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  • #7263
    TracyTracy
    Participant

      Solomon Stubbs

      1781-1857

       

      Solomon was born in Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire, parents Samuel Stubbs and Rebecca Wood. (see The Hamstall Ridware Connection chapter)

      Solomon married Phillis Lomas at St Modwen’s in Burton on Trent on 30th May 1815. Phillis was the llegitimate daughter of Frances Lomas. No father was named on the baptism on the 17th January 1787 in Sutton on the Hill, Derbyshire, and the entry on the baptism register states that she was illegitimate. Phillis’s mother Frances married Daniel Fox in 1790 in Sutton on the Hill. Unfortunately this means that it’s impossible to find my 5X great grandfather on this side of the family.

      Solomon and Phillis had four daughters, the last died in infancy.
      Sarah 1816-1867, Mary (my 3X great grandmother) 1819-1880, Phillis 1823-1905, and Maria 1825-1826.

       

      Solomon Stubbs of Horninglow St is listed in the 1834 Whites Directory under “China, Glass, Etc Dlrs”. Next to his name is Joanna Warren (earthenware) High St. Joanna Warren is related to me on my maternal side.  No doubt Solomon and Joanna knew each other, unaware that several generations later a marriage would take place, not locally but miles away, joining their families.

      Solomon Stubbs is also listed in Whites Directory in 1831 and 1834 Burton on Trent as a land carrier:

      “Land Carriers, from the Inns, Etc: Uttoxeter, Solomon Stubbs, Horninglow St, Mon. Wed. and Sat. 6 mng.”

      1831 Solomon Stubbs

       

      Solomon is listed in the electoral registers in 1837. The 1837 United Kingdom general election was triggered by the death of King William IV and produced the first Parliament of the reign of his successor, Queen Victoria.

      National Archives:

      “In 1832, Parliament passed a law that changed the British electoral system. It was known as the Great Reform Act, which basically gave the vote to middle class men, leaving working men disappointed.
      The Reform Act became law in response to years of criticism of the electoral system from those outside and inside Parliament. Elections in Britain were neither fair nor representative. In order to vote, a person had to own property or pay certain taxes to qualify, which excluded most working class people.”

       

      Via the Burton on Trent History group:

      “a very early image of High street and Horninglow street junction, where the original ‘ Bargates’ were in the days of the Abbey. ‘Gate’ is the Saxon meaning Road, ‘Bar’ quite self explanatory, meant ‘to stop entrance’. There was another Bargate across Cat street (Station street), the Abbot had these constructed to regulate the Traders coming into town, in the days when the Abbey ran things. In the photo you can see the Posts on the corner, designed to stop Carts and Carriages mounting the Pavement. Only three Posts remain today and they are Listed.”

      Horninglow St

       

      On the 1841 census, Solomon’s occupation was Carrier. Daughter Sarah is still living at home, and Sarah Grattidge, 13 years old, lives with them. Solomon’s daughter Mary had married William Grattidge in 1839.

      Solomon Stubbs of Horninglow Street, Burton on Trent, is listed as an Earthenware Dealer in the 1842 Pigot’s Directory of Staffordshire.

      In May 1844 Solomon’s wife Phillis died.  In July 1844 daughter Sarah married Thomas Brandon in Burton on Trent. It was noted in the newspaper announcement that this was the first wedding to take place at the Holy Trinity church.

      Solomon married Charlotte Bell by licence the following year in 1845.   She was considerably younger than him, born in 1824.  On the marriage certificate Solomon’s occupation is potter.  It seems that he had the earthenware business as well as the land carrier business, in addition to owning a number of properties.

      The marriage of Solomon Stubbs and Charlotte Bell:

      1845 Solomon Stubbs

       

      Also in 1845, Solomon’s daughter Phillis was married in Burton on Trent to John Devitt, son of CD Devitt, Esq, formerly of the General Post Office Dublin.

      Solomon Stubbs died in September 1857 in Burton on Trent.  In the Staffordshire Advertiser on Saturday 3 October 1857:

      “On the 22nd ultimo, suddenly, much respected, Solomon Stubbs, of Guild-street, Burton-on-Trent, aged 74 years.”

       

      In the Staffordshire Advertiser, 24th October 1857, the auction of the property of Solomon Stubbs was announced:

      “BURTON ON TRENT, on Thursday, the 29th day of October, 1857, at six o’clock in the evening, subject to conditions then to be produced:— Lot I—All those four DWELLING HOUSES, with the Gardens and Outbuildings thereto belonging, situate in Stanleystreet, on Goose Moor, in Burton-on-Trent aforesaid, the property of the late Mr. Solomon Stubbs, and in the respective occupations of Mr. Moreland, Mr. Scattergood, Mr. Gough, and Mr. Antony…..”

      1857 Solomoon Stubbs

       

      Sadly, the graves of Solomon, his wife Phillis, and their infant daughter Maria have since been removed and are listed in the UK Records of the Removal of Graves and Tombstones 1601-2007.

      #6516
      TracyTracy
      Participant

        Aunt Idle:

        Bert came barging in my room, and I’d only just sat down, telling me the guest still hadn’t phoned to be picked up from the trail.  Bert, I said, she’ll be fine. She probably phoned a taxi and went to Alice for dinner or to meet her friends, she’s fine.  But he kept going on about what if she wandered off the trail, and I said, Bert, if she wandered off the trail that doesn’t mean she’s in trouble, does it? Anyway, I said, the parrot said not to worry. Parrot? he said and his face was a picture. Parrot? The flaming parrot said not to worry?  Not like old Bert to be as rude as he was then, I don’t know what had got into him.

        He stomped off muttering and I caught a few words like sandwich short of a picnic, but I’m used to that now, they’re all rude about me.  Well Bert not so much, which is why it took me by surprise, and the twins are alright. Mater though, don’t even get me started, nor Finly. Prune’s up to something, I don’t know what, and so is Devan. I can’t put my finger on it.  And something’s rattled Berts cage.

        She’s nice, the new guest, a bit younger than me but struth! looks about 20 years younger. Living out here hasn’t done me any favours.

        #6477

        In reply to: Orbs of Madjourneys

        Bertie dropped Zara off at the bus station in Camden early the next morning. She let him think she was catching a plane from Sydney, given her impulsive lie about having to meet her friends sooner, but she was going by train. The reviews she’d read online were tantalizing:

        “The Ghan journey tells the story of the land. The train is the canvas, and the changing landscape paints the picture.”

        A two day train ride would give her time to relax and play the game, and she assumed two days of desert scenery would not be too distracting.  Luckily before she paid for her ticket she had the presence of mind to ask if there was internet on the train. There was not.  Zara sighed, and booked a flight instead, but decided she would catch the train back home after the holiday at the Flying Fish Inn.  By then perhaps the novelty of the game would have worn off, and she would appreciate the time spent in quiet contemplation, and perhaps do some writing.

        Zara hated flying, especially airports. The best that could be said of flying was that it was a quick way to get from A to B.

        “You’ll have to go in a cage for the flight, Pretty Girl,” she told the parrot.

        “I think not,” replied Pretty Girl.  “I’ll meet you there.  See you!” and off she flew into the low morning sun, momentarily blinding Zara as she watched her go.

        Her flight left Sydney at 14:35. Three and a half hours later she would arrive at Alice Springs and from there it was a half hour road trip to the Flying Fish.  Zara sent an email to the inn asking if anyone could pick her up, otherwise she would get a bus or a taxi.  She received a reply saying that they’d send Bert to pick her up around seven o’clock.  Another Bert!

        #6350
        TracyTracy
        Participant

          Transportation

          Isaac Stokes 1804-1877

           

          Isaac was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire in 1804, and was the youngest brother of my 4X great grandfather Thomas Stokes. The Stokes family were stone masons for generations in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and Isaac’s occupation was a mason’s labourer in 1834 when he was sentenced at the Lent Assizes in Oxford to fourteen years transportation for stealing tools.

          Churchill where the Stokes stonemasons came from: on 31 July 1684 a fire destroyed 20 houses and many other buildings, and killed four people. The village was rebuilt higher up the hill, with stone houses instead of the old timber-framed and thatched cottages. The fire was apparently caused by a baker who, to avoid chimney tax, had knocked through the wall from her oven to her neighbour’s chimney.

          Isaac stole a pick axe, the value of 2 shillings and the property of Thomas Joyner of Churchill; a kibbeaux and a trowel value 3 shillings the property of Thomas Symms; a hammer and axe value 5 shillings, property of John Keen of Sarsden.

          (The word kibbeaux seems to only exists in relation to Isaac Stokes sentence and whoever was the first to write it was perhaps being creative with the spelling of a kibbo, a miners or a metal bucket. This spelling is repeated in the criminal reports and the newspaper articles about Isaac, but nowhere else).

          In March 1834 the Removal of Convicts was announced in the Oxford University and City Herald: Isaac Stokes and several other prisoners were removed from the Oxford county gaol to the Justitia hulk at Woolwich “persuant to their sentences of transportation at our Lent Assizes”.

          via digitalpanopticon:

          Hulks were decommissioned (and often unseaworthy) ships that were moored in rivers and estuaries and refitted to become floating prisons. The outbreak of war in America in 1775 meant that it was no longer possible to transport British convicts there. Transportation as a form of punishment had started in the late seventeenth century, and following the Transportation Act of 1718, some 44,000 British convicts were sent to the American colonies. The end of this punishment presented a major problem for the authorities in London, since in the decade before 1775, two-thirds of convicts at the Old Bailey received a sentence of transportation – on average 283 convicts a year. As a result, London’s prisons quickly filled to overflowing with convicted prisoners who were sentenced to transportation but had no place to go.

          To increase London’s prison capacity, in 1776 Parliament passed the “Hulks Act” (16 Geo III, c.43). Although overseen by local justices of the peace, the hulks were to be directly managed and maintained by private contractors. The first contract to run a hulk was awarded to Duncan Campbell, a former transportation contractor. In August 1776, the Justicia, a former transportation ship moored in the River Thames, became the first prison hulk. This ship soon became full and Campbell quickly introduced a number of other hulks in London; by 1778 the fleet of hulks on the Thames held 510 prisoners.
          Demand was so great that new hulks were introduced across the country. There were hulks located at Deptford, Chatham, Woolwich, Gosport, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheerness and Cork.

          The Justitia via rmg collections:

          Justitia

          Convicts perform hard labour at the Woolwich Warren. The hulk on the river is the ‘Justitia’. Prisoners were kept on board such ships for months awaiting deportation to Australia. The ‘Justitia’ was a 260 ton prison hulk that had been originally moored in the Thames when the American War of Independence put a stop to the transportation of criminals to the former colonies. The ‘Justitia’ belonged to the shipowner Duncan Campbell, who was the Government contractor who organized the prison-hulk system at that time. Campbell was subsequently involved in the shipping of convicts to the penal colony at Botany Bay (in fact Port Jackson, later Sydney, just to the north) in New South Wales, the ‘first fleet’ going out in 1788.

           

          While searching for records for Isaac Stokes I discovered that another Isaac Stokes was transported to New South Wales in 1835 as well. The other one was a butcher born in 1809, sentenced in London for seven years, and he sailed on the Mary Ann. Our Isaac Stokes sailed on the Lady Nugent, arriving in NSW in April 1835, having set sail from England in December 1834.

          Lady Nugent was built at Bombay in 1813. She made four voyages under contract to the British East India Company (EIC). She then made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia, one to New South Wales and one to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). (via Wikipedia)

          via freesettlerorfelon website:

          On 20 November 1834, 100 male convicts were transferred to the Lady Nugent from the Justitia Hulk and 60 from the Ganymede Hulk at Woolwich, all in apparent good health. The Lady Nugent departed Sheerness on 4 December 1834.

          SURGEON OLIVER SPROULE

          Oliver Sproule kept a Medical Journal from 7 November 1834 to 27 April 1835. He recorded in his journal the weather conditions they experienced in the first two weeks:

          ‘In the course of the first week or ten days at sea, there were eight or nine on the sick list with catarrhal affections and one with dropsy which I attribute to the cold and wet we experienced during that period beating down channel. Indeed the foremost berths in the prison at this time were so wet from leaking in that part of the ship, that I was obliged to issue dry beds and bedding to a great many of the prisoners to preserve their health, but after crossing the Bay of Biscay the weather became fine and we got the damp beds and blankets dried, the leaks partially stopped and the prison well aired and ventilated which, I am happy to say soon manifested a favourable change in the health and appearance of the men.

          Besides the cases given in the journal I had a great many others to treat, some of them similar to those mentioned but the greater part consisted of boils, scalds, and contusions which would not only be too tedious to enter but I fear would be irksome to the reader. There were four births on board during the passage which did well, therefore I did not consider it necessary to give a detailed account of them in my journal the more especially as they were all favourable cases.

          Regularity and cleanliness in the prison, free ventilation and as far as possible dry decks turning all the prisoners up in fine weather as we were lucky enough to have two musicians amongst the convicts, dancing was tolerated every afternoon, strict attention to personal cleanliness and also to the cooking of their victuals with regular hours for their meals, were the only prophylactic means used on this occasion, which I found to answer my expectations to the utmost extent in as much as there was not a single case of contagious or infectious nature during the whole passage with the exception of a few cases of psora which soon yielded to the usual treatment. A few cases of scurvy however appeared on board at rather an early period which I can attribute to nothing else but the wet and hardships the prisoners endured during the first three or four weeks of the passage. I was prompt in my treatment of these cases and they got well, but before we arrived at Sydney I had about thirty others to treat.’

          The Lady Nugent arrived in Port Jackson on 9 April 1835 with 284 male prisoners. Two men had died at sea. The prisoners were landed on 27th April 1835 and marched to Hyde Park Barracks prior to being assigned. Ten were under the age of 14 years.

          The Lady Nugent:

          Lady Nugent

           

          Isaac’s distinguishing marks are noted on various criminal registers and record books:

          “Height in feet & inches: 5 4; Complexion: Ruddy; Hair: Light brown; Eyes: Hazel; Marks or Scars: Yes [including] DEVIL on lower left arm, TSIS back of left hand, WS lower right arm, MHDW back of right hand.”

          Another includes more detail about Isaac’s tattoos:

          “Two slight scars right side of mouth, 2 moles above right breast, figure of the devil and DEVIL and raised mole, lower left arm; anchor, seven dots half moon, TSIS and cross, back of left hand; a mallet, door post, A, mans bust, sun, WS, lower right arm; woman, MHDW and shut knife, back of right hand.”

           

          Lady Nugent record book

           

          From How tattoos became fashionable in Victorian England (2019 article in TheConversation by Robert Shoemaker and Zoe Alkar):

          “Historical tattooing was not restricted to sailors, soldiers and convicts, but was a growing and accepted phenomenon in Victorian England. Tattoos provide an important window into the lives of those who typically left no written records of their own. As a form of “history from below”, they give us a fleeting but intriguing understanding of the identities and emotions of ordinary people in the past.
          As a practice for which typically the only record is the body itself, few systematic records survive before the advent of photography. One exception to this is the written descriptions of tattoos (and even the occasional sketch) that were kept of institutionalised people forced to submit to the recording of information about their bodies as a means of identifying them. This particularly applies to three groups – criminal convicts, soldiers and sailors. Of these, the convict records are the most voluminous and systematic.
          Such records were first kept in large numbers for those who were transported to Australia from 1788 (since Australia was then an open prison) as the authorities needed some means of keeping track of them.”

          On the 1837 census Isaac was working for the government at Illiwarra, New South Wales. This record states that he arrived on the Lady Nugent in 1835. There are three other indent records for an Isaac Stokes in the following years, but the transcriptions don’t provide enough information to determine which Isaac Stokes it was. In April 1837 there was an abscondment, and an arrest/apprehension in May of that year, and in 1843 there was a record of convict indulgences.

          From the Australian government website regarding “convict indulgences”:

          “By the mid-1830s only six per cent of convicts were locked up. The vast majority worked for the government or free settlers and, with good behaviour, could earn a ticket of leave, conditional pardon or and even an absolute pardon. While under such orders convicts could earn their own living.”

           

          In 1856 in Camden, NSW, Isaac Stokes married Catherine Daly. With no further information on this record it would be impossible to know for sure if this was the right Isaac Stokes. This couple had six children, all in the Camden area, but none of the records provided enough information. No occupation or place or date of birth recorded for Isaac Stokes.

          I wrote to the National Library of Australia about the marriage record, and their reply was a surprise! Issac and Catherine were married on 30 September 1856, at the house of the Rev. Charles William Rigg, a Methodist minister, and it was recorded that Isaac was born in Edinburgh in 1821, to parents James Stokes and Sarah Ellis!  The age at the time of the marriage doesn’t match Isaac’s age at death in 1877, and clearly the place of birth and parents didn’t match either. Only his fathers occupation of stone mason was correct.  I wrote back to the helpful people at the library and they replied that the register was in a very poor condition and that only two and a half entries had survived at all, and that Isaac and Catherines marriage was recorded over two pages.

          I searched for an Isaac Stokes born in 1821 in Edinburgh on the Scotland government website (and on all the other genealogy records sites) and didn’t find it. In fact Stokes was a very uncommon name in Scotland at the time. I also searched Australian immigration and other records for another Isaac Stokes born in Scotland or born in 1821, and found nothing.  I was unable to find a single record to corroborate this mysterious other Isaac Stokes.

          As the age at death in 1877 was correct, I assume that either Isaac was lying, or that some mistake was made either on the register at the home of the Methodist minster, or a subsequent mistranscription or muddle on the remnants of the surviving register.  Therefore I remain convinced that the Camden stonemason Isaac Stokes was indeed our Isaac from Oxfordshire.

           

          I found a history society newsletter article that mentioned Isaac Stokes, stone mason, had built the Glenmore church, near Camden, in 1859.

          Glenmore Church

           

          From the Wollondilly museum April 2020 newsletter:

          Glenmore Church Stokes

           

          From the Camden History website:

          “The stone set over the porch of Glenmore Church gives the date of 1860. The church was begun in 1859 on land given by Joseph Moore. James Rogers of Picton was given the contract to build and local builder, Mr. Stokes, carried out the work. Elizabeth Moore, wife of Edward, laid the foundation stone. The first service was held on 19th March 1860. The cemetery alongside the church contains the headstones and memorials of the areas early pioneers.”

           

          Isaac died on the 3rd September 1877. The inquest report puts his place of death as Bagdelly, near to Camden, and another death register has put Cambelltown, also very close to Camden.  His age was recorded as 71 and the inquest report states his cause of death was “rupture of one of the large pulmonary vessels of the lung”.  His wife Catherine died in childbirth in 1870 at the age of 43.

           

          Isaac and Catherine’s children:

          William Stokes 1857-1928

          Catherine Stokes 1859-1846

          Sarah Josephine Stokes 1861-1931

          Ellen Stokes 1863-1932

          Rosanna Stokes 1865-1919

          Louisa Stokes 1868-1844.

           

          It’s possible that Catherine Daly was a transported convict from Ireland.

           

          Some time later I unexpectedly received a follow up email from The Oaks Heritage Centre in Australia.

          “The Gaudry papers which we have in our archive record him (Isaac Stokes) as having built: the church, the school and the teachers residence.  Isaac is recorded in the General return of convicts: 1837 and in Grevilles Post Office directory 1872 as a mason in Glenmore.”

          Isaac Stokes directory

          #6345
          TracyTracy
          Participant

            Crime and Punishment in Tetbury

             

            I noticed that there were quite a number of Brownings of Tetbury in the newspaper archives involved in criminal activities while doing a routine newspaper search to supplement the information in the usual ancestry records. I expanded the tree to include cousins, and offsping of cousins, in order to work out who was who and how, if at all, these individuals related to our Browning family.

            I was expecting to find some of our Brownings involved in the Swing Riots in Tetbury in 1830, but did not. Most of our Brownings (including cousins) were stone masons. Most of the rioters in 1830 were agricultural labourers.

            The Browning crimes are varied, and by todays standards, not for the most part terribly serious ~ you would be unlikely to receive a sentence of hard labour for being found in an outhouse with the intent to commit an unlawful act nowadays, or for being drunk.

            The central character in this chapter is Isaac Browning (my 4x great grandfather), who did not appear in any criminal registers, but the following individuals can be identified in the family structure through their relationship to him.

