19431222 Evelyn B-C
Norfolk
Dec 22nd 1943
My dearest Violet.
I was so pleased to get your long letter, & to hear all your News, & I am so thankful all is well with the Boys[ii] & Betty[iii] & grandchildren. What an age since you have seen Gervas!
I go on living here, but have only 1 Resident maid (a cook) & a Dairy girl for 3 hours in the morning & my Sister[iv] is still here, also Gaufreda[v], so we are kept Busy - & only live in my Library, & the Housekeeper's Rooms for meals, & all the rest of the House is shut up !
We have not had so many alerts lately but poor little Cromer has some sad wounds. This dreadful war goes on, but I think we can see daylight now, & I am glad Churchill is recovering. I have lost 2 grandsons-in-law[vi], but one of the grand-daughters (Everma's[vii] 3rd girl[viii]) is being married again, so all is well ! and the other poor grand-daughter (Eve Noel's[ix] eldest girl) is coming to live at our Home Farm quite close, which I shall love, with her little girl of 5[x].
Bertram[xi] has done well in the Isle of Man & I expect he will feel (?)[xii] giving it up. Katty[xiii] has made him a splendid wife. Give them my love - I saw that Fenella has married & I hope her husband[xiv] will be spared.
I hope to go to London with Gaufreda on the 3rd for just 2 nights for the wedding of Kenneth Jameson[xv]'s 2nd girl[xvi], & then Gaufreda goes on to stay at Camberley with her Naomi[xvii] who is expecting her 2nd child[xviii] in Jan, so she will be there some time I expect. Her husband is still in the West Indies ! Cromer is full of troops, & my lovely woods much damaged & my iron gates taken.
But we have much to be thankful for. Your Charming Ralph has not found a wife yet - what fun we had when I last stayed with you. I can't get away now - so much domestic work to be done at home. Katty will love a nice rest with you & I should love a visit to you sometime if it could be managed after the War - you are always so kind to me. You are lucky to have your nice Cook - & Featherstone[xix].
I have done away with my car 2 years now, but I can get a Bus into Norwich twice a week. Eve is Vice President of the Norfolk Red X. & speaks so well & looks so smart in her uniform.
Much love dearie & your Gerard[xx] & thanks for your loving kindness all the long years!
Your loving Evelyn B-C.
[ii] “the Boys” were Violet's two sons, Gervas (in Central Africa since 1930) & Ralph who was in the R.A.F.
[iii] Betty was Gervas's wife.
[iv] Probably Ellen Lucy Grazebrook, 83, spinster
[v] The writer’s second daughter
[vi] 1. Husband of Elizabeth Margaret nee Barclay, NORMAN LEWIS PHILIPS, Lieutenant, Service Number: 67185, 2nd Bn. King's Royal Rifle Corps, Died 28 May 1940 aged 24. CALAIS SOUTHERN CEMETERY, Plot J. Grave 17, France
2. Husband of Evelyn Diana nee Noel, JOHN VIVIAN BAILEY , Major, Service Number: 41074, 2nd Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers, Died 12 July 1943 aged 34, SYRACUSE WAR CEMETERY, SICILY, Plot IV. B. 15.
[vii] The writer’s third daughter
[viii] There are about 20 Barclay births per quarter, so it is not possible to ascertain which are theirs.
[ix] Evelyn, known as Eve, was the writer’s fourth daughter; her eldest was Evelyn Diana.
[x] Born 1938, but not shown on freebmd.org.uk
[xi] Berkie, 66, Violet's brother-in-law
[xii] The writer left out a word here - glad? sorry? relieved?
[xiii] Violet’s sister
[xiv] Norman, Royal Navy. He survived the War
[xv] William Kenneth Eustace Jameson 1876–1969 was the eldest son of John Eustace Jameson and Mary Elizabeth Barrett Cabbell of Cromer Hall, Norfolk – she was an elder sister of Benjamin Bond Bond-Cabbell, the father of the writer of this letter, i.e. Kenneth was the writer’s first cousin.
[xvi] Married Q1 1944
JAMESON Daphne M E Avent Kensington 1a 172
AVENT Ronald G Jameson Kensington 1a 172
They had just one daughter, born Q4 1948
Avent Alison F M Jameson St Albans 4b 262
[xvii] Gaufreda’s daughter, Naomi Sloan, b. Bristol, Q1 1920, m. Maxwell Robinson, in Kensington, Q2 1940.
[xviii] They had Camilla Robinson, b. Lincoln Q2 1941 and Timothy M. Robinson, b. Windsor Q1 1944
[xix] The Featherstones were with Gerard and Violet for many years. She worked in the house, he in the garden. They had a cottage in the grounds of Violet’s house – Abbot’sWood, Hurtmore, Godalming.
