Friday, March 13, 2009
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.
94 comments:
This is really fascinating, looking forward to the new posts. what an encouraging character this man is. i found the way he signed his letters saying his final fair well each time very endearing
This is such a lovely idea. It's wonderful to be able to see the actual letters. The loving way he writes to his wife is incredibly moving. I hope we haven't lost that and that some people still treat each other with all that love and affection. The full collection telling the story of their lives in letters will be a great read.
These are excellent. Please could you add more?
this page looks amazing, i can't wait to take a deeper look at the rest of these letters
Looks fascinating! I look forward to reading more.
very interesting.. I'm sure there must be an online archive which would be interested in publishing these.. especially the ones about the young winston churchill!
This is a fascinating collection of letters. I like the way you introduce and display them The liveliness and tenderness of your grandfather is very moving. I hope we will also read some of your grandmother's letters.Best wishes for the progress of this project. Julia
These are both superb and remarkable. I should love to read them in their entirety. Have you approached a publisher?
AKA Phileas Fogg
Excellent page; a good idea and full of worthwhile information on the history of the period. It shows how our ancestors way of life can be inspirational to future generations. And he sounds like a very fine ancestor! I look forward to reading more!
This is a man,an officer and a gentleman,who participates in civic dignity , fairnesand kindness and concern for his family.Not for himm bring a child into the world and leaving hi sense of reponsibility in a demons pit of selfappraisal.Where ever he is now there will be no rattling chains of conscience.He takes the responsibility to his ship and ship mates seriously and assidiously,but what touches the heart is his determination to fully take responsibility for the welfare of hs family and unborn child.I heard of a man who wanted to have his unborn child aborted for the sake of his career and even though he was one of the weathiest men in England gave the child nothing except a vow of determination never to help it,and telling the mother to abort it .He was a powerful man and she young and vunerable,he set to ravage her with cruel disregard ,it was in the paper,that he spent all his money on hunting and his new wife,even leaving his first wife and children.I just read this recently.So it was with joy I read how this man the Admiral does care.I think the newspaper said the other man would meet his "hellish prospects" and the Independent newspaper gave him the Ebenezer Scrooge award of the year.Can you imagine what the Admiral would have done,I dont think hed have given him a 3 gun salute,hopefully just a kick up the backside.
Please can you publish the earlier letters,the love letters of their first bloom of love.I feel they will be amazing,especially after you description of where they met.It will be intriguing.The letters draw one into a different age.I look forward to the descritions you have promised especially of the young Winston Churchill.What magic to have these letters and for you to share them.
This letter provides a rare opportunity to be included as voyeur in an intimate, loving and rare relationship
I meant the next letter, my mistake
Brilliant introduction and very enticing, look forward to reading the letters. Can you put the love letters on! I prefer a love story.
This is so interesting. It is like a timemachine that gives us today in the 21st century an oppurtunity to look back into the lives of people in the past. I would love to read more.
This looks so enticing I look forward to their promise ,rather from a gentle bygone age,a past which we too often forget,a gentleness which we too often render to the backburner,I really think you should research a way to get them to a wider audience.
These look amazing.
This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about a time so distant and unfamiliar to us, I am looking forward to reading more of these fascinating letters.
What a remarkable story of love and courage. As a dramatist there is so much scope for the retelling and recreation of such a story.
I am very impressed by your wonderful work commemorating the significant historical events by your grandfather.
I always think that history is something far away from me. But since I've read your grandfather's letters I feel so excited to getting know about history.
Many thanks for your kind invitation to your website. ^^
Love He-young
These should be investigated by a historian. Is it difficult to put them online?
Indeed it is wonderful such archives remain; today we write email and many of those get deleted within a few years. I think I read an article about some who fear an information "black hole" because the electronic means we use do not leave many traces for the historian! But the good old letterwriters of old... have done us all a great favour.
ubelievable to read these letters a century after they were written.
These letters a beautiful peice of history, it is a wonder that these artefacts have survived in this manner to this day. The writing is preserved incredibly!
