Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes thanking him for his letter and detailing those she has sent to him with discussion of post schedules from Aberystwyth. Mentions sending him a parcel and then continues with baby news. Looking forward to time when they can have normal family life and that she will have another try at taking photograph of daughter. Comments on his news on training with allied pilots. Mentions his health and encourages him to see MO. Concludes with more baby news and possible plans for the future.
Creator
Date
1941-05-09
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Four 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.
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM410509
Transcription
Trefilan May 9th
My darling Johnnie, thanks for your letter of the 6th. I'm sorry that there wasn't a letter from me waiting for you when you wrote. I have posted every day, but one day – it may have been the letter in question – I didn't post till the 4.30 collection from the local P./O. Because Mrs Sandford assured me it would be in time for the evening mail from Aber. & it is more convenient for me to write in the afternoon & get the 4.30 past than to hurry off a quick letter in time for the 1.30. I've posted every day by the 4.30 since then, so I hope there have been no more gaps. Your letters have arrived with unfailing regularity & have been & are a great joy & comfort to me & a source of bantering comment from the Sandfords who call you my “faithful” - as indeed you are. Yesterday I posted off a small parcel of cigarettes & tobacco with a letter enclosed, & I hope to goodness that it arrives safely. I wanted
[page break]
to register it but had no sealing wax & nor had the post Office, so I couldn't.
Your daughter is a month old today, but I decided against any riotous celebration so the routine has gone on as usual & she is at present sleeping peacefully out in the sun. It is a shame that you can't have more experience & consciousness of your fatherhood, she's getting sweet every day now that she's taking more interest in her surroundings & staying awake a little longer after feeds. I wish I could tell you more about her to bring her vividly before you, but her life is really rather uneventful. Of course I gaze at her fondly every moment she is lying at my breast & experience a most wonderful & pure kind of joy to know that she is our very own baby, but I can hardly pass that feeling on to you though if you were with us I'm sure you'd feel a father's tenderness just as strongly. Still that's one of the many penalties of wartime, & we can only look forward to the day when we can live a real
[page break]
family life again – may it be soon! I'm going to have another shot at taking her photo today to finish the film, but its very difficult. Out in the sun, even if its behind her, the light is too bright for her to open her eyes, & if I bring her indoors its too dark to take decent photos on my camera. However, I'll have another try.
I was very interested to hear about the allied pilots training with you – it must bring home to you forcibly the reality of the fact that this war really is the Nazis versus The Rest. Do you like them as individuals & do you like some nationalities better than others? I have never met any Poles & should be interested to hear your impressions. I'm so sorry that you are still feeling rotten. My heart aches to be with you & try to comfort you. I only hope the M.O.'s methods will be successful soon. A cold & constipation together must make you feel really rotten & make it much harder to work. I do so wish I could help you but I can only love you & hope you'll soon feel better. Frances' cold is better now – yesterday she again performed in
[page break]
the potty, & is sleeping better at night too. She woke at 3.30 last night but soon settled off again. Did I tell you about my recurring nightmare? I wake up in the morning terrified with the certainty that I dropped off to sleep while giving her the 6 am. feed & that she is smothered somewhere in the blankets & I actually have to sit up & make sure she's safely in her cot before I'm reassured. It's silly, but I've had it three or four times! Not that she'd let herself be smothered without making an energetic protest.
I was hoping to have a reply today to my letter about the Babies Home. I do so hope you'll consent to my going there, on trial anyway, & I promise I'll come away if the work is too heavy for me. I feel so helpless here to arrange anything else, & anyway time is short. So do say yes darling, & trust me & don't be disappointed or angry. I must write & give them an answer soon anyway. I enclose a letter from Grannie (Miss Ruth Howard) the owner of the B.Home which Ba sent on to me. You see she's very honest about it. I know that you have money enough to support us in idleness & luxury, but there's a war & I'm as keen to do my bit as anybody tho' of course the scope is limited as Frances comes first. Nobody ought to live & think only of themselves.
All my love darling, Ursula
My darling Johnnie, thanks for your letter of the 6th. I'm sorry that there wasn't a letter from me waiting for you when you wrote. I have posted every day, but one day – it may have been the letter in question – I didn't post till the 4.30 collection from the local P./O. Because Mrs Sandford assured me it would be in time for the evening mail from Aber. & it is more convenient for me to write in the afternoon & get the 4.30 past than to hurry off a quick letter in time for the 1.30. I've posted every day by the 4.30 since then, so I hope there have been no more gaps. Your letters have arrived with unfailing regularity & have been & are a great joy & comfort to me & a source of bantering comment from the Sandfords who call you my “faithful” - as indeed you are. Yesterday I posted off a small parcel of cigarettes & tobacco with a letter enclosed, & I hope to goodness that it arrives safely. I wanted
[page break]
to register it but had no sealing wax & nor had the post Office, so I couldn't.
Your daughter is a month old today, but I decided against any riotous celebration so the routine has gone on as usual & she is at present sleeping peacefully out in the sun. It is a shame that you can't have more experience & consciousness of your fatherhood, she's getting sweet every day now that she's taking more interest in her surroundings & staying awake a little longer after feeds. I wish I could tell you more about her to bring her vividly before you, but her life is really rather uneventful. Of course I gaze at her fondly every moment she is lying at my breast & experience a most wonderful & pure kind of joy to know that she is our very own baby, but I can hardly pass that feeling on to you though if you were with us I'm sure you'd feel a father's tenderness just as strongly. Still that's one of the many penalties of wartime, & we can only look forward to the day when we can live a real
[page break]
family life again – may it be soon! I'm going to have another shot at taking her photo today to finish the film, but its very difficult. Out in the sun, even if its behind her, the light is too bright for her to open her eyes, & if I bring her indoors its too dark to take decent photos on my camera. However, I'll have another try.
I was very interested to hear about the allied pilots training with you – it must bring home to you forcibly the reality of the fact that this war really is the Nazis versus The Rest. Do you like them as individuals & do you like some nationalities better than others? I have never met any Poles & should be interested to hear your impressions. I'm so sorry that you are still feeling rotten. My heart aches to be with you & try to comfort you. I only hope the M.O.'s methods will be successful soon. A cold & constipation together must make you feel really rotten & make it much harder to work. I do so wish I could help you but I can only love you & hope you'll soon feel better. Frances' cold is better now – yesterday she again performed in
[page break]
the potty, & is sleeping better at night too. She woke at 3.30 last night but soon settled off again. Did I tell you about my recurring nightmare? I wake up in the morning terrified with the certainty that I dropped off to sleep while giving her the 6 am. feed & that she is smothered somewhere in the blankets & I actually have to sit up & make sure she's safely in her cot before I'm reassured. It's silly, but I've had it three or four times! Not that she'd let herself be smothered without making an energetic protest.
I was hoping to have a reply today to my letter about the Babies Home. I do so hope you'll consent to my going there, on trial anyway, & I promise I'll come away if the work is too heavy for me. I feel so helpless here to arrange anything else, & anyway time is short. So do say yes darling, & trust me & don't be disappointed or angry. I must write & give them an answer soon anyway. I enclose a letter from Grannie (Miss Ruth Howard) the owner of the B.Home which Ba sent on to me. You see she's very honest about it. I know that you have money enough to support us in idleness & luxury, but there's a war & I'm as keen to do my bit as anybody tho' of course the scope is limited as Frances comes first. Nobody ought to live & think only of themselves.
All my love darling, Ursula
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 27, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19569.
Item Relations
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