             

            RICHARD LOCK BROWNING born in 1853 was Isaac’s grandson, his son George’s son. Richard was a mason. In 1879 he and Henry Browning of the same age were sentenced to one month hard labour for stealing two pigeons in Tetbury. Henry Browning was Isaac’s nephews son.
            In 1883 Richard Browning, mason of Tetbury, was charged with obtaining food and lodging under false pretences, but was found not guilty and acquitted.
            In 1884 Richard Browning, mason of Tetbury, was sentenced to one month hard labour for game trespass.

            Richard had been fined a number of times in Tetbury:

            Richard Browning

            Richard Lock Browning was five feet eight inches tall, dark hair, grey eyes, an oval face and a dark complexion. He had two cuts on the back of his head (in February 1879) and a scar on his right eyebrow.

             

            HENRY BROWNING, who was stealing pigeons with Richard Lock Browning in 1879, (Isaac’s brother Williams grandson, son of George Browning and his wife Charity) was charged with being drunk in 1882 and ordered to pay a fine of one shilling and costs of fourteen shillings, or seven days hard labour.

            Henry was found guilty of gaming in the highway at Tetbury in 1872 and was sentenced to seven days hard labour. In 1882 Henry (who was also a mason) was charged with assault but discharged.
            Henry was five feet five inches tall, brown hair and brown eyes, a long visage and a fresh complexion.
            Henry emigrated with his daughter to Canada in 1913, and died in Vancouver in 1919.

             

            THOMAS BUCKINGHAM 1808-1846 (Isaacs daughter Janes husband) was charged with stealing a black gelding in Tetbury in 1838. No true bill. (A “no true bill” means the jury did not find probable cause to continue a case.)

            Thomas did however neglect to pay his taxes in 1832:

            Thomas Buckingham

             

            LEWIN BUCKINGHAM (grandson of Isaac, his daughter Jane’s son) was found guilty in 1846 stealing two fowls in Tetbury when he was sixteen years old.
            In 1846 he was sentence to one month hard labour (or pay ten shillings fine and ten shillings costs) for loitering with the intent to trespass in search of conies.
            A year later in 1847, he and three other young men were sentenced to four months hard labour for larceny.
            Lewin was five feet three inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes, long visage, sallow complexion, and had a scar on his left arm.

             

            JOHN BUCKINGHAM born circa 1832, a Tetbury labourer (Isaac’s grandson, Lewin’s brother) was sentenced to six weeks hard labour for larceny in 1855 for stealing a duck in Cirencester. The notes on the register mention that he had been employed by Mr LOCK, Angel Inn. (John’s grandmother was Mary Lock so this is likely a relative).

            John Buckingham

             

            The previous year in 1854 John was sentenced to one month or a one pound fine for assaulting and beating W. Wood.
            John was five feet eight and three quarter inches tall, light brown hair and grey eyes, an oval visage and a fresh complexion. He had a scar on his left arm and inside his right knee.

             

            JOSEPH PERRET was born circa 1831 and he was a Tetbury labourer. (He was Isaac’s granddaughter Charlotte Buckingham’s husband)
            In 1855 he assaulted William Wood and was sentenced to one month or a two pound ten shilling fine. Was it the same W Wood that his wifes cousin John assaulted the year before?
            In 1869 Joseph was sentenced to one month hard labour for feloniously receiving a cupboard known to be stolen.

             

            JAMES BUCKINGAM born circa 1822 in Tetbury was a shoemaker. (Isaac’s nephew, his sister Hannah’s son)
            In 1854 the Tetbury shoemaker was sentenced to four months hard labour for stealing 30 lbs of lead off someones house.
            In 1856 the Tetbury shoemaker received two months hard labour or pay £2 fine and 12 s costs for being found in pursuit of game.
            In 1868 he was sentenced to two months hard labour for stealing a gander. A unspecified previous conviction is noted.
            1871 the Tetbury shoemaker was found in an outhouse for an unlawful purpose and received ten days hard labour. The register notes that his sister is Mrs Cook, the Green, Tetbury. (James sister Prudence married Thomas Cook)
            James sister Charlotte married a shoemaker and moved to UTAH.
            James was five feet eight inches tall, dark hair and blue eyes, a long visage and a florid complexion. He had a scar on his forehead and a mole on the right side of his neck and abdomen, and a scar on the right knee.

            #6344
            TracyTracy
            Participant

              The Tetbury Riots

               

              While researching the Tetbury riots  (I had found some Browning names in the newspaper archives in association with the uprisings) I came across an article called Elizabeth Parker, the Swing Riots, and the Tetbury parish clerk” by Jill Evans.

              I noted the name of the parish clerk, Daniel Cole, because I know someone else of that name. The incident in the article was 1830.

              I found the 1826 marriage in the Tetbury parish registers (where Daniel was the parish clerk) of my 4x great grandmothers sister Hesther Lock. One of the witnesses was her brother Charles, and the other was Daniel Cole, the parish clerk.

              Marriage of Lewin Chandler and Hesther Lock in 1826:

              Daniel Cole witness

               

              from the article:

              “The Swing Riots were disturbances which took place in 1830 and 1831, mostly in the southern counties of England. Agricultural labourers, who were already suffering due to low wages and a lack of work after several years of bad harvests, rose up when their employers introduced threshing machines into their workplaces. The riots got their name from the threatening letters which were sent to farmers and other employers, which were signed “Captain Swing.”

              The riots spread into Gloucestershire in November 1830, with the Tetbury area seeing the worst of the disturbances. Amongst the many people arrested afterwards was one woman, Elizabeth Parker. She has sometimes been cited as one of only two females who were transported for taking part in the Swing Riots. In fact, she was sentenced to be transported for this crime, but never sailed, as she was pardoned a few months after being convicted. However, less than a year after being released from Gloucester Gaol, she was back, awaiting trial for another offence. The circumstances in both of the cases she was tried for reveal an intriguing relationship with one Daniel Cole, parish clerk and assistant poor law officer in Tetbury….

              ….Elizabeth Parker was committed to Gloucester Gaol on 4 December 1830. In the Gaol Registers, she was described as being 23 and a “labourer”. She was in fact a prostitute, and she was unusual for the time in that she could read and write. She was charged on the oaths of Daniel Cole and others with having been among a mob which destroyed a threshing machine belonging to Jacob Hayward, at his farm in Beverstone, on 26 November.

              …..Elizabeth Parker was granted royal clemency in July 1831 and was released from prison. She returned to Tetbury and presumably continued in her usual occupation, but on 27 March 1832, she was committed to Gloucester Gaol again. This time, she was charged with stealing 2 five pound notes, 5 sovereigns and 5 half sovereigns, from the person of Daniel Cole.

              Elizabeth was tried at the Lent Assizes which began on 28 March, 1832. The details of her trial were reported in the Morning Post. Daniel Cole was in the “Boat Inn” (meaning the Boot Inn, I think) in Tetbury, when Elizabeth Parker came in. Cole “accompanied her down the yard”, where he stayed with her for about half an hour. The next morning, he realised that all his money was gone. One of his five pound notes was identified by him in a shop, where Parker had bought some items.

              Under cross-examination, Cole said he was the assistant overseer of the poor and collector of public taxes of the parish of Tetbury. He was married with one child. He went in to the inn at about 9 pm, and stayed about 2 hours, drinking in the parlour, with the landlord, Elizabeth Parker, and two others. He was not drunk, but he was “rather fresh.” He gave the prisoner no money. He saw Elizabeth Parker next morning at the Prince and Princess public house. He didn’t drink with her or give her any money. He did give her a shilling after she was committed. He never said that he would not have prosecuted her “if it was not for her own tongue”. (Presumably meaning he couldn’t trust her to keep her mouth shut.)”

              Contemporary illustration of the Swing riots:

              Swing Riots

               

              Captain Swing was the imaginary leader agricultural labourers who set fire to barns and haystacks in the southern and eastern counties of England from 1830. Although the riots were ruthlessly put down (19 hanged, 644 imprisoned and 481 transported), the rural agitation led the new Whig government to establish a Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and its report provided the basis for the 1834 New Poor Law enacted after the Great Reform Bills of 1833.

              An original portrait of Captain Swing hand coloured lithograph circa 1830:

              Captain Swing

              #6301
              TracyTracy
              Participant

                The Warrens of Stapenhill

                 

                There were so many Warren’s in Stapenhill that it was complicated to work out who was who. I had gone back as far as Samuel Warren marrying Catherine Holland, and this was as far back as my cousin Ian Warren had gone in his research some decades ago as well. The Holland family from Barton under Needwood are particularly interesting, and will be a separate chapter.

                Stapenhill village by John Harden:

                Stapenhill

                 

                Resuming the research on the Warrens, Samuel Warren 1771-1837 married Catherine Holland 1775-1861 in 1795 and their son Samuel Warren 1800-1882 married Elizabeth Bridge, whose childless brother Benjamin Bridge left the Warren Brothers Boiler Works in Newhall to his nephews, the Warren brothers.

                Samuel Warren and Catherine Holland marriage licence 1795:

                Samuel Warren Catherine Holland

                 

                Samuel (born 1771) was baptised at Stapenhill St Peter and his parents were William and Anne Warren. There were at least three William and Ann Warrens in town at the time. One of those William’s was born in 1744, which would seem to be the right age to be Samuel’s father, and one was born in 1710, which seemed a little too old. Another William, Guiliamos Warren (Latin was often used in early parish registers) was baptised in Stapenhill in 1729.

                Stapenhill St Peter:

                Stapenhill St Peter

                 

                William Warren (born 1744) appeared to have been born several months before his parents wedding. William Warren and Ann Insley married 16 July 1744, but the baptism of William in 1744 was 24 February. This seemed unusual ~ children were often born less than nine months after a wedding, but not usually before the wedding! Then I remembered the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Prior to 1752, the first day of the year was Lady Day, March 25th, not January 1st. This meant that the birth in February 1744 was actually after the wedding in July 1744. Now it made sense. The first son was named William, and he was born seven months after the wedding.

                William born in 1744 died intestate in 1822, and his wife Ann made a legal claim to his estate. However he didn’t marry Ann Holland (Ann was Catherines Hollands sister, who married Samuel Warren the year before) until 1796, so this William and Ann were not the parents of Samuel.

                It seemed likely that William born in 1744 was Samuels brother. William Warren and Ann Insley had at least eight children between 1744 and 1771, and it seems that Samuel was their last child, born when William the elder was 61 and his wife Ann was 47.

                It seems it wasn’t unusual for the Warren men to marry rather late in life. William Warren’s (born 1710) parents were William Warren and Elizabeth Hatterton. On the marriage licence in 1702/1703 (it appears to say 1703 but is transcribed as 1702), William was a 40 year old bachelor from Stapenhill, which puts his date of birth at 1662. Elizabeth was considerably younger, aged 19.

                William Warren and Elizabeth Hatterton marriage licence 1703:

                William Warren 1702

                 

                These Warren’s were farmers, and they were literate and able to sign their own names on various documents. This is worth noting, as most made the mark of an X.

                I found three Warren and Holland marriages. One was Samuel Warren and Catherine Holland in 1795, then William Warren and Ann Holland in 1796. William Warren and Ann Hollands daughter born in 1799 married John Holland in 1824.

                Elizabeth Hatterton (wife of William Warren who was born circa 1662) was born in Burton upon Trent in 1685. Her parents were Edward Hatterton 1655-1722, and Sara.

                A page from the 1722 will of Edward Hatterton:

                Edward Hatterton 1722

                 

                The earliest Warren I found records for was William Warren who married Elizabeth Hatterton in 1703. The marriage licence states his age as 40 and that he was from Stapenhill, but none of the Stapenhill parish records online go back as far as 1662.  On other public trees on ancestry websites, a birth record from Suffolk has been chosen, probably because it was the only record to be found online with the right name and date. Once again, I don’t think that is correct, and perhaps one day I’ll find some earlier Stapenhill records to prove that he was born in locally.

                 

                Subsequently, I found a list of the 1662 Hearth Tax for Stapenhill. On it were a number of Warrens, three William Warrens including one who was a constable. One of those William Warrens had a son he named William (as they did, hence the number of William Warrens in the tree) the same year as this hearth tax list.

                But was it the William Warren with 2 chimneys, the one with one chimney who was too poor to pay it, or the one who was a constable?

                from the list:
                Will. Warryn 2
                Richard Warryn 1
                William Warren Constable
                These names are not payable by Act:
                Will. Warryn 1
                Richard Warren John Watson
                over seers of the poore and churchwardens

                The Hearth Tax:

                via wiki:
                In England, hearth tax, also known as hearth money, chimney tax, or chimney money, was a tax imposed by Parliament in 1662, to support the Royal Household of King Charles II. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Royal Household needed an annual income of £1,200,000. The hearth tax was a supplemental tax to make up the shortfall. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths than the number of heads, hearths forming a more stationary subject for taxation than people. This form of taxation was new to England, but had precedents abroad. It generated considerable debate, but was supported by the economist Sir William Petty, and carried through the Commons by the influential West Country member Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Baronet (whose enemies nicknamed him “Sir Chimney Poll” as a result).  The bill received Royal Assent on 19 May 1662, with the first payment due on 29 September 1662, Michaelmas.
                One shilling was liable to be paid for every firehearth or stove, in all dwellings, houses, edifices or lodgings, and was payable at Michaelmas, 29 September and on Lady Day, 25 March. The tax thus amounted to two shillings per hearth or stove per year. The original bill contained a practical shortcoming in that it did not distinguish between owners and occupiers and was potentially a major burden on the poor as there were no exemptions. The bill was subsequently amended so that the tax was paid by the occupier. Further amendments introduced a range of exemptions that ensured that a substantial proportion of the poorer people did not have to pay the tax.

                 

                Indeed it seems clear that William Warren the elder came from Stapenhill and not Suffolk, and one of the William Warrens paying hearth tax in 1662 was undoubtedly the father of William Warren who married Elizabeth Hatterton.

                #6277
                TracyTracy
                Participant

                  William Housley the Elder

                  Intestate

                  William Housley of Kidsley Grange Farm in Smalley, Derbyshire, was born in 1781 in Selston,  just over the county border in Nottinghamshire.  His father was also called William Housley, and he was born in Selston in 1735.  It would appear from the records that William the father married late in life and only had one son (unless of course other records are missing or have not yet been found).  Never the less, William Housley of Kidsley was the eldest son, or eldest surviving son, evident from the legal document written in 1816 regarding William the fathers’ estate.

                  William Housley died in Smalley in 1815, intestate.  William the son claims that “he is the natural and lawful son of the said deceased and the person entitled to letters of administration of his goods and personal estate”.

                  Derby the 16th day of April 1816:

                  William Housley intestate

                  William Housley intestate 2

                   

                  I transcribed three pages of this document, which was mostly repeated legal jargon. It appears that William Housley the elder died intestate, but that William the younger claimed that he was the sole heir.  £1200 is mentioned to be held until the following year until such time that there is certainty than no will was found and so on. On the last page “no more than £600” is mentioned and I can’t quite make out why both figures are mentioned!  However, either would have been a considerable sum in 1816.

                  I also found a land tax register in William Housley’s the elders name in Smalley (as William the son would have been too young at the time, in 1798).  William the elder was an occupant of one of his properties, and paid tax on two others, with other occupants named, so presumably he owned three properties in Smalley.

                  The only likely marriage for William Housley was in Selston. William Housley married Elizabeth Woodhead in 1777. It was a miracle that I found it, because the transcription on the website said 1797, which would have been too late to be ours, as William the son was born in 1781, but for some reason I checked the image and found that it was clearly 1777, listed between entries for 1776 and 1778. (I reported the transcription error.)  There were no other William Housley marriages recorded during the right time frame in Selston or in the vicinity.

                  I found a birth registered for William the elder in Selston in 1735.  Notwithstanding there may be pages of the register missing or illegible, in the absence of any other baptism registration, we must assume this is our William, in which case he married rather late in his 40s.  It would seem he didn’t have a previous wife, as William the younger claims to be the sole heir to his fathers estate.  I haven’t found any other children registered to the couple, which is also unusual, and the only death I can find for an Elizabeth Housley prior to 1815 (as William the elder was a widower when he died) is in Selston in 1812.  I’m not convinced that this is the death of William’s wife, however, as they were living in Smalley ~ at least, they were living in Smalley in 1798, according to the tax register, and William was living in Smalley when he died in 1815.

                  #6268
                  TracyTracy
                  Participant

                    From Tanganyika with Love

                    continued part 9

                    With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                    Lyamungu 3rd January 1945

                    Dearest Family.

                    We had a novel Christmas this year. We decided to avoid the expense of
                    entertaining and being entertained at Lyamungu, and went off to spend Christmas
                    camping in a forest on the Western slopes of Kilimanjaro. George decided to combine
                    business with pleasure and in this way we were able to use Government transport.
                    We set out the day before Christmas day and drove along the road which skirts
                    the slopes of Kilimanjaro and first visited a beautiful farm where Philip Teare, the ex
                    Game Warden, and his wife Mary are staying. We had afternoon tea with them and then
                    drove on in to the natural forest above the estate and pitched our tent beside a small
                    clear mountain stream. We decorated the tent with paper streamers and a few small
                    balloons and John found a small tree of the traditional shape which we decorated where
                    it stood with tinsel and small ornaments.

                    We put our beer, cool drinks for the children and bottles of fresh milk from Simba
                    Estate, in the stream and on Christmas morning they were as cold as if they had been in
                    the refrigerator all night. There were not many presents for the children, there never are,
                    but they do not seem to mind and are well satisfied with a couple of balloons apiece,
                    sweets, tin whistles and a book each.

                    George entertain the children before breakfast. He can make a magical thing out
                    of the most ordinary balloon. The children watched entranced as he drew on his pipe
                    and then blew the smoke into the balloon. He then pinched the neck of the balloon
                    between thumb and forefinger and released the smoke in little puffs. Occasionally the
                    balloon ejected a perfect smoke ring and the forest rang with shouts of “Do it again
                    Daddy.” Another trick was to blow up the balloon to maximum size and then twist the
                    neck tightly before releasing. Before subsiding the balloon darted about in a crazy
                    fashion causing great hilarity. Such fun, at the cost of a few pence.

                    After breakfast George went off to fish for trout. John and Jim decided that they
                    also wished to fish so we made rods out of sticks and string and bent pins and they
                    fished happily, but of course quite unsuccessfully, for hours. Both of course fell into the
                    stream and got soaked, but I was prepared for this, and the little stream was so shallow
                    that they could not come to any harm. Henry played happily in the sand and I had a
                    most peaceful morning.

                    Hamisi roasted a chicken in a pot over the camp fire and the jelly set beautifully in the
                    stream. So we had grilled trout and chicken for our Christmas dinner. I had of course
                    taken an iced cake for the occasion and, all in all, it was a very successful Christmas day.
                    On Boxing day we drove down to the plains where George was to investigate a
                    report of game poaching near the Ngassari Furrow. This is a very long ditch which has
                    been dug by the Government for watering the Masai stock in the area. It is also used by
                    game and we saw herds of zebra and wildebeest, and some Grant’s Gazelle and
                    giraffe, all comparatively tame. At one point a small herd of zebra raced beside the lorry
                    apparently enjoying the fun of a gallop. They were all sleek and fat and looked wild and
                    beautiful in action.

                    We camped a considerable distance from the water but this precaution did not
                    save us from the mosquitoes which launched a vicious attack on us after sunset, so that
                    we took to our beds unusually early. They were on the job again when we got up at
                    sunrise so I was very glad when we were once more on our way home.

                    “I like Christmas safari. Much nicer that silly old party,” said John. I agree but I think
                    it is time that our children learned to play happily with others. There are no other young
                    children at Lyamungu though there are two older boys and a girl who go to boarding
                    school in Nairobi.

                    On New Years Day two Army Officers from the military camp at Moshi, came for
                    tea and to talk game hunting with George. I think they rather enjoy visiting a home and
                    seeing children and pets around.

                    Eleanor.

                    Lyamungu 14 May 1945

                    Dearest Family.