This is a very good idea as it will help to make historical documents such as these more accessible to a wider audience, and will provide some insight into the atmosphere of the time.
I can't wait to read them all, what a great idea xxx
These letters make extremely fascinating reading. Letter writing appears to be a lost art these days so to find something of such historical relevance and sentimental value is a real treat for historians and scholars alike. I look forward to reading more.
Spellbinding letters from a different age,yet so familiar in human intrigue and compassion.
This is such a wonderful snapshot of histroy from an unusual angle.
Thank you very much for making them available.
These bring history to life in a human way, through letters that are at times moving and powerful. Thank you for sharing these with the world.
Wonderful reading -- wonderful history! Thank you so much.
Fantastic letters. Very moving.
I look forward to viewing more letters, especially the responses from your grandmother, you have described her so eloquently... keep it up
I think that this is a great opportunity for people to get a window to the past, giving insight into both domestis and public life of a admiral.. what an amazing grandfather to have. Wow!
I find these letters quite remarkable because actually they are from my great granfather.I feel so sad that I did not know him,however,I do feel that I know him through his letters,and I have had the priviledge of reading many more of the other original scripts.I atleast know that i am genetically linked to such a remarkable man,and this makes me actually very proud.I do also know that he had many stratigical achievements and was honoured for these.
Very interesting. Will read more as I get time.
these letters are really involving. I enjoyed to read about his family and how he was always so concerned about them even from a battle ship in hard times with the war just about to break out. thank you...post more please!
It is a true honour reading your wonderful collection of letters.very beautiful I must say,from the heart, very moving, can almost picture it.If you do find it within yourself,I do hope you could be able to display the rest of the letters. True love should be shared. x
these are excellent letters. Please would you add more of them to share with the world.
These letters are amazing and very atmospheric. Please publish more I will read them all.
these letters have an incredible resonance and projects that back to times long by in a vibrant and intricate way. the sad aspects is that you have not added any letters recently, i hope you will publish all 1400 letters from your grandfather and 100 from your grandmother soon. and write more good comments about the letters.
Interesting account, needs to be brought to life...
I find these letters very exciting however I keep going to the site for more and no more accumulating. This historic record of letters which is so entising should be alowed to prolifiate so with hope to hear more of the Admirals letters I will keep my hopes high.
Fantastic !
That is an amazing collection of letters. Letters like that is like a portal into a lost time.
Touching stuff. It's great that you're taking to time to make such interesting materials available to the public. You must add some more!
This is an amazing insight into the past and I would like to see more.I am very interested in history and these letters make history live.I think that if people cared more for moral integrity as your grandfather does there would be less suffering in the world.Well done publishing these I look forward to the expansion of this enterprise.Lucky you to have such a fabulous grandfather.
Would you please do more than give a glimpse of these letters,I am most eager to read the other letters from your archive treasures.
I think thse letters have produced some interesting comments and therefore inspirational hopefully for futher publication as indeed the letters should ,all 1400 of his and 100 of her,be fully published.
These letters are truely interesting.But really if there are more it would be a shame not be be allowed to expore futher into the landscape of his very able,intelligent,kind and insightful mind.
The letter was very impressive and how romantic you and your wife met at a ball.
Sorry I meant your grand father and his wife.
The letter was very impressive and how romantic you grand father and his wife met at a ball.
Sorry I meant your grand father and his wife.
The letter was very impressive and how romantic you grand father and his wife met at a ball.
It seems so long ago and yet so near,it is odd that people so alive and vibrant are only left by kindness and good deeds yet "people are often interide with their bones."
Yet by the writing of these letters so humane it has left a trace across a hundred years the officers ball its lights the dresses the black suits the mutterings the boldness of the dancers the flowers the gentle light from the dusk then dawn the clasping of hands the music the love germinating that became a generation of people.Amazing!
Please publish more !
The publishing of these letters provides unique insight into the life of a soldier and his wife. Without them, we may too easily forget the daily sacrifices that were made for our country.
