she has had a fine career, but it is tragic to
have lost her, and worse still, her personnel. I felt nervous about Rupert, too, on hearing of the loss
of the Parramatta, knowing that he was doing convoy work, though, of course, I don’t know what he
is in.
I have moved my lodgings a couple of blocks down the street. I told you in my last letter that I had all
my winter woollies stolen. Well, finally all 3 maids were found to be involved in it, and in the
resultant dust-up (during which I got most of my things back) they all decided to leave.
Advertisements for new ones produced no results, so the hotel was closed at a few days’ notice. It
was rather hard on the old people who had been there for years, but all eventually found digs. Mine
is much more homely and simple, but I really like it better. I have a nice large room with a gas fire,
and the food is excellent – nice home-cooking on a most generous scale. There are 7 of us here – not
so much my own kind as at the other place, but I like them all – A dour old Scotsman, and 2 younger
men in business, I don’t know of what kind – one of them seems rather literary and artistic; one very
vivacious and amusing Scotch woman who is the fitter in a dress shop and another woman who is
the manageress of a photography business; the last one is an art student, a girl of 20.
The landlady, Miss Halliday, is a kindly, energetic woman (with a very bad temper, I hear, but no one
seems to take any notice of it and they stay here for years). She makes you feel comfortable and at
home and is managing all the work by herself as maids are unobtainable (they are all called up to the
services and working in munitions – very rightly). We all give Miss Halliday an occasional hand, and,
as a compensation, it is possible, if you come in late from a show, to have your dinner kept in the
oven and eat it by the kitchen fire with no bother to anyone, or to make yourself a cup of tea
whenever you like.
Aunt Rachel’s Letters from England 1941
We have had some very good shows here lately. It is one of the great advantages of Newcastle that
everything seems to come here for a week. Since the war, the best companies come too, as the
theatre world in London is not as live as usual. We have just had a very excellent ballet, and the
seats range from 1/- to 6/- for the very best, it is very satisfactory altogether. I generally go to
something every week. There have been some good pictures lately too. “49th Parallel” was grand.
We each get a Saturday morning off every 2 to3 months, making a long weekend and I had mine a
couple of weeks ago and went to Edinburgh. It was delightful, I had forgotten what a lovely city it
was! It looked beautiful through a light November mist, tinted by a weak red sun. The castle looked
magnificent towering over the town. It is a fascinating town – gives me the same feeling of
enchantment that Paris does. It was full of soldiers on leave and was very gay, I talked to both
Australian and Canadian airmen who had been in England for a month and were having 10 days
leave and were very thrilled. There were uniforms of all nationalities there. They have particularly
taken the Poles under their wing and there are so many they have actually started a university for
them.
Here in Newcastle there are masses of Norwegians. There is a hostel for them just opposite.
In Edinburgh I met the Meares – Molly and Norah, the former, a Dr, is studying for her FRCS and the
latter is an officer in the WRENs. I spent a day with her at their headquarters in Dunfermline, near
Edinburgh and enjoyed it very much. They are a fine force.
On Saturday I went to see an elderly cousin, a Mrs T. Hodgkin, who lives a few miles out of
Newcastle. (Whatever part of England one goes to; one is liable to get a letter from a stranger
starting “Dear Cousin”). She is a funny old thing, living alone in a house just crammed with curiosities
and objects of art – mostly statues from Italy and Greece – Some are very beautiful and others not
so good. She seemed rather a managing old lady and may be a bit of a nuisance but was very kind. I
like seeing different homes, and it was in very pretty country.
Dec 9th Things have moved apace the last few days, and I watch with bated breath, terrified to hear
of an attack on Darwin. But I think the Japs will have to get past Singapore first and I hope that will
be too difficult for them. Fancy poor little Nauru getting it again! I’m afraid they will try to capture it;
it is so valuable. The gov seems to be tackling the situation energetically in Aust, I notice women are
being called up and everything put on a war time footing. It will be a jolt for those who have shut
their eyes to the danger threatening.
May you all be kept safe
Much love
Rachel
