To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Title
To Jessie from Harry Redgrave
Description
Letter from Harry Redgrave to his wife Jessie. Harry writes about his trip to Dorchester and Southend, seeing various family members and checking up on their bungalow, coming back on his motorcycle. Also mentions moving to a new station and hoping to see his wife soon. Included is a lock of hair.
Creator
Date
1940-08-14
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Three handwritten sheets and a lock of hair
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0001,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0003,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0004
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0002,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0003,
ERedgraveHCRedgraveJM400814-0004
Transcription
Sgts Mess
R.A.F. Station
Upwood
Wed. 14-8-40
[inserted] lock of hair [/inserted]
My Darling Jessie,
I have just got back from my two days off and would like you to know I have enjoyed every minute of it. Withal it was nice I longed every minute of it to have you with me but it just couldn’t be. When I wrote you Monday I thought I may be able to get down to Dorchester but when I got to Kings X [sic] it was too late for a train down to you so I went to Mums and got there about quarter to ten. You can imagine Mums face when she saw me. The first time since Easter you know. Well the evening passed off very happily and Tuesday morning I went to Southend and fixed up for my tyre which I got later that day. While I was going down High St. I met Vera and we had some lunch at Garons and in the afternoon went to the Gaumont and saw Rebecca. If you have not seen this film you must at the first chance as its [sic] a grand show and the best film of the year I should say. I collected the Sunbeam about six and Vera took me to her bungalow for some tea and after that I went round to Redwood. It looked very trim and your Mother is doing some good work in keeping the garden tidy. My Mum keeps the inside swept up and everything looked safe and sound. She has put some moth balls in your wardrobe and some in the bedding so they shouldnt [sic] come to any harm. From the bungalow
[page break]
I drove down to your Mums [sic] and I thought she looked better than I have seen her for years. I then visited Leslie and the outcome of it was that I stayed the night there and they gave me breakfast before I left this morning. They seem much happier than they did and Marian was quite her old smart self and the house was all nice and clean. Leslie and I stayed up until two this morning talking away and he appears to have changed his mind about being C.O. and is registered and awaiting his call up. It was very much like old times he and I sitting up into the small [deleted] or [/deleted] hours talking and discussing anything that cropped up. Marian brought me tea in bed and I then got up had breakfast and left about half past nine for Tilbury again where I spent the rest of the day with Mum and the girls. Pat is looking wonderfully well and is a dear little creature just as good as ever. Mum and Joyce are well and Kelly seems to be getting over her trouble. They all send their love to you. At five I started my eighty mile drive back to the camp and got on so well that I stopped in Cambridge for an hour. The whole of the run to there and Cambridge itself was steeped in memories of the jolly runs we had before we were married and I relived them as I crackled along the roads. I reached camp about nine and went for your letters and some supper and found the two Standards as well. I enjoyed your letter and was greatly relieved to find that the Portland raids had not troubled you too much. If you find things getting hot you must leave but it seems foolish for you to settle down up here when I shall be moving again in less than four weeks so if you can manage for
[page break]
another month I shall then be definitly [sic] stationed with a squadron and you will be saved the trouble and expense of moving twice. I am enclosing ten shillings which with your extra will amount to seventeen. I know I have cut you short this last two weeks but what with the travelling about to new stations and our night in London and this last two days I am very short. You wouldnt [sic] know Southend its almost empty and the Maricot and the Metropole are closed and nearly all the Westcliff shops and Woolworths was quieter on Monday than I have ever known it before.
I cant [sic] think of any more to tell you except I am longing for when you are living near me again and hope you keep your chin up in the air raids that are going on everywhere now. All my love darling and I am saving heaps of kisses for you till you see your
fond husband
Harry xxxxx
P.S. Save Shabby Tiger [?] for me and I am sorry I cant [sic] lend you “Cage” me & [deleted] Peako [/deleted] peacock”
R.A.F. Station
Upwood
Wed. 14-8-40
[inserted] lock of hair [/inserted]
My Darling Jessie,
I have just got back from my two days off and would like you to know I have enjoyed every minute of it. Withal it was nice I longed every minute of it to have you with me but it just couldn’t be. When I wrote you Monday I thought I may be able to get down to Dorchester but when I got to Kings X [sic] it was too late for a train down to you so I went to Mums and got there about quarter to ten. You can imagine Mums face when she saw me. The first time since Easter you know. Well the evening passed off very happily and Tuesday morning I went to Southend and fixed up for my tyre which I got later that day. While I was going down High St. I met Vera and we had some lunch at Garons and in the afternoon went to the Gaumont and saw Rebecca. If you have not seen this film you must at the first chance as its [sic] a grand show and the best film of the year I should say. I collected the Sunbeam about six and Vera took me to her bungalow for some tea and after that I went round to Redwood. It looked very trim and your Mother is doing some good work in keeping the garden tidy. My Mum keeps the inside swept up and everything looked safe and sound. She has put some moth balls in your wardrobe and some in the bedding so they shouldnt [sic] come to any harm. From the bungalow
[page break]
I drove down to your Mums [sic] and I thought she looked better than I have seen her for years. I then visited Leslie and the outcome of it was that I stayed the night there and they gave me breakfast before I left this morning. They seem much happier than they did and Marian was quite her old smart self and the house was all nice and clean. Leslie and I stayed up until two this morning talking away and he appears to have changed his mind about being C.O. and is registered and awaiting his call up. It was very much like old times he and I sitting up into the small [deleted] or [/deleted] hours talking and discussing anything that cropped up. Marian brought me tea in bed and I then got up had breakfast and left about half past nine for Tilbury again where I spent the rest of the day with Mum and the girls. Pat is looking wonderfully well and is a dear little creature just as good as ever. Mum and Joyce are well and Kelly seems to be getting over her trouble. They all send their love to you. At five I started my eighty mile drive back to the camp and got on so well that I stopped in Cambridge for an hour. The whole of the run to there and Cambridge itself was steeped in memories of the jolly runs we had before we were married and I relived them as I crackled along the roads. I reached camp about nine and went for your letters and some supper and found the two Standards as well. I enjoyed your letter and was greatly relieved to find that the Portland raids had not troubled you too much. If you find things getting hot you must leave but it seems foolish for you to settle down up here when I shall be moving again in less than four weeks so if you can manage for
[page break]
another month I shall then be definitly [sic] stationed with a squadron and you will be saved the trouble and expense of moving twice. I am enclosing ten shillings which with your extra will amount to seventeen. I know I have cut you short this last two weeks but what with the travelling about to new stations and our night in London and this last two days I am very short. You wouldnt [sic] know Southend its almost empty and the Maricot and the Metropole are closed and nearly all the Westcliff shops and Woolworths was quieter on Monday than I have ever known it before.
I cant [sic] think of any more to tell you except I am longing for when you are living near me again and hope you keep your chin up in the air raids that are going on everywhere now. All my love darling and I am saving heaps of kisses for you till you see your
fond husband
Harry xxxxx
P.S. Save Shabby Tiger [?] for me and I am sorry I cant [sic] lend you “Cage” me & [deleted] Peako [/deleted] peacock”
Collection
Citation
Harry Redgrave, “To Jessie from Harry Redgrave,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 23, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/15915.
Item Relations
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