Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes acknowledging how good a husband he is and how much he loves her. She continues with speculation about her future and where she might go. Continues with news of daily activities including looking after her dog. Mentioned that she has enclosed photographs and will try to get some more. Briefly talks of baby daughter's activities.
Creator
Date
1941-05-11
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
EValentineUMValentineJRM410511
Transcription
Trefilan May 11th
Darling Johnnie, the more I read your letter of 7th & consider its author, the more I realise that I have the truest & best husband in all the world. Your love is like a protective wall around me, even when you are so far away, & your understanding & generosity towards me makes me feel that I must pull myself together & make a big effort to be worthy of you. You'll probably snort when you read this, but I mean it seriously, darling. You mean more to me than I can ever say, & I feel I'm somehow a better person for having been loved by you.
After considering your letter carefully I went round to see Mrs Williams (Ellesmere) on a friendly visit – she's a nice woman & her house is certainly well-kept. But as soon as I introduced myself she informed me regretfully that she had taken an RAF man & his wife – tho' I hadn't said a word about going to stay with her. However that settles that. The other Mrs Williams is going back to her
[page break]
job at the Post Office, & evacuees are arriving daily, so that I'm afraid my chances of finding anywhere suitable here are pretty slender. In short it seems that there really are no other feasible alternatives at the moment than Lido or the B.H. (as it is quite open to question whether or not I should be invited to Priors Marston & I certainly couldn't suggest it myself). So I have made up my mind to write to Miss Crow tomorrow & say I'll come for a few weeks to try the arrangement out, as she suggests, & I promise you, dearest, that if the work is really too much I will give it up. It's not long till Whitsun now, & if Ba is coming up to fetch me I must give her time to apply for leave.
This afternoon Miss Forbes walked in & we had a little chat. She doesn't seem to know you or your family very well, but showed an
[page break
interest in all our doings. I walked into Aber. & back this morning, collected Jane & gave her a thorough good brushing & powdering with Pulvex. She's definitely got fleas in her ears, & probably elsewhere too, tho' not having a tooth-comb I couldn't go over her thoroughly. She looked better when I'd finished with her anyway, & I hope to do her again soon. I noticed that while we were out she was eating grass at every opportunity so I suppose she's a bit off colour & will give the Royles some powders to give her daily. I shall be glad to have her back again in our sole charge.
I enclose the photos – unfortunately neither the one of you & Frances nor us 3 together came out. The negs don't look so hopeless to me but anyway no prints were made. You can keep any of these you like, I must have more made in any case to send to Mother.
[page break]
I'll try & get some better ones of her; these are not focussed too well, I must have been nearer than two & a half feet in my eagerness to get her. She broke all records at 2 pm today be performing in the potty both before & after her feed & having as dry nappy for the first time. To make up, she's been restless this afternoon.
Now I must post this, as it is 4.30 & I'm not sure how late the collection will be (its supposed to go at 4.30). I do hope your cold is better now – how do you feel in your flying kit up aloft? I hope it is really big enough for you. If anyone has a camera there, do try & send me a photo of you in full rig-out. All my love to you, my darling husband, you are so precious to me. Pumpkin sends her love too. Yours always, Ursula
Darling Johnnie, the more I read your letter of 7th & consider its author, the more I realise that I have the truest & best husband in all the world. Your love is like a protective wall around me, even when you are so far away, & your understanding & generosity towards me makes me feel that I must pull myself together & make a big effort to be worthy of you. You'll probably snort when you read this, but I mean it seriously, darling. You mean more to me than I can ever say, & I feel I'm somehow a better person for having been loved by you.
After considering your letter carefully I went round to see Mrs Williams (Ellesmere) on a friendly visit – she's a nice woman & her house is certainly well-kept. But as soon as I introduced myself she informed me regretfully that she had taken an RAF man & his wife – tho' I hadn't said a word about going to stay with her. However that settles that. The other Mrs Williams is going back to her
[page break]
job at the Post Office, & evacuees are arriving daily, so that I'm afraid my chances of finding anywhere suitable here are pretty slender. In short it seems that there really are no other feasible alternatives at the moment than Lido or the B.H. (as it is quite open to question whether or not I should be invited to Priors Marston & I certainly couldn't suggest it myself). So I have made up my mind to write to Miss Crow tomorrow & say I'll come for a few weeks to try the arrangement out, as she suggests, & I promise you, dearest, that if the work is really too much I will give it up. It's not long till Whitsun now, & if Ba is coming up to fetch me I must give her time to apply for leave.
This afternoon Miss Forbes walked in & we had a little chat. She doesn't seem to know you or your family very well, but showed an
[page break
interest in all our doings. I walked into Aber. & back this morning, collected Jane & gave her a thorough good brushing & powdering with Pulvex. She's definitely got fleas in her ears, & probably elsewhere too, tho' not having a tooth-comb I couldn't go over her thoroughly. She looked better when I'd finished with her anyway, & I hope to do her again soon. I noticed that while we were out she was eating grass at every opportunity so I suppose she's a bit off colour & will give the Royles some powders to give her daily. I shall be glad to have her back again in our sole charge.
I enclose the photos – unfortunately neither the one of you & Frances nor us 3 together came out. The negs don't look so hopeless to me but anyway no prints were made. You can keep any of these you like, I must have more made in any case to send to Mother.
[page break]
I'll try & get some better ones of her; these are not focussed too well, I must have been nearer than two & a half feet in my eagerness to get her. She broke all records at 2 pm today be performing in the potty both before & after her feed & having as dry nappy for the first time. To make up, she's been restless this afternoon.
Now I must post this, as it is 4.30 & I'm not sure how late the collection will be (its supposed to go at 4.30). I do hope your cold is better now – how do you feel in your flying kit up aloft? I hope it is really big enough for you. If anyone has a camera there, do try & send me a photo of you in full rig-out. All my love to you, my darling husband, you are so precious to me. Pumpkin sends her love too. Yours always, Ursula
Collection
Citation
U M Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19572.
Item Relations
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