                    So the war in Europe is over at last. It is such marvellous news that I can hardly
                    believe it. To think that as soon as George can get leave we will go to England and
                    bring Ann and George home with us to Tanganyika. When we know when this leave can
                    be arranged we will want Kate to join us here as of course she must go with us to
                    England to meet George’s family. She has become so much a part of your lives that I
                    know it will be a wrench for you to give her up but I know that you will all be happy to
                    think that soon our family will be reunited.

                    The V.E. celebrations passed off quietly here. We all went to Moshi to see the
                    Victory Parade of the King’s African Rifles and in the evening we went to a celebration
                    dinner at the Game Warden’s house. Besides ourselves the Moores had invited the
                    Commanding Officer from Moshi and a junior officer. We had a very good dinner and
                    many toasts including one to Mrs Moore’s brother, Oliver Milton who is fighting in Burma
                    and has recently been awarded the Military Cross.

                    There was also a celebration party for the children in the grounds of the Moshi
                    Club. Such a spread! I think John and Jim sampled everything. We mothers were
                    having our tea separately and a friend laughingly told me to turn around and have a look.
                    I did, and saw the long tea tables now deserted by all the children but my two sons who
                    were still eating steadily, and finding the party more exciting than the game of Musical
                    Bumps into which all the other children had entered with enthusiasm.

                    There was also an extremely good puppet show put on by the Italian prisoners
                    of war from the camp at Moshi. They had made all the puppets which included well
                    loved characters like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Babes in the Wood as
                    well as more sophisticated ones like an irritable pianist and a would be prima donna. The
                    most popular puppets with the children were a native askari and his family – a very
                    happy little scene. I have never before seen a puppet show and was as entranced as
                    the children. It is amazing what clever manipulation and lighting can do. I believe that the
                    Italians mean to take their puppets to Nairobi and am glad to think that there, they will
                    have larger audiences to appreciate their art.

                    George has just come in, and I paused in my writing to ask him for the hundredth
                    time when he thinks we will get leave. He says I must be patient because it may be a
                    year before our turn comes. Shipping will be disorganised for months to come and we
                    cannot expect priority simply because we have been separated so long from our
                    children. The same situation applies to scores of other Government Officials.
                    I have decided to write the story of my childhood in South Africa and about our
                    life together in Tanganyika up to the time Ann and George left the country. I know you
                    will have told Kate these stories, but Ann and George were so very little when they left
                    home that I fear that they cannot remember much.

                    My Mother-in-law will have told them about their father but she can tell them little
                    about me. I shall send them one chapter of my story each month in the hope that they
                    may be interested and not feel that I am a stranger when at last we meet again.

                    Eleanor.

                    Lyamungu 19th September 1945

                    Dearest Family.

                    In a months time we will be saying good-bye to Lyamungu. George is to be
                    transferred to Mbeya and I am delighted, not only as I look upon Mbeya as home, but
                    because there is now a primary school there which John can attend. I feel he will make
                    much better progress in his lessons when he realises that all children of his age attend
                    school. At present he is putting up a strong resistance to learning to read and spell, but
                    he writes very neatly, does his sums accurately and shows a real talent for drawing. If
                    only he had the will to learn I feel he would do very well.

                    Jim now just four, is too young for lessons but too intelligent to be interested in
                    the ayah’s attempts at entertainment. Yes I’ve had to engage a native girl to look after
                    Henry from 9 am to 12.30 when I supervise John’s Correspondence Course. She is
                    clean and amiable, but like most African women she has no initiative at all when it comes
                    to entertaining children. Most African men and youths are good at this.

                    I don’t regret our stay at Lyamungu. It is a beautiful spot and the change to the
                    cooler climate after the heat of Morogoro has been good for all the children. John is still
                    tall for his age but not so thin as he was and much less pale. He is a handsome little lad
                    with his large brown eyes in striking contrast to his fair hair. He is wary of strangers but
                    very observant and quite uncanny in the way he sums up people. He seldom gets up
                    to mischief but I have a feeling he eggs Jim on. Not that Jim needs egging.

                    Jim has an absolute flair for mischief but it is all done in such an artless manner that
                    it is not easy to punish him. He is a very sturdy child with a cap of almost black silky hair,
                    eyes brown, like mine, and a large mouth which is quick to smile and show most beautiful
                    white and even teeth. He is most popular with all the native servants and the Game
                    Scouts. The servants call Jim, ‘Bwana Tembo’ (Mr Elephant) because of his sturdy
                    build.

                    Henry, now nearly two years old, is quite different from the other two in
                    appearance. He is fair complexioned and fair haired like Ann and Kate, with large, black
                    lashed, light grey eyes. He is a good child, not so merry as Jim was at his age, nor as
                    shy as John was. He seldom cries, does not care to be cuddled and is independent and
                    strong willed. The servants call Henry, ‘Bwana Ndizi’ (Mr Banana) because he has an
                    inexhaustible appetite for this fruit. Fortunately they are very inexpensive here. We buy
                    an entire bunch which hangs from a beam on the back verandah, and pluck off the
                    bananas as they ripen. This way there is no waste and the fruit never gets bruised as it
                    does in greengrocers shops in South Africa. Our three boys make a delightful and
                    interesting trio and I do wish you could see them for yourselves.

                    We are delighted with the really beautiful photograph of Kate. She is an
                    extraordinarily pretty child and looks so happy and healthy and a great credit to you.
                    Now that we will be living in Mbeya with a school on the doorstep I hope that we will
                    soon be able to arrange for her return home.

                    Eleanor.

                    c/o Game Dept. Mbeya. 30th October 1945

                    Dearest Family.

                    How nice to be able to write c/o Game Dept. Mbeya at the head of my letters.
                    We arrived here safely after a rather tiresome journey and are installed in a tiny house on
                    the edge of the township.

                    We left Lyamungu early on the morning of the 22nd. Most of our goods had
                    been packed on the big Ford lorry the previous evening, but there were the usual
                    delays and farewells. Of our servants, only the cook, Hamisi, accompanied us to
                    Mbeya. Japhet, Tovelo and the ayah had to be paid off and largesse handed out.
                    Tovelo’s granny had come, bringing a gift of bananas, and she also brought her little
                    granddaughter to present a bunch of flowers. The child’s little scolded behind is now
                    completely healed. Gifts had to be found for them too.

                    At last we were all aboard and what a squash it was! Our few pieces of furniture
                    and packing cases and trunks, the cook, his wife, the driver and the turney boy, who
                    were to take the truck back to Lyamungu, and all their bits and pieces, bunches of
                    bananas and Fanny the dog were all crammed into the body of the lorry. George, the
                    children and I were jammed together in the cab. Before we left George looked
                    dubiously at the tyres which were very worn and said gloomily that he thought it most
                    unlikely that we would make our destination, Dodoma.

                    Too true! Shortly after midday, near Kwakachinja, we blew a back tyre and there
                    was a tedious delay in the heat whilst the wheel was changed. We were now without a
                    spare tyre and George said that he would not risk taking the Ford further than Babati,
                    which is less than half way to Dodoma. He drove very slowly and cautiously to Babati
                    where he arranged with Sher Mohammed, an Indian trader, for a lorry to take us to
                    Dodoma the next morning.

                    It had been our intention to spend the night at the furnished Government
                    Resthouse at Babati but when we got there we found that it was already occupied by
                    several District Officers who had assembled for a conference. So, feeling rather
                    disgruntled, we all piled back into the lorry and drove on to a place called Bereku where
                    we spent an uncomfortable night in a tumbledown hut.

                    Before dawn next morning Sher Mohammed’s lorry drove up, and there was a
                    scramble to dress by the light of a storm lamp. The lorry was a very dilapidated one and
                    there was already a native woman passenger in the cab. I felt so tired after an almost
                    sleepless night that I decided to sit between the driver and this woman with the sleeping
                    Henry on my knee. It was as well I did, because I soon found myself dosing off and
                    drooping over towards the woman. Had she not been there I might easily have fallen
                    out as the battered cab had no door. However I was alert enough when daylight came
                    and changed places with the woman to our mutual relief. She was now able to converse
                    with the African driver and I was able to enjoy the scenery and the fresh air!
                    George, John and Jim were less comfortable. They sat in the lorry behind the
                    cab hemmed in by packing cases. As the lorry was an open one the sun beat down
                    unmercifully upon them until George, ever resourceful, moved a table to the front of the
                    truck. The two boys crouched under this and so got shelter from the sun but they still had
                    to endure the dust. Fanny complicated things by getting car sick and with one thing and
                    another we were all jolly glad to get to Dodoma.

                    We spent the night at the Dodoma Hotel and after hot baths, a good meal and a
                    good nights rest we cheerfully boarded a bus of the Tanganyika Bus Service next
                    morning to continue our journey to Mbeya. The rest of the journey was uneventful. We slept two nights on the road, the first at Iringa Hotel and the second at Chimala. We
                    reached Mbeya on the 27th.

                    I was rather taken aback when I first saw the little house which has been allocated
                    to us. I had become accustomed to the spacious houses we had in Morogoro and
                    Lyamungu. However though the house is tiny it is secluded and has a long garden
                    sloping down to the road in front and another long strip sloping up behind. The front
                    garden is shaded by several large cypress and eucalyptus trees but the garden behind
                    the house has no shade and consists mainly of humpy beds planted with hundreds of
                    carnations sadly in need of debudding. I believe that the previous Game Ranger’s wife
                    cultivated the carnations and, by selling them, raised money for War Funds.
                    Like our own first home, this little house is built of sun dried brick. Its original
                    owners were Germans. It is now rented to the Government by the Custodian of Enemy
                    Property, and George has his office in another ex German house.

                    This afternoon we drove to the school to arrange about enrolling John there. The
                    school is about four miles out of town. It was built by the German settlers in the late
                    1930’s and they were justifiably proud of it. It consists of a great assembly hall and
                    classrooms in one block and there are several attractive single storied dormitories. This
                    school was taken over by the Government when the Germans were interned on the
                    outbreak of war and many improvements have been made to the original buildings. The
                    school certainly looks very attractive now with its grassed playing fields and its lawns and
                    bright flower beds.

                    The Union Jack flies from a tall flagpole in front of the Hall and all traces of the
                    schools German origin have been firmly erased. We met the Headmaster, Mr
                    Wallington, and his wife and some members of the staff. The school is co-educational
                    and caters for children from the age of seven to standard six. The leaving age is elastic
                    owing to the fact that many Tanganyika children started school very late because of lack
                    of educational facilities in this country.

                    The married members of the staff have their own cottages in the grounds. The
                    Matrons have quarters attached to the dormitories for which they are responsible. I felt
                    most enthusiastic about the school until I discovered that the Headmaster is adamant
                    upon one subject. He utterly refuses to take any day pupils at the school. So now our
                    poor reserved Johnny will have to adjust himself to boarding school life.
                    We have arranged that he will start school on November 5th and I shall be very
                    busy trying to assemble his school uniform at short notice. The clothing list is sensible.
                    Boys wear khaki shirts and shorts on weekdays with knitted scarlet jerseys when the
                    weather is cold. On Sundays they wear grey flannel shorts and blazers with the silver
                    and scarlet school tie.

                    Mbeya looks dusty, brown and dry after the lush evergreen vegetation of
                    Lyamungu, but I prefer this drier climate and there are still mountains to please the eye.
                    In fact the lower slopes of Lolesa Mountain rise at the upper end of our garden.

                    Eleanor.

                    c/o Game Dept. Mbeya. 21st November 1945

                    Dearest Family.

                    We’re quite settled in now and I have got the little house fixed up to my
                    satisfaction. I have engaged a rather uncouth looking houseboy but he is strong and
                    capable and now that I am not tied down in the mornings by John’s lessons I am able to
                    go out occasionally in the mornings and take Jim and Henry to play with other children.
                    They do not show any great enthusiasm but are not shy by nature as John is.
                    I have had a good deal of heartache over putting John to boarding school. It
                    would have been different had he been used to the company of children outside his
                    own family, or if he had even known one child there. However he seems to be adjusting
                    himself to the life, though slowly. At least he looks well and tidy and I am quite sure that
                    he is well looked after.

                    I must confess that when the time came for John to go to school I simply did not
                    have the courage to take him and he went alone with George, looking so smart in his
                    new uniform – but his little face so bleak. The next day, Sunday, was visiting day but the
                    Headmaster suggested that we should give John time to settle down and not visit him
                    until Wednesday.

                    When we drove up to the school I spied John on the far side of the field walking
                    all alone. Instead of running up with glad greetings, as I had expected, he came almost
                    reluctently and had little to say. I asked him to show me his dormitory and classroom and
                    he did so politely as though I were a stranger. At last he volunteered some information.
                    “Mummy,” he said in an awed voice, Do you know on the night I came here they burnt a
                    man! They had a big fire and they burnt him.” After a blank moment the penny dropped.
                    Of course John had started school and November the fifth but it had never entered my
                    head to tell him about that infamous character, Guy Fawkes!

                    I asked John’s Matron how he had settled down. “Well”, she said thoughtfully,
                    John is very good and has not cried as many of the juniors do when they first come
                    here, but he seems to keep to himself all the time.” I went home very discouraged but
                    on the Sunday John came running up with another lad of about his own age.” This is my
                    friend Marks,” he announced proudly. I could have hugged Marks.

                    Mbeya is very different from the small settlement we knew in the early 1930’s.
                    Gone are all the colourful characters from the Lupa diggings for the alluvial claims are all
                    worked out now, gone also are our old friends the Menzies from the Pub and also most
                    of the Government Officials we used to know. Mbeya has lost its character of a frontier
                    township and has become almost suburban.

                    The social life revolves around two places, the Club and the school. The Club
                    which started out as a little two roomed building, has been expanded and the golf
                    course improved. There are also tennis courts and a good library considering the size of
                    the community. There are frequent parties and dances, though most of the club revenue
                    comes from Bar profits. The parties are relatively sober affairs compared with the parties
                    of the 1930’s.

                    The school provides entertainment of another kind. Both Mr and Mrs Wallington
                    are good amateur actors and I am told that they run an Amateur Dramatic Society. Every
                    Wednesday afternoon there is a hockey match at the school. Mbeya town versus a
                    mixed team of staff and scholars. The match attracts almost the whole European
                    population of Mbeya. Some go to play hockey, others to watch, and others to snatch
                    the opportunity to visit their children. I shall have to try to arrange a lift to school when
                    George is away on safari.

                    I have now met most of the local women and gladly renewed an old friendship
                    with Sheilagh Waring whom I knew two years ago at Morogoro. Sheilagh and I have
                    much in common, the same disregard for the trappings of civilisation, the same sense of
                    the ludicrous, and children. She has eight to our six and she has also been cut off by the
                    war from two of her children. Sheilagh looks too young and pretty to be the mother of so
                    large a family and is, in fact, several years younger than I am. her husband, Donald, is a
                    large quiet man who, as far as I can judge takes life seriously.

                    Our next door neighbours are the Bank Manager and his wife, a very pleasant
                    couple though we seldom meet. I have however had correspondence with the Bank
                    Manager. Early on Saturday afternoon their houseboy brought a note. It informed me
                    that my son was disturbing his rest by precipitating a heart attack. Was I aware that my
                    son was about 30 feet up in a tree and balanced on a twig? I ran out and,sure enough,
                    there was Jim, right at the top of the tallest eucalyptus tree. It would be the one with the
                    mound of stones at the bottom! You should have heard me fluting in my most
                    wheedling voice. “Sweets, Jimmy, come down slowly dear, I’ve some nice sweets for
                    you.”

                    I’ll bet that little story makes you smile. I remember how often you have told me
                    how, as a child, I used to make your hearts turn over because I had no fear of heights
                    and how I used to say, “But that is silly, I won’t fall.” I know now only too well, how you
                    must have felt.

                    Eleanor.

                    c/o Game Dept. Mbeya. 14th January 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    I hope that by now you have my telegram to say that Kate got home safely
                    yesterday. It was wonderful to have her back and what a beautiful child she is! Kate
                    seems to have enjoyed the train journey with Miss Craig, in spite of the tears she tells
                    me she shed when she said good-bye to you. She also seems to have felt quite at
                    home with the Hopleys at Salisbury. She flew from Salisbury in a small Dove aircraft
                    and they had a smooth passage though Kate was a little airsick.

                    I was so excited about her home coming! This house is so tiny that I had to turn
                    out the little store room to make a bedroom for her. With a fresh coat of whitewash and
                    pretty sprigged curtains and matching bedspread, borrowed from Sheilagh Waring, the
                    tiny room looks most attractive. I had also iced a cake, made ice-cream and jelly and
                    bought crackers for the table so that Kate’s home coming tea could be a proper little
                    celebration.

                    I was pleased with my preparations and then, a few hours before the plane was
                    due, my crowned front tooth dropped out, peg and all! When my houseboy wants to
                    describe something very tatty, he calls it “Second-hand Kabisa.” Kabisa meaning
                    absolutely. That is an apt description of how I looked and felt. I decided to try some
                    emergency dentistry. I think you know our nearest dentist is at Dar es Salaam five
                    hundred miles away.

                    First I carefully dried the tooth and with a match stick covered the peg and base
                    with Durofix. I then took the infants rubber bulb enema, sucked up some heat from a
                    candle flame and pumped it into the cavity before filling that with Durofix. Then hopefully
                    I stuck the tooth in its former position and held it in place for several minutes. No good. I
                    sent the houseboy to a shop for Scotine and tried the whole process again. No good
                    either.

                    When George came home for lunch I appealed to him for advice. He jokingly
                    suggested that a maize seed jammed into the space would probably work, but when
                    he saw that I really was upset he produced some chewing gum and suggested that I
                    should try that . I did and that worked long enough for my first smile anyway.
                    George and the three boys went to meet Kate but I remained at home to
                    welcome her there. I was afraid that after all this time away Kate might be reluctant to
                    rejoin the family but she threw her arms around me and said “Oh Mummy,” We both
                    shed a few tears and then we both felt fine.

                    How gay Kate is, and what an infectious laugh she has! The boys follow her
                    around in admiration. John in fact asked me, “Is Kate a Princess?” When I said
                    “Goodness no, Johnny, she’s your sister,” he explained himself by saying, “Well, she
                    has such golden hair.” Kate was less complementary. When I tucked her in bed last night
                    she said, “Mummy, I didn’t expect my little brothers to be so yellow!” All three boys
                    have been taking a course of Atebrin, an anti-malarial drug which tinges skin and eyeballs
                    yellow.

                    So now our tiny house is bursting at its seams and how good it feels to have one
                    more child under our roof. We are booked to sail for England in May and when we return
                    we will have Ann and George home too. Then I shall feel really content.

                    Eleanor.

                    c/o Game Dept. Mbeya. 2nd March 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    My life just now is uneventful but very busy. I am sewing hard and knitting fast to
                    try to get together some warm clothes for our leave in England. This is not a simple
                    matter because woollen materials are in short supply and very expensive, and now that
                    we have boarding school fees to pay for both Kate and John we have to budget very
                    carefully indeed.

                    Kate seems happy at school. She makes friends easily and seems to enjoy
                    communal life. John also seems reconciled to school now that Kate is there. He no
                    longer feels that he is the only exile in the family. He seems to rub along with the other
                    boys of his age and has a couple of close friends. Although Mbeya School is coeducational
                    the smaller boys and girls keep strictly apart. It is considered extremely
                    cissy to play with girls.

                    The local children are allowed to go home on Sundays after church and may bring
                    friends home with them for the day. Both John and Kate do this and Sunday is a very
                    busy day for me. The children come home in their Sunday best but bring play clothes to
                    change into. There is always a scramble to get them to bath and change again in time to
                    deliver them to the school by 6 o’clock.

                    When George is home we go out to the school for the morning service. This is
                    taken by the Headmaster Mr Wallington, and is very enjoyable. There is an excellent
                    school choir to lead the singing. The service is the Church of England one, but is
                    attended by children of all denominations, except the Roman Catholics. I don’t think that
                    more than half the children are British. A large proportion are Greeks, some as old as
                    sixteen, and about the same number are Afrikaners. There are Poles and non-Nazi
                    Germans, Swiss and a few American children.