I'm glad to say that I can now view the letters! They just appeared on the screen, below your opening summary. Finally! After several tries over a period of what is it? months? Now let me see if I can enlarge them so I can read them. this is an importnat project, not just for you personally, and for David, but for a much wder audience. I hope they can be published widel and achived where researchers of all kinds and qualities can find them.
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.
This is fantastic. looking for more story :)
These are quite amazing in atmospheric terms for not only does it transport the minds eye and imagination to a time almost 100 years ago,yet it is vibrant in prognostication for The Great War is about to expode onto the European scene,to shatter the dreams and life of so many.But these waters look like a great water of Tennysons poem of The Passing of Arthur."And on one side lay the ocean and on one lay a great water and the moon was full."With the passing of the last great war veteron of the trenches you have nay an obligation to publish these to a wider audience.1400 such letter is just so utterly amazing.
very good, please publish more. i am eager to see them.
i am a history professor in caracas, venuzuela.
just found out about these letters. Look like interesting documents. Would like to know more about them.
Love letters are always so touching. It is a great idea to show these on a blog that it enables more people to share the same joyment.
A remarkable insight into the ancient art of romantic letter writing.
This is a fascinating project, which picks up the personal insights that make history come alive.
A nice idea. I'm looking forward to further letters with more references to people of the time. Also, your grandmother's replies would be very welcome.
Very illuminating letters. They shed light not only on life in the Royal Navy but also on daily life in Britain during the First World War. I look forward to reading more of these letters covering the full period from 1889 to 1925. I'm sure they'll provide a wealth of interesting insights into the evolution of Britain and the Empire from Victorian to post-Edwardian times, and the fundamental changes imposed on that society by the cataclysm that was “The Great War”.
B.C.
The letters are immensely interesting, vivid, and so far outside of the commonplace as to seem like a novel.. but then its so much the better because its all real life. Surely the suggestion of some of the other posters to look at publishing warrants some serious consideration?
This letter is really amazing as it has managed to survive so long in such great condition just like ruins from the Ancient Egyptian period managed to avoid complete ruin. It is incredible how he appear to maintain such normal relationship with his considering he is away at war, it really highlights the strenghten in marriage at the during time and especially this one.
Bryan Claxton said...
Very illuminating letters. They shed light not only on life in the Royal Navy but also on daily life in Britain during the First World War. I look forward to reading more of these letters covering the full period from 1889 to 1925. I'm sure they'll provide a wealth of interesting insights into the evolution of Britain and the Empire from Victorian to post-Edwardian times, and the fundamental changes imposed on that society by the cataclysm that was “The Great War”.
Thank you for this excellent account!
Thank you for this excellent account!
This is brilliant. Your great grandfather seems to have played an important role on the seven seas. Thank you for this.
I am sorry I meant to say your grandfather.
This is a beautiful letter, written so eloquently. Your Grandfatjer was a remarkable chap and quite the gentleman to write so lovenly to his wife
Sorry I was refering to the first letters my comment about your introduction is that it is very informative and enticing.The letters are a real treat.Please publish more.
I think these letters are truely memorable and extraorinary and I await more ,eagerly and with anticipatio!
very interesting letters.I like the photograph of the King Edward VII Battle Ship.Very memerable.
very good. keep it up. i am a prof in history in alaska.
Really excellent letters please publish more.
When oh when will you put more letters out of this truely amazing letter writer ,Admirasl and family man .
Of cousrese I meant Admiral this amazing letter writer,and few letters abound today so I really would enjoy reading them,1400 and you have only given us a few.please more.
these are very cool!!
This is fascinating
What amazing handwriting. At this time the skill of writing was truely skill.
I really would like you to fulfill the publishing of more letters please which I would so like to read.
Great !
wow
Thank you for putting these letters up.
At last new good and interesting letters.
Handsome well written man of honour
An amazing portal through time
Good post more letters please
Really interesting lettes
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