Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Title
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
Number 50, Reports that three more letters have arrived. Writes about issues raised, especially over her job and investments in future home. He is in favour of getting a house renting if necessary for the time being due to uncertainty over post war conditions. Would not commit to buying at present but suggests price limit if she sees one she wants. Talks of family and thanks her for photographs of Christmas celebrations. Catches up with family/friends news.
Creator
Date
1943-02-04
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Two page handwritten letter
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EValentineJRMValentineUM430204
Transcription
NUMBER 50
4/2/43.
Darling Ursula: Another good day for me – three of your letters having arrived - Nos 36, 43 & 44. So glad to know that you were “thrilled” to get that wretched snap of me; considering the camera was home made it wasn’t a bad effort. Sorry to hear of the temporary estrangement with Barnet as a result of your refusal to go down [deleted] [inserted] to P.M. [/inserted] Good for you though – don’t let them bully you into anything you don’t want. Am a little apprehensive at the thought of your working at machines. For heavens sake be careful. Who is David Oppenheimer? Delighted to hear of your investments in our future home, although £4 for a cabinet does seem a bit steep considering that neither our bedroom nor our dining room suite cost that complete. However, I would urge you to go ahead & get all you can now that I am apparently going to live (which I very much doubted a year ago.) I have implicit trust in your discretion as to the disposal of our fortune & if you think anything necessary & the cost reasonable (in present day circumstances) by all means get it. Getting a house would be the best idea of all & I am very much in favour of renting one for the time being. Neither of us has the slightest idea of post war conditions & I would rather not commit myself to the purchase of a house. However if you see your dream house & it is only for sale buy it. I should suggest a £1000 limit. Many thanks for your photos of the Xmas celebrations. You certainly seem to have put up a good show for Frances at a time when it wasn’t easy to buy things [deleted word] I definitely shan’t throw away the one with the Xmas tree since you & Frances were on it but I must admit I wasn’t overjoyed to see the others with you. The [indecipherable word] child reminds me strangely of Jean. You seem to be an absolute wizard at manufacturing things for Frances & she is lucky to have you as a Mother. I gather that your parents will definitely be home this year & I hope you will take every precaution to avoid Frances being the object of too much admiration, fondling etc. Your Mother always writes so enthusiastically about her & she will be one small mite in a very grown up household. I dare say you have a job as it is in preventing Bar from making to much of her. So don’t let them lavish presents, or attentions on her & I personally would suggest a very modest use of effusive terms of endearment. I have had 6 letters from you in 3 days now – lovely ones all of them. Unfortunately 1 photo of you was badly damaged. I don’t know which letter it was since several came [inserted] loose [/inserted] in a big envelope. It is one in your black frock – a side view but full face. The German censor sent a polite note saying he hadn’t done the damage. Hope you are well darling, John.
[page break]
[underlined] Kriegsgefangenenpost [/underlined]
An Mrs U.M. VALENTINE
LIDO
Empfangsort: TENTERDEN GROVE
Strasse: HENDON
Kreis: LONDON, NW4
Land: ENGLAND
[page break]
Absender:
Vor – und Zuname: Sgt John Valentine
Gefangenennummer: 450
4/2/43.
Darling Ursula: Another good day for me – three of your letters having arrived - Nos 36, 43 & 44. So glad to know that you were “thrilled” to get that wretched snap of me; considering the camera was home made it wasn’t a bad effort. Sorry to hear of the temporary estrangement with Barnet as a result of your refusal to go down [deleted] [inserted] to P.M. [/inserted] Good for you though – don’t let them bully you into anything you don’t want. Am a little apprehensive at the thought of your working at machines. For heavens sake be careful. Who is David Oppenheimer? Delighted to hear of your investments in our future home, although £4 for a cabinet does seem a bit steep considering that neither our bedroom nor our dining room suite cost that complete. However, I would urge you to go ahead & get all you can now that I am apparently going to live (which I very much doubted a year ago.) I have implicit trust in your discretion as to the disposal of our fortune & if you think anything necessary & the cost reasonable (in present day circumstances) by all means get it. Getting a house would be the best idea of all & I am very much in favour of renting one for the time being. Neither of us has the slightest idea of post war conditions & I would rather not commit myself to the purchase of a house. However if you see your dream house & it is only for sale buy it. I should suggest a £1000 limit. Many thanks for your photos of the Xmas celebrations. You certainly seem to have put up a good show for Frances at a time when it wasn’t easy to buy things [deleted word] I definitely shan’t throw away the one with the Xmas tree since you & Frances were on it but I must admit I wasn’t overjoyed to see the others with you. The [indecipherable word] child reminds me strangely of Jean. You seem to be an absolute wizard at manufacturing things for Frances & she is lucky to have you as a Mother. I gather that your parents will definitely be home this year & I hope you will take every precaution to avoid Frances being the object of too much admiration, fondling etc. Your Mother always writes so enthusiastically about her & she will be one small mite in a very grown up household. I dare say you have a job as it is in preventing Bar from making to much of her. So don’t let them lavish presents, or attentions on her & I personally would suggest a very modest use of effusive terms of endearment. I have had 6 letters from you in 3 days now – lovely ones all of them. Unfortunately 1 photo of you was badly damaged. I don’t know which letter it was since several came [inserted] loose [/inserted] in a big envelope. It is one in your black frock – a side view but full face. The German censor sent a polite note saying he hadn’t done the damage. Hope you are well darling, John.
[page break]
[underlined] Kriegsgefangenenpost [/underlined]
An Mrs U.M. VALENTINE
LIDO
Empfangsort: TENTERDEN GROVE
Strasse: HENDON
Kreis: LONDON, NW4
Land: ENGLAND
[page break]
Absender:
Vor – und Zuname: Sgt John Valentine
Gefangenennummer: 450
Collection
Citation
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine, “Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 23, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19252.
Item Relations
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