                    All instruction is through the medium of English and it is amazing how soon all the
                    foreign children learn to chatter in English. George has been told that we will return to
                    Mbeya after our leave and for that I am very thankful as it means that we will still be living
                    near at hand when Jim and Henry start school. Because many of these children have to
                    travel many hundreds of miles to come to school, – Mbeya is a two day journey from the
                    railhead, – the school year is divided into two instead of the usual three terms. This
                    means that many of these children do not see their parents for months at a time. I think
                    this is a very sad state of affairs especially for the seven and eight year olds but the
                    Matrons assure me , that many children who live on isolated farms and stations are quite
                    reluctant to go home because they miss the companionship and the games and
                    entertainment that the school offers.

                    My only complaint about the life here is that I see far too little of George. He is
                    kept extremely busy on this range and is hardly at home except for a few days at the
                    months end when he has to be at his office to check up on the pay vouchers and the
                    issue of ammunition to the Scouts. George’s Range takes in the whole of the Southern
                    Province and the Southern half of the Western Province and extends to the border with
                    Northern Rhodesia and right across to Lake Tanganyika. This vast area is patrolled by
                    only 40 Game Scouts because the Department is at present badly under staffed, due
                    partly to the still acute shortage of rifles, but even more so to the extraordinary reluctance
                    which the Government shows to allocate adequate funds for the efficient running of the
                    Department.

                    The Game Scouts must see that the Game Laws are enforced, protect native
                    crops from raiding elephant, hippo and other game animals. Report disease amongst game and deal with stock raiding lions. By constantly going on safari and checking on
                    their work, George makes sure the range is run to his satisfaction. Most of the Game
                    Scouts are fine fellows but, considering they receive only meagre pay for dangerous
                    and exacting work, it is not surprising that occasionally a Scout is tempted into accepting
                    a bribe not to report a serious infringement of the Game Laws and there is, of course,
                    always the temptation to sell ivory illicitly to unscrupulous Indian and Arab traders.
                    Apart from supervising the running of the Range, George has two major jobs.
                    One is to supervise the running of the Game Free Area along the Rhodesia –
                    Tanganyika border, and the other to hunt down the man-eating lions which for years have
                    terrorised the Njombe District killing hundreds of Africans. Yes I know ‘hundreds’ sounds
                    fantastic, but this is perfectly true and one day, when the job is done and the official
                    report published I shall send it to you to prove it!

                    I hate to think of the Game Free Area and so does George. All the game from
                    buffalo to tiny duiker has been shot out in a wide belt extending nearly two hundred
                    miles along the Northern Rhodesia -Tanganyika border. There are three Europeans in
                    widely spaced camps who supervise this slaughter by African Game Guards. This
                    horrible measure is considered necessary by the Veterinary Departments of
                    Tanganyika, Rhodesia and South Africa, to prevent the cattle disease of Rinderpest
                    from spreading South.

                    When George is home however, we do relax and have fun. On the Saturday
                    before the school term started we took Kate and the boys up to the top fishing camp in
                    the Mporoto Mountains for her first attempt at trout fishing. There are three of these
                    camps built by the Mbeya Trout Association on the rivers which were first stocked with
                    the trout hatched on our farm at Mchewe. Of the three, the top camp is our favourite. The
                    scenery there is most glorious and reminds me strongly of the rivers of the Western
                    Cape which I so loved in my childhood.

                    The river, the Kawira, flows from the Rungwe Mountain through a narrow valley
                    with hills rising steeply on either side. The water runs swiftly over smooth stones and
                    sometimes only a foot or two below the level of the banks. It is sparkling and shallow,
                    but in places the water is deep and dark and the banks high. I had a busy day keeping
                    an eye on the boys, especially Jim, who twice climbed out on branches which overhung
                    deep water. “Mummy, I was only looking for trout!”

                    How those kids enjoyed the freedom of the camp after the comparative
                    restrictions of town. So did Fanny, she raced about on the hills like a mad dog chasing
                    imaginary rabbits and having the time of her life. To escape the noise and commotion
                    George had gone far upstream to fish and returned in the late afternoon with three good
                    sized trout and four smaller ones. Kate proudly showed George the two she had caught
                    with the assistance or our cook Hamisi. I fear they were caught in a rather unorthodox
                    manner but this I kept a secret from George who is a stickler for the orthodox in trout
                    fishing.

                    Eleanor.

                    Jacksdale England 24th June 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    Here we are all together at last in England. You cannot imagine how wonderful it
                    feels to have the whole Rushby family reunited. I find myself counting heads. Ann,
                    George, Kate, John, Jim, and Henry. All present and well. We had a very pleasant trip
                    on the old British India Ship Mantola. She was crowded with East Africans going home
                    for the first time since the war, many like us, eagerly looking forward to a reunion with their
                    children whom they had not seen for years. There was a great air of anticipation and
                    good humour but a little anxiety too.

                    “I do hope our children will be glad to see us,” said one, and went on to tell me
                    about a Doctor from Dar es Salaam who, after years of separation from his son had
                    recently gone to visit him at his school. The Doctor had alighted at the railway station
                    where he had arranged to meet his son. A tall youth approached him and said, very
                    politely, “Excuse me sir. Are you my Father?” Others told me of children who had
                    become so attached to their relatives in England that they gave their parents a very cool
                    reception. I began to feel apprehensive about Ann and George but fortunately had no
                    time to mope.

                    Oh, that washing and ironing for six! I shall remember for ever that steamy little
                    laundry in the heat of the Red Sea and queuing up for the ironing and the feeling of guilt
                    at the size of my bundle. We met many old friends amongst the passengers, and made
                    some new ones, so the voyage was a pleasant one, We did however have our
                    anxious moments.

                    John was the first to disappear and we had an anxious search for him. He was
                    quite surprised that we had been concerned. “I was just talking to my friend Chinky
                    Chinaman in his workshop.” Could John have called him that? Then, when I returned to
                    the cabin from dinner one night I found Henry swigging Owbridge’s Lung Tonic. He had
                    drunk half the bottle neat and the label said ‘five drops in water’. Luckily it did not harm
                    him.

                    Jim of course was forever risking his neck. George had forbidden him to climb on
                    the railings but he was forever doing things which no one had thought of forbidding him
                    to do, like hanging from the overhead pipes on the deck or standing on the sill of a
                    window and looking down at the well deck far below. An Officer found him doing this and
                    gave me the scolding.

                    Another day he climbed up on a derrick used for hoisting cargo. George,
                    oblivious to this was sitting on the hatch cover with other passengers reading a book. I
                    was in the wash house aft on the same deck when Kate rushed in and said, “Mummy
                    come and see Jim.” Before I had time to more than gape, the butcher noticed Jim and
                    rushed out knife in hand. “Get down from there”, he bellowed. Jim got, and with such
                    speed that he caught the leg or his shorts on a projecting piece of metal. The cotton
                    ripped across the seam from leg to leg and Jim stood there for a humiliating moment in a
                    sort of revealing little kilt enduring the smiles of the passengers who had looked up from
                    their books at the butcher’s shout.

                    That incident cured Jim of his urge to climb on the ship but he managed to give
                    us one more fright. He was lost off Dover. People from whom we enquired said, “Yes
                    we saw your little boy. He was by the railings watching that big aircraft carrier.” Now Jim,
                    though mischievous , is very obedient. It was not until George and I had conducted an
                    exhaustive search above and below decks that I really became anxious. Could he have
                    fallen overboard? Jim was returned to us by an unamused Officer. He had been found
                    in one of the lifeboats on the deck forbidden to children.

                    Our ship passed Dover after dark and it was an unforgettable sight. Dover Castle
                    and the cliffs were floodlit for the Victory Celebrations. One of the men passengers sat
                    down at the piano and played ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’, and people sang and a few
                    wept. The Mantola docked at Tilbury early next morning in a steady drizzle.
                    There was a dockers strike on and it took literally hours for all the luggage to be
                    put ashore. The ships stewards simply locked the public rooms and went off leaving the
                    passengers shivering on the docks. Eventually damp and bedraggled, we arrived at St
                    Pancras Station and were given a warm welcome by George’s sister Cath and her
                    husband Reg Pears, who had come all the way from Nottingham to meet us.
                    As we had to spend an hour in London before our train left for Nottingham,
                    George suggested that Cath and I should take the children somewhere for a meal. So
                    off we set in the cold drizzle, the boys and I without coats and laden with sundry
                    packages, including a hand woven native basket full of shoes. We must have looked like
                    a bunch of refugees as we stood in the hall of The Kings Cross Station Hotel because a
                    supercilious waiter in tails looked us up and down and said, “I’m afraid not Madam”, in
                    answer to my enquiry whether the hotel could provide lunch for six.
                    Anyway who cares! We had lunch instead at an ABC tea room — horrible
                    sausage and a mound or rather sloppy mashed potatoes, but very good ice-cream.
                    After the train journey in a very grimy third class coach, through an incredibly green and
                    beautiful countryside, we eventually reached Nottingham and took a bus to Jacksdale,
                    where George’s mother and sisters live in large detached houses side by side.
                    Ann and George were at the bus stop waiting for us, and thank God, submitted
                    to my kiss as though we had been parted for weeks instead of eight years. Even now
                    that we are together again my heart aches to think of all those missed years. They have
                    not changed much and I would have picked them out of a crowd, but Ann, once thin and
                    pale, is now very rosy and blooming. She still has her pretty soft plaits and her eyes are
                    still a clear calm blue. Young George is very striking looking with sparkling brown eyes, a
                    ready, slightly lopsided smile, and charming manners.

                    Mother, and George’s elder sister, Lottie Giles, welcomed us at the door with the
                    cheering news that our tea was ready. Ann showed us the way to mother’s lovely lilac
                    tiled bathroom for a wash before tea. Before I had even turned the tap, Jim had hung
                    form the glass towel rail and it lay in three pieces on the floor. There have since been
                    similar tragedies. I can see that life in civilisation is not without snags.

                    I am most grateful that Ann and George have accepted us so naturally and
                    affectionately. Ann said candidly, “Mummy, it’s a good thing that you had Aunt Cath with
                    you when you arrived because, honestly, I wouldn’t have known you.”

                    Eleanor.

                    Jacksdale England 28th August 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    I am sorry that I have not written for some time but honestly, I don’t know whether
                    I’m coming or going. Mother handed the top floor of her house to us and the
                    arrangement was that I should tidy our rooms and do our laundry and Mother would
                    prepare the meals except for breakfast. It looked easy at first. All the rooms have wall to
                    wall carpeting and there was a large vacuum cleaner in the box room. I was told a
                    window cleaner would do the windows.

                    Well the first time I used the Hoover I nearly died of fright. I pressed the switch
                    and immediately there was a roar and the bag filled with air to bursting point, or so I
                    thought. I screamed for Ann and she came at the run. I pointed to the bag and shouted
                    above the din, “What must I do? It’s going to burst!” Ann looked at me in astonishment
                    and said, “But Mummy that’s the way it works.” I couldn’t have her thinking me a
                    complete fool so I switched the current off and explained to Ann how it was that I had
                    never seen this type of equipment in action. How, in Tanganyika , I had never had a
                    house with electricity and that, anyway, electric equipment would be superfluous
                    because floors are of cement which the houseboy polishes by hand, one only has a
                    few rugs or grass mats on the floor. “But what about Granny’s house in South Africa?’”
                    she asked, so I explained about your Josephine who threatened to leave if you
                    bought a Hoover because that would mean that you did not think she kept the house
                    clean. The sad fact remains that, at fourteen, Ann knows far more about housework than I
                    do, or rather did! I’m learning fast.

                    The older children all go to school at different times in the morning. Ann leaves first
                    by bus to go to her Grammar School at Sutton-in-Ashfield. Shortly afterwards George
                    catches a bus for Nottingham where he attends the High School. So they have
                    breakfast in relays, usually scrambled egg made from a revolting dried egg mixture.
                    Then there are beds to make and washing and ironing to do, so I have little time for
                    sightseeing, though on a few afternoons George has looked after the younger children
                    and I have gone on bus tours in Derbyshire. Life is difficult here with all the restrictions on
                    foodstuffs. We all have ration books so get our fair share but meat, fats and eggs are
                    scarce and expensive. The weather is very wet. At first I used to hang out the washing
                    and then rush to bring it in when a shower came. Now I just let it hang.

                    We have left our imprint upon my Mother-in-law’s house for ever. Henry upset a
                    bottle of Milk of Magnesia in the middle of the pale fawn bedroom carpet. John, trying to
                    be helpful and doing some dusting, broke one of the delicate Dresden china candlesticks
                    which adorn our bedroom mantelpiece.Jim and Henry have wrecked the once
                    professionally landscaped garden and all the boys together bored a large hole through
                    Mother’s prized cherry tree. So now Mother has given up and gone off to Bournemouth
                    for a much needed holiday. Once a week I have the capable help of a cleaning woman,
                    called for some reason, ‘Mrs Two’, but I have now got all the cooking to do for eight. Mrs
                    Two is a godsend. She wears, of all things, a print mob cap with a hole in it. Says it
                    belonged to her Grandmother. Her price is far beyond Rubies to me, not so much
                    because she does, in a couple of hours, what it takes me all day to do, but because she
                    sells me boxes of fifty cigarettes. Some non-smoking relative, who works in Players
                    tobacco factory, passes on his ration to her. Until Mrs Two came to my rescue I had
                    been starved of cigarettes. Each time I asked for them at the shop the grocer would say,
                    “Are you registered with us?” Only very rarely would some kindly soul sell me a little
                    packet of five Woodbines.

                    England is very beautiful but the sooner we go home to Tanganyika, the better.
                    On this, George and I and the children agree.

                    Eleanor.

                    Jacksdale England 20th September 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    Our return passages have now been booked on the Winchester Castle and we
                    sail from Southampton on October the sixth. I look forward to returning to Tanganyika but
                    hope to visit England again in a few years time when our children are older and when
                    rationing is a thing of the past.

                    I have grown fond of my Sisters-in-law and admire my Mother-in-law very much.
                    She has a great sense of humour and has entertained me with stories of her very
                    eventful life, and told me lots of little stories of the children which did not figure in her
                    letters. One which amused me was about young George. During one of the air raids
                    early in the war when the sirens were screaming and bombers roaring overhead Mother
                    made the two children get into the cloak cupboard under the stairs. Young George
                    seemed quite unconcerned about the planes and the bombs but soon an anxious voice
                    asked in the dark, “Gran, what will I do if a spider falls on me?” I am afraid that Mother is
                    going to miss Ann and George very much.

                    I had a holiday last weekend when Lottie and I went up to London on a spree. It
                    was a most enjoyable weekend, though very rushed. We placed ourselves in the
                    hands of Thos. Cook and Sons and saw most of the sights of London and were run off
                    our feet in the process. As you all know London I shall not describe what I saw but just
                    to say that, best of all, I enjoyed walking along the Thames embankment in the evening
                    and the changing of the Guard at Whitehall. On Sunday morning Lottie and I went to
                    Kew Gardens and in the afternoon walked in Kensington Gardens.

                    We went to only one show, ‘The Skin of our Teeth’ starring Vivienne Leigh.
                    Neither of us enjoyed the performance at all and regretted having spent so much on
                    circle seats. The show was far too highbrow for my taste, a sort of satire on the survival
                    of the human race. Miss Leigh was unrecognisable in a blond wig and her voice strident.
                    However the night was not a dead loss as far as entertainment was concerned as we
                    were later caught up in a tragicomedy at our hotel.

                    We had booked communicating rooms at the enormous Imperial Hotel in Russell
                    Square. These rooms were comfortably furnished but very high up, and we had a rather
                    terrifying and dreary view from the windows of the enclosed courtyard far below. We
                    had some snacks and a chat in Lottie’s room and then I moved to mine and went to bed.
                    I had noted earlier that there was a special lock on the outer door of my room so that
                    when the door was closed from the inside it automatically locked itself.
                    I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard a hammering which seemed to
                    come from my wardrobe. I got up, rather fearfully, and opened the wardrobe door and
                    noted for the first time that the wardrobe was set in an opening in the wall and that the
                    back of the wardrobe also served as the back of the wardrobe in the room next door. I
                    quickly shut it again and went to confer with Lottie.

                    Suddenly a male voice was raised next door in supplication, “Mary Mother of
                    God, Help me! They’ve locked me in!” and the hammering resumed again, sometimes
                    on the door, and then again on the back of the wardrobe of the room next door. Lottie
                    had by this time joined me and together we listened to the prayers and to the
                    hammering. Then the voice began to threaten, “If you don’t let me out I’ll jump out of the
                    window.” Great consternation on our side of the wall. I went out into the passage and
                    called through the door, “You’re not locked in. Come to your door and I’ll tell you how to
                    open it.” Silence for a moment and then again the prayers followed by a threat. All the
                    other doors in the corridor remained shut.

                    Luckily just then a young man and a woman came walking down the corridor and I
                    explained the situation. The young man hurried off for the night porter who went into the
                    next door room. In a matter of minutes there was peace next door. When the night
                    porter came out into the corridor again I asked for an explanation. He said quite casually,
                    “It’s all right Madam. He’s an Irish Gentleman in Show Business. He gets like this on a
                    Saturday night when he has had a drop too much. He won’t give any more trouble
                    now.” And he didn’t. Next morning at breakfast Lottie and I tried to spot the gentleman in
                    the Show Business, but saw no one who looked like the owner of that charming Irish
                    voice.

                    George had to go to London on business last Monday and took the older
                    children with him for a few hours of sight seeing. They returned quite unimpressed.
                    Everything was too old and dirty and there were far too many people about, but they
                    had enjoyed riding on the escalators at the tube stations, and all agreed that the highlight
                    of the trip was, “Dad took us to lunch at the Chicken Inn.”

                    Now that it is almost time to leave England I am finding the housework less of a
                    drudgery, Also, as it is school holiday time, Jim and Henry are able to go on walks with
                    the older children and so use up some of their surplus energy. Cath and I took the
                    children (except young George who went rabbit shooting with his uncle Reg, and
                    Henry, who stayed at home with his dad) to the Wakes at Selston, the neighbouring
                    village. There were the roundabouts and similar contraptions but the side shows had
                    more appeal for the children. Ann and Kate found a stall where assorted prizes were
                    spread out on a sloping table. Anyone who could land a penny squarely on one of
                    these objects was given a similar one as a prize.

                    I was touched to see that both girls ignored all the targets except a box of fifty
                    cigarettes which they were determined to win for me. After numerous attempts, Kate
                    landed her penny successfully and you would have loved to have seen her radiant little
                    face.

                    Eleanor.

                    Dar es Salaam 22nd October 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    Back in Tanganyika at last, but not together. We have to stay in Dar es Salaam
                    until tomorrow when the train leaves for Dodoma. We arrived yesterday morning to find
                    all the hotels filled with people waiting to board ships for England. Fortunately some
                    friends came to the rescue and Ann, Kate and John have gone to stay with them. Jim,
                    Henry and I are sleeping in a screened corner of the lounge of the New Africa Hotel, and
                    George and young George have beds in the Palm Court of the same hotel.

                    We travelled out from England in the Winchester Castle under troopship
                    conditions. We joined her at Southampton after a rather slow train journey from
                    Nottingham. We arrived after dark and from the station we could see a large ship in the
                    docks with a floodlit red funnel. “Our ship,” yelled the children in delight, but it was not the
                    Winchester Castle but the Queen Elizabeth, newly reconditioned.

                    We had hoped to board our ship that evening but George made enquiries and
                    found that we would not be allowed on board until noon next day. Without much hope,
                    we went off to try to get accommodation for eight at a small hotel recommended by the
                    taxi driver. Luckily for us there was a very motherly woman at the reception desk. She
                    looked in amusement at the six children and said to me, “Goodness are all these yours,
                    ducks? Then she called over her shoulder, “Wilf, come and see this lady with lots of
                    children. We must try to help.” They settled the problem most satisfactorily by turning
                    two rooms into a dormitory.

                    In the morning we had time to inspect bomb damage in the dock area of
                    Southampton. Most of the rubble had been cleared away but there are still numbers of
                    damaged buildings awaiting demolition. A depressing sight. We saw the Queen Mary
                    at anchor, still in her drab war time paint, but magnificent nevertheless.
                    The Winchester Castle was crammed with passengers and many travelled in
                    acute discomfort. We were luckier than most because the two girls, the three small boys
                    and I had a stateroom to ourselves and though it was stripped of peacetime comforts,
                    we had a private bathroom and toilet. The two Georges had bunks in a huge men-only
                    dormitory somewhere in the bowls of the ship where they had to share communal troop
                    ship facilities. The food was plentiful but unexciting and one had to queue for afternoon
                    tea. During the day the decks were crowded and there was squatting room only. The
                    many children on board got bored.

