My grandfather Admiral Blackler OBE wrote letters to his wife from 1889 until 1925,during their courtship which had its genesis in Victoria,British Columbia,where they met at an Officer's Ball,during the docking of his British ship in Canada,throughout his naval service,during which at one stage he was in charge of the ships censorship(hence some letters are uncensered war time records),until the closure of the collection .The letters are assiduously and beautifully handwritten,mostly on emboshed letter paper and show a man of extroadinary humble charism and humanity with great insight towards the problems of his age.I have 1,400 of his letters which extend throughout the War,talk of meetings with the then young Winston Churchill,contain the appenditures of court marshells in which he was bounden to participate as part of his naval duties and most exciting, squabbles and skullduggery among the Admirals.Most extraordinary to me are the descriptions of that other dark side of London and the the insight of the poor which he felt almost helpless against.
I also have about 100 of my grandmothers responses during her traverse from Canada,during her exploration of London as a young excited bride to be, animated with extraordinary perceptions of a metroplolis at the heart of the know Empire and with the eyes of a new commer from one of its fringes.As she dashes and jaywalkes in front of the hansom cabs with her shocked Victorian Aunt Helen on the side walks it is easy to see her as the genesis of sparks of rebellion to appear in later generations.
29 comments:
This is excellent
This is really interesting.
Sounds fantastic. It's very interesting to see into the lives of the our ancestors nearly 100 years ago, especially an admiral, to see his public and private sphere. Looking forward to the letters
Fascinating stuff.
Splendid blog.
These letters draw on a bill of human rights,so it would seem,where the father takes seriously his concerns about his unborn,soon to be born child,this is meaningful,and illuminates the utter horribleness of the fathers who in a sometimes modern uncaring world shrug off their reposibilities to gobble at the touch of greed and unconcern.your admiral grandfather exhbites an ability to understand how to participate in a civil society of justice and responsibility to the vunerable,especially his own flesh and blood,his unborn child.Their is no cold in his heart with which to chill our sensibilities.
TheAdmiral,your grandfather,shows for future generations ,through these letters.a general state of rightness and rationality,a detailed statement of principled fairness,decision making of respect and dignity.He reflects an example through his letters of social guarantees of civic fairness,a standard which makes him indeed an officer and a gentleman.
Fascinating and inspiring
You know i have been really moved by the tenderness of these inspiring letters,what a gentle brave heart and yet brave enough to endure and find interest not only in his children but not be ditracted by the enourmous contribution he was simitaneously and assiduously performing in a difficult time of war for hi king and fellow countrymen and women.What an amazing grandfather.I feel that i treaure him even though i have only read a few of his letters.How could any man in your life have matched up to him.I am surprised that letters of the past not written in the courtly saloons and dinning rooms of europe could have shown such moral an ethical culture.They have been n amazing surprise for me and I would like to read more.
In short excellent letters.
Actually quite spellbinding !
when i was reading these excellent letters they brought me back those old wonderful days, in 1832s when i was living speratley from from my husband, he was an army worked in vietnam.
why did not you publish some new letters recently? pleaze publish some more soon.
I look forward to seeing your granmothers letters,can you publish them soon .
This is really fascinating. When are we going to get more letters put up?
Maura said...
It was easier than I thought to enlarge the images! Just a double-click on the pages.
As the copy editor of the Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle letters (for Edinburgh and Duke University Presses), I can attest to the value of letters as a fascinating and vauable resource. Read in sequence, they're better than any novel, and better too than many histories and biographies, in their voice, detail, and drama. Even the handwriting tells us something about this man's character and his world, orderly nd fluent as it is.
please put some more
This is a fascinating project, which picks up the personal insights that make history come alive.
This reminded of the memoirs of Russian officers en route to Tsushima. The everyday routine of the boat trip, the expectations, the comments and whispers about the high command.
My great-granduncle died in that war, general count von Keller, cut down by 36 pieces of shrapnel wile riding in front of the Japanese positions in the battle of Motien Pass (Yanzenski Pereval in Russian). What a pity there are no letters of private nature surviving in the family archive. The style and spirit must have been very similar to these
i am a professor of organic chemistry at university of chicago in illinois in usa and i really enjoyed your work.
i want that!!
i wanna read more
Please it really Is time to put more letters out for us to read.
At last more good letters from the days of Charles Dickens but the characters in the letters are real not fictional.
Brilliant!
So many excellent letters still I want more
excellent letters
I think these should be published
great
great
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