                    Port Said provided a break and we were all entertained by the ‘Gully Gully’ man
                    and his conjuring tricks, and though we had no money to spend at Simon Artz, we did at
                    least have a chance to stretch our legs. Next day scores of passengers took ill with
                    sever stomach upsets, whether from food poisoning, or as was rumoured, from bad
                    water taken on at the Egyptian port, I don’t know. Only the two Georges in our family
                    were affected and their attacks were comparatively mild.

                    As we neared the Kenya port of Mombassa, the passengers for Dar es Salaam
                    were told that they would have to disembark at Mombassa and continue their journey in
                    a small coaster, the Al Said. The Winchester Castle is too big for the narrow channel
                    which leads to Dar es Salaam harbour.

                    From the wharf the Al Said looked beautiful. She was once the private yacht of
                    the Sultan of Zanzibar and has lovely lines. Our admiration lasted only until we were
                    shown our cabins. With one voice our children exclaimed, “Gosh they stink!” They did, of
                    a mixture of rancid oil and sweat and stale urine. The beds were not yet made and the
                    thin mattresses had ominous stains on them. John, ever fastidious, lifted his mattress and two enormous cockroaches scuttled for cover.

                    We had a good homely lunch served by two smiling African stewards and
                    afterwards we sat on deck and that was fine too, though behind ones enjoyment there
                    was the thought of those stuffy and dirty cabins. That first night nearly everyone,
                    including George and our older children, slept on deck. Women occupied deck chairs
                    and men and children slept on the bare decks. Horrifying though the idea was, I decided
                    that, as Jim had a bad cough, he, Henry and I would sleep in our cabin.

                    When I announced my intention of sleeping in the cabin one of the passengers
                    gave me some insecticide spray which I used lavishly, but without avail. The children
                    slept but I sat up all night with the light on, determined to keep at least their pillows clear
                    of the cockroaches which scurried about boldly regardless of the light. All the next day
                    and night we avoided the cabins. The Al Said stopped for some hours at Zanzibar to
                    offload her deck cargo of live cattle and packing cases from the hold. George and the
                    elder children went ashore for a walk but I felt too lazy and there was plenty to watch
                    from deck.

                    That night I too occupied a deck chair and slept quite comfortably, and next
                    morning we entered the palm fringed harbour of Dar es Salaam and were home.

                    Eleanor.

                    Mbeya 1st November 1946

                    Dearest Family.

                    Home at last! We are all most happily installed in a real family house about three
                    miles out of Mbeya and near the school. This house belongs to an elderly German and
                    has been taken over by the Custodian of Enemy Property and leased to the
                    Government.

                    The owner, whose name is Shenkel, was not interned but is allowed to occupy a
                    smaller house on the Estate. I found him in the garden this morning lecturing the children
                    on what they may do and may not do. I tried to make it quite clear to him that he was not
                    our landlord, though he clearly thinks otherwise. After he had gone I had to take two
                    aspirin and lie down to recover my composure! I had been warned that he has this effect
                    on people.

                    Mr Shenkel is a short and ugly man, his clothes are stained with food and he
                    wears steel rimmed glasses tied round his head with a piece of dirty elastic because
                    one earpiece is missing. He speaks with a thick German accent but his English is fluent
                    and I believe he is a cultured and clever man. But he is maddening. The children were
                    more amused than impressed by his exhortations and have happily Christened our
                    home, ‘Old Shenks’.

                    The house has very large grounds as the place is really a derelict farm. It suits us
                    down to the ground. We had no sooner unpacked than George went off on safari after
                    those maneating lions in the Njombe District. he accounted for one, and a further two
                    jointly with a Game Scout, before we left for England. But none was shot during the five
                    months we were away as George’s relief is quite inexperienced in such work. George
                    thinks that there are still about a dozen maneaters at large. His theory is that a female
                    maneater moved into the area in 1938 when maneating first started, and brought up her
                    cubs to be maneaters, and those cubs in turn did the same. The three maneating lions
                    that have been shot were all in very good condition and not old and maimed as
                    maneaters usually are.

                    George anticipates that it will be months before all these lions are accounted for
                    because they are constantly on the move and cover a very large area. The lions have to
                    be hunted on foot because they range over broken country covered by bush and fairly
                    dense thicket.

                    I did a bit of shooting myself yesterday and impressed our African servants and
                    the children and myself. What a fluke! Our houseboy came to say that there was a snake
                    in the garden, the biggest he had ever seen. He said it was too big to kill with a stick and
                    would I shoot it. I had no gun but a heavy .450 Webley revolver and I took this and
                    hurried out with the children at my heels.

                    The snake turned out to be an unusually large puff adder which had just shed its
                    skin. It looked beautiful in a repulsive way. So flanked by servants and children I took
                    aim and shot, not hitting the head as I had planned, but breaking the snake’s back with
                    the heavy bullet. The two native boys then rushed up with sticks and flattened the head.
                    “Ma you’re a crack shot,” cried the kids in delighted surprise. I hope to rest on my laurels
                    for a long, long while.

                    Although there are only a few weeks of school term left the four older children will
                    start school on Monday. Not only am I pleased with our new home here but also with
                    the staff I have engaged. Our new houseboy, Reuben, (but renamed Robin by our
                    children) is not only cheerful and willing but intelligent too, and Jumbe, the wood and
                    garden boy, is a born clown and a source of great entertainment to the children.

                    I feel sure that we are all going to be very happy here at ‘Old Shenks!.

                    Eleanor.

                    #6267
                    TracyTracy
                    Participant

                      From Tanganyika with Love

                      continued part 8

                      With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                      Morogoro 20th January 1941

                      Dearest Family,

                      It is all arranged for us to go on three months leave to Cape Town next month so
                      get out your flags. How I shall love showing off Kate and John to you and this time
                      George will be with us and you’ll be able to get to know him properly. You can’t think
                      what a comfort it will be to leave all the worries of baggage and tipping to him. We will all
                      be travelling by ship to Durban and from there to Cape Town by train. I rather dread the
                      journey because there is a fifth little Rushby on the way and, as always, I am very
                      queasy.

                      Kate has become such a little companion to me that I dread the thought of leaving
                      her behind with you to start schooling. I miss Ann and George so much now and must
                      face separation from Kate as well. There does not seem to be any alternative though.
                      There is a boarding school in Arusha and another has recently been started in Mbeya,
                      but both places are so far away and I know she would be very unhappy as a boarder at
                      this stage. Living happily with you and attending a day school might wean her of her
                      dependance upon me. As soon as this wretched war ends we mean to get Ann and
                      George back home and Kate too and they can then all go to boarding school together.
                      If I were a more methodical person I would try to teach Kate myself, but being a
                      muddler I will have my hands full with Johnny and the new baby. Life passes pleasantly
                      but quietly here. Much of my time is taken up with entertaining the children and sewing
                      for them and just waiting for George to come home.

                      George works so hard on these safaris and this endless elephant hunting to
                      protect native crops entails so much foot safari, that he has lost a good deal of weight. it
                      is more than ten years since he had a holiday so he is greatly looking forward to this one.
                      Four whole months together!

                      I should like to keep the ayah, Janet, for the new baby, but she says she wants
                      to return to her home in the Southern Highlands Province and take a job there. She is
                      unusually efficient and so clean, and the houseboy and cook are quite scared of her. She
                      bawls at them if the children’s meals are served a few minutes late but she is always
                      respectful towards me and practically creeps around on tiptoe when George is home.
                      She has a room next to the outside kitchen. One night thieves broke into the kitchen and
                      stole a few things, also a canvas chair and mat from the verandah. Ayah heard them, and
                      grabbing a bit of firewood, she gave chase. Her shouts so alarmed the thieves that they
                      ran off up the hill jettisoning their loot as they ran. She is a great character.

                      Eleanor.

                      Morogoro 30th July 1941

                      Dearest Family,

                      Safely back in Morogoro after a rather grim voyage from Durban. Our ship was
                      completely blacked out at night and we had to sleep with warm clothing and life belts
                      handy and had so many tedious boat drills. It was a nuisance being held up for a whole
                      month in Durban, because I was so very pregnant when we did embark. In fact George
                      suggested that I had better hide in the ‘Ladies’ until the ship sailed for fear the Captain
                      might refuse to take me. It seems that the ship, on which we were originally booked to
                      travel, was torpedoed somewhere off the Cape.

                      We have been given a very large house this tour with a mosquito netted
                      sleeping porch which will be fine for the new baby. The only disadvantage is that the
                      house is on the very edge of the residential part of Morogoro and Johnny will have to
                      go quite a distance to find playmates.

                      I still miss Kate terribly. She is a loving little person. I had prepared for a scene
                      when we said good-bye but I never expected that she would be the comforter. It
                      nearly broke my heart when she put her arms around me and said, “I’m so sorry
                      Mummy, please don’t cry. I’ll be good. Please don’t cry.” I’m afraid it was all very
                      harrowing for you also. It is a great comfort to hear that she has settled down so happily.
                      I try not to think consciously of my absent children and remind myself that there are
                      thousands of mothers in the same boat, but they are always there at the back of my
                      mind.

                      Mother writes that Ann and George are perfectly happy and well, and that though
                      German bombers do fly over fairly frequently, they are unlikely to drop their bombs on
                      a small place like Jacksdale.

                      George has already left on safari to the Rufiji. There was no replacement for his
                      job while he was away so he is anxious to get things moving again. Johnny and I are
                      going to move in with friends until he returns, just in case all the travelling around brings
                      the new baby on earlier than expected.

                      Eleanor.

                      Morogoro 26th August 1941

                      Dearest Family,

                      Our new son, James Caleb. was born at 3.30 pm yesterday afternoon, with a
                      minimum of fuss, in the hospital here. The Doctor was out so my friend, Sister Murray,
                      delivered the baby. The Sister is a Scots girl, very efficient and calm and encouraging,
                      and an ideal person to have around at such a time.

                      Everything, this time, went without a hitch and I feel fine and proud of my
                      bouncing son. He weighs nine pounds and ten ounces and is a big boned fellow with
                      dark hair and unusually strongly marked eyebrows. His eyes are strong too and already
                      seem to focus. George is delighted with him and brought Hugh Nelson to see him this
                      morning. Hugh took one look, and, astonished I suppose by the baby’s apparent
                      awareness, said, “Gosh, this one has been here before.” The baby’s cot is beside my
                      bed so I can admire him as much as I please. He has large strong hands and George
                      reckons he’ll make a good boxer some day.

                      Another of my early visitors was Mabemba, George’s orderly. He is a very big
                      African and looks impressive in his Game Scouts uniform. George met him years ago at
                      Mahenge when he was a young elephant hunter and Mabemba was an Askari in the
                      Police. Mabemba takes quite a proprietary interest in the family.

                      Eleanor.

                      Morogoro 25th December 1941

                      Dearest Family,

                      Christmas Day today, but not a gay one. I have Johnny in bed with a poisoned
                      leg so he missed the children’s party at the Club. To make things a little festive I have
                      put up a little Christmas tree in the children’s room and have hung up streamers and
                      balloons above the beds. Johnny demands a lot of attention so it is fortunate that little
                      James is such a very good baby. He sleeps all night until 6 am when his feed is due.
                      One morning last week I got up as usual to feed him but I felt so dopey that I
                      thought I’d better have a cold wash first. I went into the bathroom and had a hurried
                      splash and then grabbed a towel to dry my face. Immediately I felt an agonising pain in
                      my nose. Reason? There was a scorpion in the towel! In no time at all my nose looked
                      like a pear and felt burning hot. The baby screamed with frustration whilst I feverishly
                      bathed my nose and applied this and that in an effort to cool it.

                      For three days my nose was very red and tender,”A real boozer nose”, said
                      George. But now, thank goodness, it is back to normal.

                      Some of the younger marrieds and a couple of bachelors came around,
                      complete with portable harmonium, to sing carols in the early hours. No sooner had we
                      settled down again to woo sleep when we were disturbed by shouts and screams from
                      our nearest neighbour’s house. “Just celebrating Christmas”, grunted George, but we
                      heard this morning that the neighbour had fallen down his verandah steps and broken his
                      leg.

                      Eleanor.

                      Morogoro Hospital 30th September 1943

                      Dearest Family,

                      Well now we are eight! Our new son, Henry, was born on the night of the 28th.
                      He is a beautiful baby, weighing ten pounds three and a half ounces. This baby is very
                      well developed, handsome, and rather superior looking, and not at all amusing to look at
                      as the other boys were.George was born with a moustache, John had a large nose and
                      looked like a little old man, and Jim, bless his heart, looked rather like a baby
                      chimpanzee. Henry is different. One of my visitors said, “Heaven he’ll have to be a
                      Bishop!” I expect the lawn sleeves of his nightie really gave her that idea, but the baby
                      does look like ‘Someone’. He is very good and George, John, and Jim are delighted
                      with him, so is Mabemba.

                      We have a dear little nurse looking after us. She is very petite and childish
                      looking. When the baby was born and she brought him for me to see, the nurse asked
                      his name. I said jokingly, “His name is Benjamin – the last of the family.” She is now very
                      peeved to discover that his real name is Henry William and persists in calling him
                      ‘Benjie’.I am longing to get home and into my pleasant rut. I have been away for two
                      whole weeks and George is managing so well that I shall feel quite expendable if I don’t
                      get home soon. As our home is a couple of miles from the hospital, I arranged to move
                      in and stay with the nursing sister on the day the baby was due. There I remained for ten
                      whole days before the baby was born. Each afternoon George came and took me for a
                      ride in the bumpy Bedford lorry and the Doctor tried this and that but the baby refused
                      to be hurried.

                      On the tenth day I had the offer of a lift and decided to go home for tea and
                      surprise George. It was a surprise too, because George was entertaining a young
                      Game Ranger for tea and my arrival, looking like a perambulating big top, must have
                      been rather embarrassing.Henry was born at the exact moment that celebrations started
                      in the Township for the end of the Muslim religious festival of Ramadan. As the Doctor
                      held him up by his ankles, there was the sound of hooters and firecrackers from the town.
                      The baby has a birthmark in the shape of a crescent moon above his left eyebrow.

                      Eleanor.

                      Morogoro 26th January 1944

                      Dearest Family,

                      We have just heard that we are to be transferred to the Headquarters of the
                      Game Department at a place called Lyamungu in the Northern Province. George is not
                      at all pleased because he feels that the new job will entail a good deal of office work and
                      that his beloved but endless elephant hunting will be considerably curtailed. I am glad of
                      that and I am looking forward to seeing a new part of Tanganyika and particularly
                      Kilimanjaro which dominates Lyamungu.

                      Thank goodness our menagerie is now much smaller. We found a home for the
                      guinea pigs last December and Susie, our mischievous guinea-fowl, has flown off to find
                      a mate.Last week I went down to Dar es Salaam for a check up by Doctor John, a
                      woman doctor, leaving George to cope with the three boys. I was away two nights and
                      a day and returned early in the morning just as George was giving Henry his six o’clock
                      bottle. It always amazes me that so very masculine a man can do my chores with no
                      effort and I have a horrible suspicion that he does them better than I do. I enjoyed the
                      short break at the coast very much. I stayed with friends and we bathed in the warm sea
                      and saw a good film.

                      Now I suppose there will be a round of farewell parties. People in this country
                      are most kind and hospitable.

                      Eleanor.

                      Lyamungu 20th March 1944

                      Dearest Family,

                      We left Morogoro after the round of farewell parties I had anticipated. The final
                      one was at the Club on Saturday night. George made a most amusing speech and the
                      party was a very pleasant occasion though I was rather tired after all the packing.
                      Several friends gathered to wave us off on Monday morning. We had two lorries
                      loaded with our goods. I rode in the cab of the first one with Henry on my knee. George
                      with John and Jim rode in the second one. As there was no room for them in the cab,
                      they sat on our couch which was placed across the width of the lorry behind the cab. This
                      seat was not as comfortable as it sounds, because the space behind the couch was
                      taken up with packing cases which were not lashed in place and these kept moving
                      forward as the lorry bumped its way over the bad road.

                      Soon there was hardly any leg room and George had constantly to stand up and
                      push the second layer of packing cases back to prevent them from toppling over onto
                      the children and himself. As it is now the rainy season the road was very muddy and
                      treacherous and the lorries travelled so slowly it was dark by the time we reached
                      Karogwe from where we were booked to take the train next morning to Moshi.
                      Next morning we heard that there had been a washaway on the line and that the
                      train would be delayed for at least twelve hours. I was not feeling well and certainly did
                      not enjoy my day. Early in the afternoon Jimmy ran into a wall and blackened both his
                      eyes. What a child! As the day wore on I felt worse and worse and when at last the train
                      did arrive I simply crawled into my bunk whilst George coped nobly with the luggage
                      and the children.

                      We arrived at Moshi at breakfast time and went straight to the Lion Cub Hotel
                      where I took to my bed with a high temperature. It was, of course, malaria. I always have
                      my attacks at the most inopportune times. Fortunately George ran into some friends
                      called Eccles and the wife Mollie came to my room and bathed Henry and prepared his
                      bottle and fed him. George looked after John and Jim. Next day I felt much better and
                      we drove out to Lyamungu the day after. There we had tea with the Game Warden and
                      his wife before moving into our new home nearby.

                      The Game Warden is Captain Monty Moore VC. He came out to Africa
                      originally as an Officer in the King’s African Rifles and liked the country so much he left the
                      Army and joined the Game Department. He was stationed at Banagi in the Serengetti
                      Game Reserve and is well known for his work with the lions there. He particularly tamed
                      some of the lions by feeding them so that they would come out into the open and could
                      readily be photographed by tourists. His wife Audrey, has written a book about their
                      experiences at Banagi. It is called “Serengetti”

                      Our cook, Hamisi, soon had a meal ready for us and we all went to bed early.
                      This is a very pleasant house and I know we will be happy here. I still feel a little shaky
                      but that is the result of all the quinine I have taken. I expect I shall feel fine in a day or two.

                      Eleanor.

                      Lyamungu 15th May 1944

                      Dearest Family,

                      Well, here we are settled comfortably in our very nice house. The house is
                      modern and roomy, and there is a large enclosed verandah, which will be a Godsend in
                      the wet weather as a playroom for the children. The only drawback is that there are so
                      many windows to be curtained and cleaned. The grounds consist of a very large lawn
                      and a few beds of roses and shrubs. It is an ideal garden for children, unlike our steeply
                      terraced garden at Morogoro.

                      Lyamungu is really the Government Coffee Research Station. It is about sixteen
                      miles from the town of Moshi which is the centre of the Tanganyika coffee growing
                      industry. Lyamungu, which means ‘place of God’ is in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro and
                      we have a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro. Kibo, the more spectacular of the two mountain
                      peaks, towers above us, looking from this angle, like a giant frosted plum pudding. Often the mountain is veiled by cloud and mist which sometimes comes down to
                      our level so that visibility is practically nil. George dislikes both mist and mountain but I
                      like both and so does John. He in fact saw Kibo before I did. On our first day here, the
                      peak was completely hidden by cloud. In the late afternoon when the children were
                      playing on the lawn outside I was indoors hanging curtains. I heard John call out, “Oh
                      Mummy, isn’t it beautiful!” I ran outside and there, above a scarf of cloud, I saw the
                      showy dome of Kibo with the setting sun shining on it tingeing the snow pink. It was an
                      unforgettable experience.

                      As this is the rainy season, the surrounding country side is very lush and green.
                      Everywhere one sees the rich green of the coffee plantations and the lighter green of
                      the banana groves. Unfortunately our walks are rather circumscribed. Except for the main road to Moshi, there is nowhere to walk except through the Government coffee
                      plantation. Paddy, our dog, thinks life is pretty boring as there is no bush here and
                      nothing to hunt. There are only half a dozen European families here and half of those are
                      on very distant terms with the other half which makes the station a rather uncomfortable
                      one.

                      The coffee expert who runs this station is annoyed because his European staff
                      has been cut down owing to the war, and three of the vacant houses and some office
                      buildings have been taken over temporarily by the Game Department. Another house
                      has been taken over by the head of the Labour Department. However I don’t suppose
                      the ill feeling will effect us much. We are so used to living in the bush that we are not
                      socially inclined any way.

                      Our cook, Hamisi, came with us from Morogoro but I had to engage a new
                      houseboy and kitchenboy. I first engaged a houseboy who produced a wonderful ‘chit’
                      in which his previous employer describes him as his “friend and confidant”. I felt rather
                      dubious about engaging him and how right I was. On his second day with us I produced
                      some of Henry’s napkins, previously rinsed by me, and asked this boy to wash them.
                      He looked most offended and told me that it was beneath his dignity to do women’s
                      work. We parted immediately with mutual relief.

                      Now I have a good natured fellow named Japhet who, though hard on crockery,
                      is prepared to do anything and loves playing with the children. He is a local boy, a
                      member of the Chagga tribe. These Chagga are most intelligent and, on the whole, well
                      to do as they all have their own small coffee shambas. Japhet tells me that his son is at
                      the Uganda University College studying medicine.The kitchen boy is a tall youth called
                      Tovelo, who helps both Hamisi, the cook, and the houseboy and also keeps an eye on
                      Henry when I am sewing. I still make all the children’s clothes and my own. Life is
                      pleasant but dull. George promises that he will take the whole family on safari when
                      Henry is a little older.

                      Eleanor.

                      Lyamungu 18th July 1944

                      Dearest Family,

                      Life drifts quietly by at Lyamungu with each day much like the one before – or
                      they would be, except that the children provide the sort of excitement that prohibits
                      boredom. Of the three boys our Jim is the best at this. Last week Jim wandered into the
                      coffee plantation beside our house and chewed some newly spayed berries. Result?
                      A high temperature and nasty, bloody diarrhoea, so we had to rush him to the hospital at
                      Moshi for treatment. however he was well again next day and George went off on safari.
                      That night there was another crisis. As the nights are now very cold, at this high
                      altitude, we have a large fire lit in the living room and the boy leaves a pile of logs
                      beside the hearth so that I can replenish the fire when necessary. Well that night I took
                      Henry off to bed, leaving John and Jim playing in the living room. When their bedtime
                      came, I called them without leaving the bedroom. When I had tucked John and Jim into
                      bed, I sat reading a bedtime story as I always do. Suddenly I saw smoke drifting
                      through the door, and heard a frightening rumbling noise. Japhet rushed in to say that the
                      lounge chimney was on fire! Picture me, panic on the inside and sweet smile on the
                      outside, as I picked Henry up and said to the other two, “There’s nothing to be
                      frightened about chaps, but get up and come outside for a bit.” Stupid of me to be so
                      heroic because John and Jim were not at all scared but only too delighted at the chance
                      of rushing about outside in the dark. The fire to them was just a bit of extra fun.

                      We hurried out to find one boy already on the roof and the other passing up a
                      brimming bucket of water. Other boys appeared from nowhere and soon cascades of
                      water were pouring down the chimney. The result was a mountain of smouldering soot
                      on the hearth and a pool of black water on the living room floor. However the fire was out
                      and no serious harm done because all the floors here are cement and another stain on
                      the old rug will hardly be noticed. As the children reluctantly returned to bed John
                      remarked smugly, “I told Jim not to put all the wood on the fire at once but he wouldn’t
                      listen.” I might have guessed!

                      However it was not Jim but John who gave me the worst turn of all this week. As
                      a treat I decided to take the boys to the river for a picnic tea. The river is not far from our
                      house but we had never been there before so I took the kitchen boy, Tovelo, to show
                      us the way. The path is on the level until one is in sight of the river when the bank slopes
                      steeply down. I decided that it was too steep for the pram so I stopped to lift Henry out
                      and carry him. When I looked around I saw John running down the slope towards the
                      river. The stream is not wide but flows swiftly and I had no idea how deep it was. All I
                      knew was that it was a trout stream. I called for John, “Stop, wait for me!” but he ran on
                      and made for a rude pole bridge which spanned the river. He started to cross and then,
                      to my horror, I saw John slip. There was a splash and he disappeared under the water. I
                      just dumped the baby on the ground, screamed to the boy to mind him and ran madly
                      down the slope to the river. Suddenly I saw John’s tight fitting felt hat emerge, then his
                      eyes and nose. I dashed into the water and found, to my intense relief, that it only
                      reached up to my shoulders but, thank heaven no further. John’s steady eyes watched
                      me trustingly as I approached him and carried him safely to the bank. He had been
                      standing on a rock and had not panicked at all though he had to stand up very straight
                      and tall to keep his nose out of water. I was too proud of him to scold him for
                      disobedience and too wet anyway.

                      I made John undress and put on two spare pullovers and wrapped Henry’s
                      baby blanket round his waist like a sarong. We made a small fire over which I crouched
                      with literally chattering teeth whilst Tovelo ran home to fetch a coat for me and dry clothes
                      for John.

                      Eleanor.

                      Lyamungu 16th August 1944

                      Dearest Family,

                      We have a new bull terrier bitch pup whom we have named Fanny III . So once
                      more we have a menagerie , the two dogs, two cats Susie and Winnie, and
                      some pet hens who live in the garage and are a real nuisance.

                      As John is nearly six I thought it time that he started lessons and wrote off to Dar
                      es Salaam for the correspondence course. We have had one week of lessons and I am
                      already in a state of physical and mental exhaustion. John is a most reluctant scholar.
                      “Why should I learn to read, when you can read to me?” he asks, and “Anyway why
                      should I read such stupid stuff, ‘Run Rover Run’, and ‘Mother play with baby’ . Who
                      wants to read about things like that? I don’t.”

                      He rather likes sums, but the only subject about which he is enthusiastic is
                      prehistoric history. He laps up information about ‘The Tree Dwellers’, though he is very
                      sceptical about the existence of such people. “God couldn’t be so silly to make people
                      so stupid. Fancy living in trees when it is easy to make huts like the natives.” ‘The Tree
                      Dwellers is a highly imaginative story about a revolting female called Sharptooth and her
                      offspring called Bodo. I have a very clear mental image of Sharptooth, so it came as a
                      shock to me and highly amused George when John looked at me reflectively across the
                      tea table and said, “Mummy I expect Sharptooth looked like you. You have a sharp
                      tooth too!” I have, my eye teeth are rather sharp, but I hope the resemblance stops
                      there.

                      John has an uncomfortably logical mind for a small boy. The other day he was
                      lying on the lawn staring up at the clouds when he suddenly muttered “I don’t believe it.”
                      “Believe what?” I asked. “That Jesus is coming on a cloud one day. How can he? The
                      thick ones always stay high up. What’s he going to do, jump down with a parachute?”
                      Tovelo, my kitchen boy, announced one evening that his grandmother was in the
                      kitchen and wished to see me. She was a handsome and sensible Chagga woman who
                      brought sad news. Her little granddaughter had stumbled backwards into a large cooking
                      pot of almost boiling maize meal porridge and was ‘ngongwa sana’ (very ill). I grabbed
                      a large bottle of Picric Acid and a packet of gauze which we keep for these emergencies
                      and went with her, through coffee shambas and banana groves to her daughter’s house.
                      Inside the very neat thatched hut the mother sat with the naked child lying face
                      downwards on her knee. The child’s buttocks and the back of her legs were covered in
                      huge burst blisters from which a watery pus dripped. It appeared that the accident had
                      happened on the previous day.

                      I could see that it was absolutely necessary to clean up the damaged area, and I
                      suddenly remembered that there was a trained African hospital dresser on the station. I
                      sent the father to fetch him and whilst the dresser cleaned off the sloughed skin with
                      forceps and swabs saturated in Picric Acid, I cut the gauze into small squares which I
                      soaked in the lotion and laid on the cleaned area. I thought the small pieces would be
                      easier to change especially as the whole of the most tender parts, front and back, were
                      badly scalded. The child seemed dazed and neither the dresser nor I thought she would
                      live. I gave her half an aspirin and left three more half tablets to be given four hourly.
                      Next day she seemed much brighter. I poured more lotion on the gauze
                      disturbing as few pieces as possible and again the next day and the next. After a week
                      the skin was healing well and the child eating normally. I am sure she will be all right now.
                      The new skin is a brilliant red and very shiny but it is pale round the edges of the burnt
                      area and will I hope later turn brown. The mother never uttered a word of thanks, but the
                      granny is grateful and today brought the children a bunch of bananas.

                      Eleanor.

                      c/o Game Dept. P.O.Moshi. 29th September 1944

                      Dearest Mummy,

                      I am so glad that you so enjoyed my last letter with the description of our very
                      interesting and enjoyable safari through Masailand. You said you would like an even
                      fuller description of it to pass around amongst the relations, so, to please you, I have
                      written it out in detail and enclose the result.

                      We have spent a quiet week after our exertions and all are well here.

                      Very much love,
                      Eleanor.

                      Safari in Masailand

                      George and I were at tea with our three little boys on the front lawn of our house
                      in Lyamungu, Northern Tanganyika. It was John’s sixth birthday and he and Jim, a
                      happy sturdy three year old, and Henry, aged eleven months, were munching the
                      squares of plain chocolate which rounded off the party, when George said casually
                      across the table to me, “Could you be ready by the day after tomorrow to go on
                      safari?” “Me too?” enquired John anxiously, before I had time to reply, and “Me too?”
                      echoed Jim. “yes, of course I can”, said I to George and “of course you’re coming too”,
                      to the children who rate a day spent in the bush higher than any other pleasure.
                      So in the early morning two days later, we started out happily for Masailand in a
                      three ton Ford lorry loaded to capacity with the five Rushbys, the safari paraphernalia,
                      drums of petrol and quite a retinue of servants and Game Scouts. George travelling
                      alone on his monthly safaris, takes only the cook and a couple of Game Scouts, but this was to be a safari de luxe.

                      Henry and I shared the cab with George who was driving, whilst John and Jim
                      with the faithful orderly Mabemba beside them to point out the game animals, were
                      installed upon rolls of bedding in the body of the lorry. The lorry lumbered along, first
                      through coffee shambas, and then along the main road between Moshi and Arusha.
                      After half an hour or so, we turned South off the road into a track which crossed the
                      Sanya Plains and is the beginning of this part of Masailand. Though the dry season was
                      at its height, and the pasture dry and course, we were soon passing small groups of
                      game. This area is a Game Sanctuary and the antelope grazed quietly quite undisturbed
                      by the passing lorry. Here and there zebra stood bunched by the road, a few wild
                      ostriches stalked jerkily by, and in the distance some wildebeest cavorted around in their
                      crazy way.

                      Soon the grasslands gave way to thorn bush, and we saw six fantastically tall
                      giraffe standing motionless with their heads turned enquiringly towards us. George
                      stopped the lorry so the children could have a good view of them. John was enchanted
                      but Jim, alas, was asleep.

                      At mid day we reached the Kikoletwa River and turned aside to camp. Beside
                      the river, under huge leafy trees, there was a beautiful camping spot, but the river was
                      deep and reputed to be full of crocodiles so we passed it by and made our camp
                      some distance from the river under a tall thorn tree with a flat lacy canopy. All around the
                      camp lay uprooted trees of similar size that had been pushed over by elephants. As
                      soon as the lorry stopped a camp chair was set up for me and the Game Scouts quickly
                      slashed down grass and cleared the camp site of thorns. The same boys then pitched the tent whilst George himself set up the three camp beds and the folding cot for Henry,
                      and set up the safari table and the canvas wash bowl and bath.

                      The cook in the meantime had cleared a cool spot for the kitchen , opened up the
                      chop boxes and started a fire. The cook’s boy and the dhobi (laundry boy) brought
                      water from the rather muddy river and tea was served followed shortly afterward by an
                      excellent lunch. In a very short time the camp had a suprisingly homely look. Nappies
                      fluttered from a clothes line, Henry slept peacefully in his cot, John and Jim sprawled on
                      one bed looking at comics, and I dozed comfortably on another.

                      George, with the Game Scouts, drove off in the lorry about his work. As a Game
                      Ranger it is his business to be on a constant look out for poachers, both African and
                      European, and for disease in game which might infect the valuable herds of Masai cattle.
                      The lorry did not return until dusk by which time the children had bathed enthusiastically in
                      the canvas bath and were ready for supper and bed. George backed the lorry at right
                      angles to the tent, Henry’s cot and two camp beds were set up in the lorry, the tarpaulin
                      was lashed down and the children put to bed in their novel nursery.

                      When darkness fell a large fire was lit in front of the camp, the exited children at
                      last fell asleep and George and I sat on by the fire enjoying the cool and quiet night.
                      When the fire subsided into a bed of glowing coals, it was time for our bed. During the
                      night I was awakened by the sound of breaking branches and strange indescribable
                      noises.” Just elephant”, said George comfortably and instantly fell asleep once more. I
                      didn’t! We rose with the birds next morning, but breakfast was ready and in a
                      remarkably short time the lorry had been reloaded and we were once more on our way.
                      For about half a mile we made our own track across the plain and then we turned
                      into the earth road once more. Soon we had reached the river and were looking with
                      dismay at the suspension bridge which we had to cross. At the far side, one steel
                      hawser was missing and there the bridge tilted dangerously. There was no handrail but
                      only heavy wooden posts which marked the extremities of the bridge. WhenGeorge
                      measured the distance between the posts he found that there could be barely two
                      inches to spare on either side of the cumbersome lorry.

                      He decided to risk crossing, but the children and I and all the servants were told to
                      cross the bridge and go down the track out of sight. The Game Scouts remained on the
                      river bank on the far side of the bridge and stood ready for emergencies. As I walked
                      along anxiously listening, I was horrified to hear the lorry come to a stop on the bridge.
                      There was a loud creaking noise and I instantly visualised the lorry slowly toppling over
                      into the deep crocodile infested river. The engine restarted, the lorry crossed the bridge
                      and came slowly into sight around the bend. My heart slid back into its normal position.
                      George was as imperturbable as ever and simply remarked that it had been a near
                      thing and that we would return to Lyamungu by another route.

                      Beyond the green river belt the very rutted track ran through very uninteresting
                      thorn bush country. Henry was bored and tiresome, jumping up and down on my knee
                      and yelling furiously. “Teeth”, said I apologetically to George, rashly handing a match
                      box to Henry to keep him quiet. No use at all! With a fat finger he poked out the tray
                      spilling the matches all over me and the floor. Within seconds Henry had torn the
                      matchbox to pieces with his teeth and flung the battered remains through the window.
                      An empty cigarette box met with the same fate as the match box and the yells
                      continued unabated until Henry slept from sheer exhaustion. George gave me a smile,
                      half sympathetic and half sardonic, “Enjoying the safari, my love?” he enquired. On these
                      trying occasions George has the inestimable advantage of being able to go into a Yogilike
                      trance, whereas I become irritated to screaming point.

                      In an effort to prolong Henry’s slumber I braced my feet against the floor boards
                      and tried to turn myself into a human shock absorber as we lurched along the eroded
                      track. Several times my head made contact with the bolt of a rifle in the rack above, and
                      once I felt I had shattered my knee cap against the fire extinguisher in a bracket under the
                      dash board.

                      Strange as it may seem, I really was enjoying the trip in spite of these
                      discomforts. At last after three years I was once more on safari with George. This type of
                      country was new to me and there was so much to see We passed a family of giraffe
                      standing in complete immobility only a few yards from the track. Little dick-dick. one of the smallest of the antelope, scuttled in pairs across the road and that afternoon I had my first view of Gerenuk, curious red brown antelope with extremely elongated legs and giraffe-like necks.

                      Most interesting of all was my first sight of Masai at home. We could hear a tuneful
                      jangle of cattle bells and suddenly came across herds of humped cattle browsing upon
                      the thorn bushes. The herds were guarded by athletic,striking looking Masai youths and men.
                      Each had a calabash of water slung over his shoulder and a tall, highly polished spear in his
                      hand. These herdsmen were quite unselfconscious though they wore no clothing except for one carelessly draped blanket. Very few gave us any greeting but glanced indifferently at us from under fringes of clay-daubed plaited hair . The rest of their hair was drawn back behind the ears to display split earlobes stretched into slender loops by the weight of heavy brass or copper tribal ear rings.

                      Most of the villages were set well back in the bush out of sight of the road but we did pass one
                      typical village which looked most primitive indeed. It consisted simply of a few mound like mud huts which were entirely covered with a plaster of mud and cattle dung and the whole clutch of huts were surrounded by a ‘boma’ of thorn to keep the cattle in at night and the lions out. There was a gathering of women and children on the road at this point. The children of both sexes were naked and unadorned, but the women looked very fine indeed. This is not surprising for they have little to do but adorn themselves, unlike their counterparts of other tribes who have to work hard cultivating the fields. The Masai women, and others I saw on safari, were far more amiable and cheerful looking than the men and were well proportioned.

                      They wore skirts of dressed goat skin, knee length in front but ankle length behind. Their arms
                      from elbow to wrist, and legs from knee to ankle, were encased in tight coils of copper and
                      galvanised wire. All had their heads shaved and in some cases bound by a leather band
                      embroidered in red white and blue beads. Circular ear rings hung from slit earlobes and their
                      handsome throats were encircled by stiff wire necklaces strung with brightly coloured beads. These
                      necklaces were carefully graded in size and formed deep collars almost covering their breasts.
                      About a quarter of a mile further along the road we met eleven young braves in gala attire, obviously on their way to call on the girls. They formed a line across the road and danced up and down until the lorry was dangerously near when they parted and grinned cheerfully at us. These were the only cheerful
                      looking male Masai that I saw. Like the herdsmen these youths wore only a blanket, but their
                      blankets were ochre colour, and elegantly draped over their backs. Their naked bodies gleamed with oil. Several had painted white stripes on their faces, and two had whitewashed their faces entirely which I
                      thought a pity. All had their long hair elaborately dressed and some carried not only one,
                      but two gleaming spears.

                      By mid day George decided that we had driven far enough for that day. He
                      stopped the lorry and consulted a rather unreliable map. “Somewhere near here is a
                      place called Lolbeni,” he said. “The name means Sweet Water, I hear that the
                      government have piped spring water down from the mountain into a small dam at which
                      the Masai water their cattle.” Lolbeni sounded pleasant to me. Henry was dusty and
                      cross, the rubber sheet had long slipped from my lap to the floor and I was conscious of
                      a very damp lap. ‘Sweet Waters’ I felt, would put all that right. A few hundred yards
                      away a small herd of cattle was grazing, so George lit his pipe and relaxed at last, whilst
                      a Game Scout went off to find the herdsman. The scout soon returned with an ancient
                      and emaciated Masai who was thrilled at the prospect of his first ride in a lorry and
                      offered to direct us to Lolbeni which was off the main track and about four miles away.

                      Once Lolbeni had been a small administrative post and a good track had
                      led to it, but now the Post had been abandoned and the road is dotted with vigourous
                      thorn bushes and the branches of larger thorn trees encroach on the track The road had
                      deteriorated to a mere cattle track, deeply rutted and eroded by heavy rains over a
                      period of years. The great Ford truck, however, could take it. It lurched victoriously along,
                      mowing down the obstructions, tearing off branches from encroaching thorn trees with its
                      high railed sides, spanning gorges in the track, and climbing in and out of those too wide
                      to span. I felt an army tank could not have done better.

                      I had expected Lolbeni to be a green oasis in a desert of grey thorns, but I was
                      quickly disillusioned. To be sure the thorn trees were larger and more widely spaced and
                      provided welcome shade, but the ground under the trees had been trampled by thousands of cattle into a dreary expanse of dirty grey sand liberally dotted with cattle droppings and made still more uninviting by the bleached bones of dead beasts.

                      To the right of this waste rose a high green hill which gave the place its name and from which
                      the precious water was piped, but its slopes were too steep to provide a camping site.
                      Flies swarmed everywhere and I was most relieved when George said that we would
                      stay only long enough to fill our cans with water. Even the water was a disappointment!
                      The water in the small dam was low and covered by a revolting green scum, and though
                      the water in the feeding pipe was sweet, it trickled so feebly that it took simply ages to
                      fill a four gallon can.

                      However all these disappointments were soon forgotten for we drove away
                      from the flies and dirt and trampled sand and soon, with their quiet efficiency, George
                      and his men set up a comfortable camp. John and Jim immediately started digging
                      operations in the sandy soil whilst Henry and I rested. After tea George took his shot
                      gun and went off to shoot guinea fowl and partridges for the pot. The children and I went
                      walking, keeping well in site of camp, and soon we saw a very large flock of Vulturine
                      Guineafowl, running aimlessly about and looking as tame as barnyard fowls, but melting
                      away as soon as we moved in their direction.

                      We had our second quiet and lovely evening by the camp fire, followed by a
                      peaceful night.

                      We left Lolbeni very early next morning, which was a good thing, for as we left
                      camp the herds of thirsty cattle moved in from all directions. They were accompanied by
                      Masai herdsmen, their naked bodies and blankets now covered by volcanic dust which
                      was being stirred in rising clouds of stifling ash by the milling cattle, and also by grey
                      donkeys laden with panniers filled with corked calabashes for water.

                      Our next stop was Nabarera, a Masai cattle market and trading centre, where we
                      reluctantly stayed for two days in a pokey Goverment Resthouse because George had
                      a job to do in that area. The rest was good for Henry who promptly produced a tooth
                      and was consequently much better behaved for the rest of the trip. George was away in the bush most of the day but he returned for afternoon tea and later took the children out
                      walking. We had noticed curious white dumps about a quarter mile from the resthouse
                      and on the second afternoon we set out to investigate them. Behind the dumps we
                      found passages about six foot wide, cut through solid limestone. We explored two of
                      these and found that both passages led steeply down to circular wells about two and a
                      half feet in diameter.

                      At the very foot of each passage, beside each well, rough drinking troughs had
                      been cut in the stone. The herdsmen haul the water out of the well in home made hide
                      buckets, the troughs are filled and the cattle driven down the ramps to drink at the trough.
                      It was obvious that the wells were ancient and the sloping passages new. George tells
                      me that no one knows what ancient race dug the original wells. It seems incredible that
                      these deep and narrow shafts could have been sunk without machinery. I craned my
                      neck and looked above one well and could see an immensely long shaft reaching up to
                      ground level. Small footholds were cut in the solid rock as far as I could see.
                      It seems that the Masai are as ignorant as ourselves about the origin of these
                      wells. They do say however that when their forebears first occupied what is now known
                      as Masailand, they not only found the Wanderobo tribe in the area but also a light
                      skinned people and they think it possible that these light skinned people dug the wells.
                      These people disappeared. They may have been absorbed or, more likely, they were
                      liquidated.

                      The Masai had found the well impractical in their original form and had hired
                      labourers from neighbouring tribes to cut the passages to water level. Certainly the Masai are not responsible for the wells. They are a purely pastoral people and consider manual labour extremely degrading.

                      They live chiefly on milk from their herd which they allow to go sour, and mix with blood that has been skilfully tapped from the necks of living cattle. They do not eat game meat, nor do they cultivate any
                      land. They hunt with spears, but hunt only lions, to protect their herds, and to test the skill
                      and bravery of their young warriors. What little grain they do eat is transported into
                      Masailand by traders. The next stage of our journey took us to Ngassamet where
                      George was to pick up some elephant tusks. I had looked forward particularly to this
                      stretch of road for I had heard that there was a shallow lake at which game congregates,
                      and at which I had great hopes of seeing elephants. We had come too late in the
                      season though, the lake was dry and there were only piles of elephant droppings to
                      prove that elephant had recently been there in numbers. Ngassamet, though no beauty
                      spot, was interesting. We saw more elaborate editions of the wells already described, and as this area
                      is rich in cattle we saw the aristocrats of the Masai. You cannot conceive of a more arrogant looking male than a young Masai brave striding by on sandalled feet, unselfconscious in all his glory. All the young men wore the casually draped traditional ochre blanket and carried one or more spears. But here belts and long knife sheaths of scarlet leather seem to be the fashion. Here fringes do not seem to be the thing. Most of these young Masai had their hair drawn smoothly back and twisted in a pointed queue, the whole plastered with a smooth coating of red clay. Some tied their horn shaped queues over their heads
                      so that the tip formed a deep Satanic peak on the brow. All these young men wore the traditional
                      copper earrings and I saw one or two with copper bracelets and one with a necklace of brightly coloured
                      beads.

                      It so happened that, on the day of our visit to Ngassamet, there had been a
                      baraza (meeting) which was attended by all the local headmen and elders. These old
                      men came to pay their respects to George and a more shrewd and rascally looking
                      company I have never seen, George told me that some of these men own up to three
                      thousand head of cattle and more. The chief was as fat and Rabelasian as his second in
                      command was emaciated, bucktoothed and prim. The Chief shook hands with George
                      and greeted me and settled himself on the wall of the resthouse porch opposite
                      George. The lesser headmen, after politely greeting us, grouped themselves in a
                      semi circle below the steps with their ‘aides’ respectfully standing behind them. I
                      remained sitting in the only chair and watched the proceedings with interest and
                      amusement.

                      These old Masai, I noticed, cared nothing for adornment. They had proved
                      themselves as warriors in the past and were known to be wealthy and influential so did
                      not need to make any display. Most of them had their heads comfortably shaved and
                      wore only a drab blanket or goatskin cloak. Their only ornaments were earrings whose
                      effect was somewhat marred by the serviceable and homely large safety pin that
                      dangled from the lobe of one ear. All carried staves instead of spears and all, except for
                      Buckteeth and one blind old skeleton of a man, appeared to have a keenly developed
                      sense of humour.

                      “Mummy?” asked John in an urgent whisper, “Is that old blind man nearly dead?”
                      “Yes dear”, said I, “I expect he’ll soon die.” “What here?” breathed John in a tone of
                      keen anticipation and, until the meeting broke up and the old man left, he had John’s
                      undivided attention.

                      After local news and the game situation had been discussed, the talk turned to the
                      war. “When will the war end?” moaned the fat Chief. “We have made great gifts of cattle
                      to the War Funds, we are taxed out of existence.” George replied with the Ki-Swahili
                      equivalent of ‘Sez you!’. This sally was received with laughter and the old fellows rose to
                      go. They made their farewells and dignified exits, pausing on their way to stare at our
                      pink and white Henry, who sat undismayed in his push chair giving them stare for stare
                      from his striking grey eyes.

                      Towards evening some Masai, prompted no doubt by our native servants,
                      brought a sheep for sale. It was the last night of the fast of Ramadan and our
                      Mohammedan boys hoped to feast next day at our expense. Their faces fell when
                      George refused to buy the animal. “Why should I pay fifteen shillings for a sheep?” he
                      asked, “Am I not the Bwana Nyama and is not the bush full of my sheep?” (Bwana
                      Nyama is the native name for a Game Ranger, but means literally, ‘Master of the meat’)
                      George meant that he would shoot a buck for the men next day, but this incident was to
                      have a strange sequel. Ngassamet resthouse consists of one room so small we could
                      not put up all our camp beds and George and I slept on the cement floor which was
                      unkind to my curves. The night was bitterly cold and all night long hyaenas screeched
                      hideously outside. So we rose at dawn without reluctance and were on our way before it
                      was properly light.

                      George had decided that it would be foolhardy to return home by our outward
                      route as he did not care to risk another crossing of the suspension bridge. So we
                      returned to Nabarera and there turned onto a little used track which would eventually take
                      us to the Great North Road a few miles South of Arusha. There was not much game
                      about but I saw Oryx which I had not previously seen. Soon it grew intolerably hot and I
                      think all of us but George were dozing when he suddenly stopped the lorry and pointed
                      to the right. “Mpishi”, he called to the cook, “There’s your sheep!” True enough, on that
                      dreary thorn covered plain,with not another living thing in sight, stood a fat black sheep.

                      There was an incredulous babbling from the back of the lorry. Every native
                      jumped to the ground and in no time at all the wretched sheep was caught and
                      slaughtered. I felt sick. “Oh George”, I wailed, “The poor lost sheep! I shan’t eat a scrap
                      of it.” George said nothing but went and had a look at the sheep and called out to me,
                      “Come and look at it. It was kindness to kill the poor thing, the vultures have been at it
                      already and the hyaenas would have got it tonight.” I went reluctantly and saw one eye
                      horribly torn out, and small deep wounds on the sheep’s back where the beaks of the
                      vultures had cut through the heavy fleece. Poor thing! I went back to the lorry more
                      determined than ever not to eat mutton on that trip. The Scouts and servants had no
                      such scruples. The fine fat sheep had been sent by Allah for their feast day and that was
                      the end of it.

                      “ ‘Mpishi’ is more convinced than ever that I am a wizard”, said George in
                      amusement as he started the lorry. I knew what he meant. Several times before George
                      had foretold something which had later happened. Pure coincidence, but strange enough
                      to give rise to a legend that George had the power to arrange things. “What happened
                      of course”, explained George, “Is that a flock of Masai sheep was driven to market along
                      this track yesterday or the day before. This one strayed and was not missed.”

                      The day grew hotter and hotter and for long miles we looked out for a camping
                      spot but could find little shade and no trace of water anywhere. At last, in the early
                      afternoon we reached another pokey little rest house and asked for water. “There is no
                      water here,” said the native caretaker. “Early in the morning there is water in a well nearby
                      but we are allowed only one kerosene tin full and by ten o’clock the well is dry.” I looked
                      at George in dismay for we were all so tired and dusty. “Where do the Masai from the
                      village water their cattle then?” asked George. “About two miles away through the bush.
                      If you take me with you I shall show you”, replied the native.

                      So we turned off into the bush and followed a cattle track even more tortuous than
                      the one to Lolbeni. Two Scouts walked ahead to warn us of hazards and I stretched my
                      arm across the open window to fend off thorns. Henry screamed with fright and hunger.
                      But George’s efforts to reach water went unrewarded as we were brought to a stop by
                      a deep donga. The native from the resthouse was apologetic. He had mistaken the
                      path, perhaps if we turned back we might find it. George was beyond speech. We
                      lurched back the way we had come and made our camp under the first large tree we
                      could find. Then off went our camp boys on foot to return just before dark with the water.
                      However they were cheerful for there was an unlimited quantity of dry wood for their fires
                      and meat in plenty for their feast. Long after George and I left our campfire and had gone
                      to bed, we could see the cheerful fires of the boys and hear their chatter and laughter.
                      I woke in the small hours to hear the insane cackling of hyaenas gloating over a
                      find. Later I heard scuffling around the camp table, I peered over the tailboard of the lorry
                      and saw George come out of his tent. What are you doing?” I whispered. “Looking for
                      something to throw at those bloody hyaenas,” answered George for all the world as
                      though those big brutes were tomcats on the prowl. Though the hyaenas kept up their
                      concert all night the children never stirred, nor did any of them wake at night throughout
                      the safari.

                      Early next morning I walked across to the camp kitchen to enquire into the loud
                      lamentations coming from that quarter. “Oh Memsahib”, moaned the cook, “We could
                      not sleep last night for the bad hyaenas round our tents. They have taken every scrap of
                      meat we had left over from the feast., even the meat we had left to smoke over the fire.”
                      Jim, who of our three young sons is the cook’s favourite commiserated with him. He said
                      in Ki-Swahili, which he speaks with great fluency, “Truly those hyaenas are very bad
                      creatures. They also robbed us. They have taken my hat from the table and eaten the
                      new soap from the washbowl.

                      Our last day in the bush was a pleasantly lazy one. We drove through country
                      that grew more open and less dry as we approached Arusha. We pitched our camp
                      near a large dam, and the water was a blessed sight after a week of scorched country.
                      On the plains to the right of our camp was a vast herd of native cattle enjoying a brief
                      rest after their long day trek through Masailand. They were destined to walk many more
                      weary miles before reaching their destination, a meat canning factory in Kenya.
                      The ground to the left of the camp rose gently to form a long low hill and on the
                      grassy slopes we could see wild ostriches and herds of wildebeest, zebra and
                      antelope grazing amicably side by side. In the late afternoon I watched the groups of
                      zebra and wildebeest merge into one. Then with a wildebeest leading, they walked
                      down the slope in single file to drink at the vlei . When they were satisfied, a wildebeest
                      once more led the herd up the trail. The others followed in a long and orderly file, and
                      vanished over the hill to their evening pasture.

                      When they had gone, George took up his shotgun and invited John to
                      accompany him to the dam to shoot duck. This was the first time John had acted as
                      retriever but he did very well and proudly helped to carry a mixed bag of sand grouse
                      and duck back to camp.

                      Next morning we turned into the Great North Road and passed first through
                      carefully tended coffee shambas and then through the township of Arusha, nestling at
                      the foot of towering Mount Meru. Beyond Arusha we drove through the Usa River
                      settlement where again coffee shambas and European homesteads line the road, and
                      saw before us the magnificent spectacle of Kilimanjaro unveiled, its white snow cap
                      gleaming in the sunlight. Before mid day we were home. “Well was it worth it?” enquired
                      George at lunch. “Lovely,” I replied. ”Let’s go again soon.” Then thinking regretfully of
                      our absent children I sighed, “If only Ann, George, and Kate could have gone with us
                      too.”

                      Lyamungu 10th November. 1944

                      Dearest Family.

                      Mummy wants to know how I fill in my time with George away on safari for weeks
                      on end. I do believe that you all picture me idling away my days, waited on hand and
                      foot by efficient servants! On the contrary, life is one rush and the days never long
                      enough.

                      To begin with, our servants are anything but efficient, apart from our cook, Hamisi
                      Issa, who really is competent. He suffers from frustration because our budget will not run
                      to elaborate dishes so there is little scope for his culinary art. There is one masterpiece
                      which is much appreciated by John and Jim. Hamisi makes a most realistic crocodile out
                      of pastry and stuffs its innards with minced meat. This revolting reptile is served on a
                      bed of parsley on my largest meat dish. The cook is a strict Mohammedan and
                      observes all the fasts and daily prayers and, like all Mohammedans he is very clean in
                      his person and, thank goodness, in the kitchen.

                      His wife is his pride and joy but not his helpmate. She does absolutely nothing
                      but sit in a chair in the sun all day, sipping tea and smoking cigarettes – a more
                      expensive brand than mine! It is Hamisi who sweeps out their quarters, cooks
                      delectable curries for her, and spends more than he can afford on clothing and trinkets for
                      his wife. She just sits there with her ‘Mona Lisa’ smile and her painted finger and toe
                      nails, doing absolutely nothing.

                      The thing is that natives despise women who do work and this applies especially
                      to their white employers. House servants much prefer a Memsahib who leaves
                      everything to them and is careless about locking up her pantry. When we first came to
                      Lyamungu I had great difficulty in employing a houseboy. A couple of rather efficient
                      ones did approach me but when they heard the wages I was prepared to pay and that
                      there was no number 2 boy, they simply were not interested. Eventually I took on a
                      local boy called Japhet who suits me very well except that his sight is not good and he
                      is extremely hard on the crockery. He tells me that he has lost face by working here
                      because his friends say that he works for a family that is too mean to employ a second
                      boy. I explained that with our large family we simply cannot afford to pay more, but this
                      didn’t register at all. Japhet says “But Wazungu (Europeans) all have money. They just
                      have to get it from the Bank.”

                      The third member of our staff is a strapping youth named Tovelo who helps both
                      cook and boy, and consequently works harder than either. What do I do? I chivvy the
                      servants, look after the children, supervise John’s lessons, and make all my clothing and
                      the children’s on that blessed old hand sewing machine.

                      The folk on this station entertain a good deal but we usually decline invitations
                      because we simply cannot afford to reciprocate. However, last Saturday night I invited
                      two couples to drinks and dinner. This was such an unusual event that the servants and I
                      were thrown into a flurry. In the end the dinner went off well though it ended in disaster. In
                      spite of my entreaties and exhortations to Japhet not to pile everything onto the tray at
                      once when clearing the table, he did just that. We were starting our desert and I was
                      congratulating myself that all had gone well when there was a frightful crash of breaking
                      china on the back verandah. I excused myself and got up to investigate. A large meat
                      dish, six dinner plates and four vegetable dishes lay shattered on the cement floor! I
                      controlled my tongue but what my eyes said to Japhet is another matter. What he said
                      was, “It is not my fault Memsahib. The handle of the tray came off.”

                      It is a curious thing about native servants that they never accept responsibility for
                      a mishap. If they cannot pin their misdeeds onto one of their fellow servants then the responsibility rests with God. ‘Shauri ya Mungu’, (an act of God) is a familiar cry. Fatalists
                      can be very exasperating employees.

                      The loss of my dinner service is a real tragedy because, being war time, one can
                      buy only china of the poorest quality made for the native trade. Nor was that the final
                      disaster of the evening. When we moved to the lounge for coffee I noticed that the
                      coffee had been served in the battered old safari coffee pot instead of the charming little
                      antique coffee pot which my Mother-in-law had sent for our tenth wedding anniversary.
                      As there had already been a disturbance I made no comment but resolved to give the
                      cook a piece of my mind in the morning. My instructions to the cook had been to warm
                      the coffee pot with hot water immediately before serving. On no account was he to put
                      the pewter pot on the hot iron stove. He did and the result was a small hole in the base
                      of the pot – or so he says. When I saw the pot next morning there was a two inch hole in
                      it.

                      Hamisi explained placidly how this had come about. He said he knew I would be
                      mad when I saw the little hole so he thought he would have it mended and I might not
                      notice it. Early in the morning he had taken the pewter pot to the mechanic who looks
                      after the Game Department vehicles and had asked him to repair it. The bright individual
                      got busy with the soldering iron with the most devastating result. “It’s his fault,” said
                      Hamisi, “He is a mechanic, he should have known what would happen.”
                      One thing is certain, there will be no more dinner parties in this house until the war
                      is ended.

                      The children are well and so am I, and so was George when he left on his safari
                      last Monday.

                      Much love,
                      Eleanor.

                       

                      #6265
                      TracyTracy
                      Participant

                        From Tanganyika with Love

                        continued  ~ part 6

                        With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                        Mchewe 6th June 1937

                        Dearest Family,

                        Home again! We had an uneventful journey. Kate was as good as gold all the
                        way. We stopped for an hour at Bulawayo where we had to change trains but
                        everything was simplified for me by a very pleasant man whose wife shared my
                        compartment. Not only did he see me through customs but he installed us in our new
                        train and his wife turned up to see us off with magazines for me and fruit and sweets for
                        Kate. Very, very kind, don’t you think?

                        Kate and I shared the compartment with a very pretty and gentle girl called
                        Clarice Simpson. She was very worried and upset because she was going home to
                        Broken Hill in response to a telegram informing her that her young husband was
                        dangerously ill from Blackwater Fever. She was very helpful with Kate whose
                        cheerfulness helped Clarice, I think, though I, quite unintentionally was the biggest help
                        at the end of our journey. Remember the partial dentures I had had made just before
                        leaving Cape Town? I know I shall never get used to the ghastly things, I’ve had them
                        two weeks now and they still wobble. Well this day I took them out and wrapped them
                        in a handkerchief, but when we were packing up to leave the train I could find the
                        handkerchief but no teeth! We searched high and low until the train had slowed down to
                        enter Broken Hill station. Then Clarice, lying flat on the floor, spied the teeth in the dark
                        corner under the bottom bunk. With much stretching she managed to retrieve the
                        dentures covered in grime and fluff. My look of horror, when I saw them, made young
                        Clarice laugh. She was met at the station by a very grave elderly couple. I do wonder
                        how things turned out for her.

                        I stayed overnight with Kate at the Great Northern Hotel, and we set off for
                        Mbeya by plane early in the morning. One of our fellow passengers was a young
                        mother with a three week old baby. How ideas have changed since Ann was born. This
                        time we had a smooth passage and I was the only passenger to get airsick. Although
                        there were other women passengers it was a man once again, who came up and
                        offered to help. Kate went off with him amiably and he entertained her until we touched
                        down at Mbeya.

                        George was there to meet us with a wonderful surprise, a little red two seater
                        Ford car. She is a bit battered and looks a bit odd because the boot has been
                        converted into a large wooden box for carrying raw salt, but she goes like the wind.
                        Where did George raise the cash to buy a car? Whilst we were away he found a small
                        cave full of bat guano near a large cave which is worked by a man called Bob Sargent.
                        As Sargent did not want any competition he bought the contents of the cave from
                        George giving him the small car as part payment.

                        It was lovely to return to our little home and find everything fresh and tidy and the
                        garden full of colour. But it was heartbreaking to go into the bedroom and see George’s
                        precious forgotten boots still standing by his empty bed.

                        With much love,
                        Eleanor.

                        Mchewe 25th June 1937

                        Dearest Family,

                        Last Friday George took Kate and me in the little red Ford to visit Mr Sargent’s
                        camp on the Songwe River which cuts the Mbeya-Mbosi road. Mr Sargent bought
                        Hicky-Wood’s guano deposit and also our small cave and is making a good living out of
                        selling the bat guano to the coffee farmers in this province. George went to try to interest
                        him in a guano deposit near Kilwa in the Southern Province. Mr Sargent agreed to pay
                        25 pounds to cover the cost of the car trip and pegging costs. George will make the trip
                        to peg the claim and take samples for analysis. If the quality is sufficiently high, George
                        and Mr Sargent will go into partnership. George will work the claim and ship out the
                        guano from Kilwa which is on the coast of the Southern Province of Tanganyika. So now
                        we are busy building castles in the air once more.

                        On Saturday we went to Mbeya where George had to attend a meeting of the
                        Trout Association. In the afternoon he played in a cricket match so Kate and I spent the
                        whole day with the wife of the new Superintendent of Police. They have a very nice
                        new house with lawns and a sunken rose garden. Kate had a lovely romp with Kit, her
                        three year old son.

                        Mrs Wolten also has two daughters by a previous marriage. The elder girl said to
                        me, “Oh Mrs Rushby your husband is exactly like the strong silent type of man I
                        expected to see in Africa but he is the only one I have seen. I think he looks exactly like
                        those men in the ‘Barney’s Tobacco’ advertisements.”

                        I went home with a huge pile of magazines to keep me entertained whilst
                        George is away on the Kilwa trip.

                        Lots of love,
                        Eleanor.

                        Mchewe 9th July 1937

                        Dearest Family,

                        George returned on Monday from his Kilwa safari. He had an entertaining
                        tale to tell.

                        Before he approached Mr Sargent about going shares in the Kilwa guano
                        deposit he first approached a man on the Lupa who had done very well out of a small
                        gold reef. This man, however said he was not interested so you can imagine how
                        indignant George was when he started on his long trip, to find himself being trailed by
                        this very man and a co-driver in a powerful Ford V8 truck. George stopped his car and
                        had some heated things to say – awful threats I imagine as to what would happen to
                        anyone who staked his claim. Then he climbed back into our ancient little two seater and
                        went off like a bullet driving all day and most of the night. As the others took turns in
                        driving you can imagine what a feat it was for George to arrive in Kilwa ahead of them.
                        When they drove into Kilwa he met them with a bright smile and a bit of bluff –
                        quite justifiable under the circumstances I think. He said, you chaps can have a rest now,
                        you’re too late.” He then whipped off and pegged the claim. he brought some samples
                        of guano back but until it has been analysed he will not know whether the guano will be
                        an economic proposition or not. George is not very hopeful. He says there is a good
                        deal of sand mixed with the guano and that much of it was damp.

                        The trip was pretty eventful for Kianda, our houseboy. The little two seater car
                        had been used by its previous owner for carting bags of course salt from his salt pans.
                        For this purpose the dicky seat behind the cab had been removed, and a kind of box
                        built into the boot of the car. George’s camp kit and provisions were packed into this
                        open box and Kianda perched on top to keep an eye on the belongings. George
                        travelled so fast on the rough road that at some point during the night Kianda was
                        bumped off in the middle of the Game Reserve. George did not notice that he was
                        missing until the next morning. He concluded, quite rightly as it happened, that Kianda
                        would be picked up by the rival truck so he continued his journey and Kianda rejoined
                        him at Kilwa.

                        Believe it or not, the same thing happened on the way back but fortunately this
                        time George noticed his absence. He stopped the car and had just started back on his
                        tracks when Kianda came running down the road still clutching the unlighted storm lamp
                        which he was holding in his hand when he fell. The glass was not even cracked.
                        We are finding it difficult just now to buy native chickens and eggs. There has
                        been an epidemic amongst the poultry and one hesitates to eat the survivors. I have a
                        brine tub in which I preserve our surplus meat but I need the chickens for soup.
                        I hope George will be home for some months. He has arranged to take a Mr
                        Blackburn, a wealthy fruit farmer from Elgin, Cape, on a hunting safari during September
                        and October and that should bring in some much needed cash. Lillian Eustace has
                        invited Kate and me to spend the whole of October with her in Tukuyu.
                        I am so glad that you so much enjoy having Ann and George with you. We miss
                        them dreadfully. Kate is a pretty little girl and such a little madam. You should hear the
                        imperious way in which she calls the kitchenboy for her meals. “Boy Brekkis, Boy Lunch,
                        and Boy Eggy!” are her three calls for the day. She knows no Ki-Swahili.

                        Eleanor

                        Mchewe 8th October 1937

                        Dearest Family,

                        I am rapidly becoming as superstitious as our African boys. They say the wild
                        animals always know when George is away from home and come down to have their
                        revenge on me because he has killed so many.

                        I am being besieged at night by a most beastly leopard with a half grown cub. I
                        have grown used to hearing leopards grunt as they hunt in the hills at night but never
                        before have I had one roaming around literally under the windows. It has been so hot at
                        night lately that I have been sleeping with my bedroom door open onto the verandah. I
                        felt quite safe because the natives hereabouts are law-abiding and in any case I always
                        have a boy armed with a club sleeping in the kitchen just ten yards away. As an added
                        precaution I also have a loaded .45 calibre revolver on my bedside table, and Fanny
                        our bullterrier, sleeps on the mat by my bed. I am also looking after Barney, a fine
                        Airedale dog belonging to the Costers. He slept on a mat by the open bedroom door
                        near a dimly burning storm lamp.

                        As usual I went to sleep with an easy mind on Monday night, but was awakened
                        in the early hours of Tuesday by the sound of a scuffle on the front verandah. The noise
                        was followed by a scream of pain from Barney. I jumped out of bed and, grabbing the
                        lamp with my left hand and the revolver in my right, I rushed outside just in time to see
                        two animal figures roll over the edge of the verandah into the garden below. There they
                        engaged in a terrific tug of war. Fortunately I was too concerned for Barney to be
                        nervous. I quickly fired two shots from the revolver, which incidentally makes a noise like
                        a cannon, and I must have startled the leopard for both animals, still locked together,
                        disappeared over the edge of the terrace. I fired two more shots and in a few moments
                        heard the leopard making a hurried exit through the dry leaves which lie thick under the
                        wild fig tree just beyond the terrace. A few seconds later Barney appeared on the low
                        terrace wall. I called his name but he made no move to come but stood with hanging
                        head. In desperation I rushed out, felt blood on my hands when I touched him, so I
                        picked him up bodily and carried him into the house. As I regained the verandah the boy
                        appeared, club in hand, having been roused by the shots. He quickly grasped what had
                        happened when he saw my blood saturated nightie. He fetched a bowl of water and a
                        clean towel whilst I examined Barney’s wounds. These were severe, the worst being a
                        gaping wound in his throat. I washed the gashes with a strong solution of pot permang
                        and I am glad to say they are healing remarkably well though they are bound to leave
                        scars. Fanny, very prudently, had taken no part in the fighting except for frenzied barking
                        which she kept up all night. The shots had of course wakened Kate but she seemed
                        more interested than alarmed and kept saying “Fanny bark bark, Mummy bang bang.
                        Poor Barney lots of blood.”

                        In the morning we inspected the tracks in the garden. There was a shallow furrow
                        on the terrace where Barney and the leopard had dragged each other to and fro and
                        claw marks on the trunk of the wild fig tree into which the leopard climbed after I fired the
                        shots. The affair was of course a drama after the Africans’ hearts and several of our
                        shamba boys called to see me next day to make sympathetic noises and discuss the
                        affair.

                        I went to bed early that night hoping that the leopard had been scared off for
                        good but I must confess I shut all windows and doors. Alas for my hopes of a restful
                        night. I had hardly turned down the lamp when the leopard started its terrifying grunting
                        just under the bedroom windows. If only she would sniff around quietly I should not
                        mind, but the noise is ghastly, something like the first sickening notes of a braying
                        donkey, amplified here by the hills and the gorge which is only a stones throw from the
                        bedroom. Barney was too sick to bark but Fanny barked loud enough for two and the more
                        frantic she became the hungrier the leopard sounded. Kate of course woke up and this
                        time she was frightened though I assured her that the noise was just a donkey having
                        fun. Neither of us slept until dawn when the leopard returned to the hills. When we
                        examined the tracks next morning we found that the leopard had been accompanied by
                        a fair sized cub and that together they had prowled around the house, kitchen, and out
                        houses, visiting especially the places to which the dogs had been during the day.
                        As I feel I cannot bear many more of these nights, I am sending a note to the
                        District Commissioner, Mbeya by the messenger who takes this letter to the post,
                        asking him to send a game scout or an armed policeman to deal with the leopard.
                        So don’t worry, for by the time this reaches you I feel sure this particular trouble
                        will be over.

                        Eleanor.

                        Mchewe 17th October 1937

                        Dearest Family,

                        More about the leopard I fear! My messenger returned from Mbeya to say that
                        the District Officer was on safari so he had given the message to the Assistant District
                        Officer who also apparently left on safari later without bothering to reply to my note, so
                        there was nothing for me to do but to send for the village Nimrod and his muzzle loader
                        and offer him a reward if he could frighten away or kill the leopard.

                        The hunter, Laza, suggested that he should sleep at the house so I went to bed
                        early leaving Laza and his two pals to make themselves comfortable on the living room
                        floor by the fire. Laza was armed with a formidable looking muzzle loader, crammed I
                        imagine with nuts and bolts and old rusty nails. One of his pals had a spear and the other
                        a panga. This fellow was also in charge of the Petromax pressure lamp whose light was
                        hidden under a packing case. I left the campaign entirely to Laza’s direction.
                        As usual the leopard came at midnight stealing down from the direction of the
                        kitchen and announcing its presence and position with its usual ghastly grunts. Suddenly
                        pandemonium broke loose on the back verandah. I heard the roar of the muzzle loader
                        followed by a vigourous tattoo beaten on an empty paraffin tin and I rushed out hoping
                        to find the dead leopard. however nothing of the kind had happened except that the
                        noise must have scared the beast because she did not return again that night. Next
                        morning Laza solemnly informed me that, though he had shot many leopards in his day,
                        this was no ordinary leopard but a “sheitani” (devil) and that as his gun was no good
                        against witchcraft he thought he might as well retire from the hunt. Scared I bet, and I
                        don’t blame him either.

                        You can imagine my relief when a car rolled up that afternoon bringing Messers
                        Stewart and Griffiths, two farmers who live about 15 miles away, between here and
                        Mbeya. They had a note from the Assistant District Officer asking them to help me and
                        they had come to set up a trap gun in the garden. That night the leopard sniffed all
                        around the gun and I had the added strain of waiting for the bang and wondering what I
                        should do if the beast were only wounded. I conjured up horrible visions of the two little
                        totos trotting up the garden path with the early morning milk and being horribly mauled,
                        but I needn’t have worried because the leopard was far too wily to be caught that way.
                        Two more ghastly nights passed and then I had another visitor, a Dr Jackson of
                        the Tsetse Department on safari in the District. He listened sympathetically to my story
                        and left his shotgun and some SSG cartridges with me and instructed me to wait until the
                        leopard was pretty close and blow its b—– head off. It was good of him to leave his
                        gun. George always says there are three things a man should never lend, ‘His wife, his
                        gun and his dog.’ (I think in that order!)I felt quite cheered by Dr Jackson’s visit and sent
                        once again for Laza last night and arranged a real show down. In the afternoon I draped
                        heavy blankets over the living room windows to shut out the light of the pressure lamp
                        and the four of us, Laza and his two stooges and I waited up for the leopard. When we
                        guessed by her grunts that she was somewhere between the kitchen and the back door
                        we all rushed out, first the boy with the panga and the lamp, next Laza with his muzzle
                        loader, then me with the shotgun followed closely by the boy with the spear. What a
                        farce! The lamp was our undoing. We were blinded by the light and did not even
                        glimpse the leopard which made off with a derisive grunt. Laza said smugly that he knew
                        it was hopeless to try and now I feel tired and discouraged too.

                        This morning I sent a runner to Mbeya to order the hotel taxi for tomorrow and I
                        shall go to friends in Mbeya for a day or two and then on to Tukuyu where I shall stay
                        with the Eustaces until George returns from Safari.

                        Eleanor.

                        Mchewe 18th November 1937

                        My darling Ann,

                        Here we are back in our own home and how lovely it is to have Daddy back from
                        safari. Thank you very much for your letter. I hope by now you have got mine telling you
                        how very much I liked the beautiful tray cloth you made for my birthday. I bet there are
                        not many little girls of five who can embroider as well as you do, darling. The boy,
                        Matafari, washes and irons it so carefully and it looks lovely on the tea tray.

                        Daddy and I had some fun last night. I was in bed and Daddy was undressing
                        when we heard a funny scratching noise on the roof. I thought it was the leopard. Daddy
                        quickly loaded his shotgun and ran outside. He had only his shirt on and he looked so
                        funny. I grabbed the loaded revolver from the cupboard and ran after Dad in my nightie
                        but after all the rush it was only your cat, Winnie, though I don’t know how she managed
                        to make such a noise. We felt so silly, we laughed and laughed.

                        Kate talks a lot now but in such a funny way you would laugh to her her. She
                        hears the houseboys call me Memsahib so sometimes instead of calling me Mummy
                        she calls me “Oompaab”. She calls the bedroom a ‘bippon’ and her little behind she
                        calls her ‘sittendump’. She loves to watch Mandawi’s cattle go home along the path
                        behind the kitchen. Joseph your donkey, always leads the cows. He has a lazy life now.
                        I am glad you had such fun on Guy Fawkes Day. You will be sad to leave
                        Plumstead but I am sure you will like going to England on the big ship with granny Kate.
                        I expect you will start school when you get to England and I am sure you will find that
                        fun.

                        God bless my dear little girl. Lots of love from Daddy and Kate,
                        and Mummy

                        Mchewe 18th November 1937

                        Hello George Darling,

                        Thank you for your lovely drawing of Daddy shooting an elephant. Daddy says
                        that the only thing is that you have drawn him a bit too handsome.

                        I went onto the verandah a few minutes ago to pick a banana for Kate from the
                        bunch hanging there and a big hornet flew out and stung my elbow! There are lots of
                        them around now and those stinging flies too. Kate wears thick corduroy dungarees so
                        that she will not get her fat little legs bitten. She is two years old now and is a real little
                        pickle. She loves running out in the rain so I have ordered a pair of red Wellingtons and a
                        tiny umbrella from a Nairobi shop for her Christmas present.

                        Fanny’s puppies have their eyes open now and have very sharp little teeth.
                        They love to nip each other. We are keeping the fiercest little one whom we call Paddy
                        but are giving the others to friends. The coffee bushes are full of lovely white flowers
                        and the bees and ants are very busy stealing their honey.

                        Yesterday a troop of baboons came down the hill and Dad shot a big one to
                        scare the others off. They are a nuisance because they steal the maize and potatoes
                        from the native shambas and then there is not enough food for the totos.
                        Dad and I are very proud of you for not making a fuss when you went to the
                        dentist to have that tooth out.

                        Bye bye, my fine little son.
                        Three bags full of love from Kate, Dad and Mummy.

                        Mchewe 12th February, 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        here is some news that will please you. George has been offered and has
                        accepted a job as Forester at Mbulu in the Northern Province of Tanganyika. George
                        would have preferred a job as Game Ranger, but though the Game Warden, Philip
                        Teare, is most anxious to have him in the Game Department, there is no vacancy at
                        present. Anyway if one crops up later, George can always transfer from one
                        Government Department to another. Poor George, he hates the idea of taking a job. He
                        says that hitherto he has always been his own master and he detests the thought of
                        being pushed around by anyone.

                        Now however he has no choice. Our capitol is almost exhausted and the coffee
                        market shows no signs of improving. With three children and another on the way, he
                        feels he simply must have a fixed income. I shall be sad to leave this little farm. I love
                        our little home and we have been so very happy here, but my heart rejoices at the
                        thought of overseas leave every thirty months. Now we shall be able to fetch Ann and
                        George from England and in three years time we will all be together in Tanganyika once
                        more.

                        There is no sale for farms so we will just shut the house and keep on a very small
                        labour force just to keep the farm from going derelict. We are eating our hens but will
                        take our two dogs, Fanny and Paddy with us.

                        One thing I shall be glad to leave is that leopard. She still comes grunting around
                        at night but not as badly as she did before. I do not mind at all when George is here but
                        until George was accepted for this forestry job I was afraid he might go back to the
                        Diggings and I should once more be left alone to be cursed by the leopard’s attentions.
                        Knowing how much I dreaded this George was most anxious to shoot the leopard and
                        for weeks he kept his shotgun and a powerful torch handy at night.

                        One night last week we woke to hear it grunting near the kitchen. We got up very
                        quietly and whilst George loaded the shotgun with SSG, I took the torch and got the
                        heavy revolver from the cupboard. We crept out onto the dark verandah where George
                        whispered to me to not switch on the torch until he had located the leopard. It was pitch
                        black outside so all he could do was listen intently. And then of course I spoilt all his
                        plans. I trod on the dog’s tin bowl and made a terrific clatter! George ordered me to
                        switch on the light but it was too late and the leopard vanished into the long grass of the
                        Kalonga, grunting derisively, or so it sounded.

                        She never comes into the clearing now but grunts from the hillside just above it.

                        Eleanor.

                        Mbulu 18th March, 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Journeys end at last. here we are at Mbulu, installed in our new quarters which are
                        as different as they possibly could be from our own cosy little home at Mchewe. We
                        live now, my dears, in one wing of a sort of ‘Beau Geste’ fort but I’ll tell you more about
                        it in my next letter. We only arrived yesterday and have not had time to look around.
                        This letter will tell you just about our trip from Mbeya.

                        We left the farm in our little red Ford two seater with all our portable goods and
                        chattels plus two native servants and the two dogs. Before driving off, George took one
                        look at the flattened springs and declared that he would be surprised if we reached
                        Mbeya without a breakdown and that we would never make Mbulu with the car so
                        overloaded.

                        However luck was with us. We reached Mbeya without mishap and at one of the
                        local garages saw a sturdy used Ford V8 boxbody car for sale. The garage agreed to
                        take our small car as part payment and George drew on our little remaining capitol for the
                        rest. We spent that night in the house of the Forest Officer and next morning set out in
                        comfort for the Northern Province of Tanganyika.

                        I had done the journey from Dodoma to Mbeya seven years before so was
                        familiar with the scenery but the road was much improved and the old pole bridges had
                        been replaced by modern steel ones. Kate was as good as gold all the way. We
                        avoided hotels and camped by the road and she found this great fun.
                        The road beyond Dodoma was new to me and very interesting country, flat and
                        dry and dusty, as little rain falls there. The trees are mostly thorn trees but here and there
                        one sees a giant baobab, weird trees with fantastically thick trunks and fat squat branches
                        with meagre foliage. The inhabitants of this area I found interesting though. They are
                        called Wagogo and are a primitive people who ape the Masai in dress and customs
                        though they are much inferior to the Masai in physique. They are also great herders of
                        cattle which, rather surprisingly, appear to thrive in that dry area.

                        The scenery alters greatly as one nears Babati, which one approaches by a high
                        escarpment from which one has a wonderful view of the Rift Valley. Babati township
                        appears to be just a small group of Indian shops and shabby native houses, but I
                        believe there are some good farms in the area. Though the little township is squalid,
                        there is a beautiful lake and grand mountains to please the eye. We stopped only long
                        enough to fill up with petrol and buy some foodstuffs. Beyond Babati there is a tsetse
                        fly belt and George warned our two native servants to see that no tsetse flies settled on
                        the dogs.

                        We stopped for the night in a little rest house on the road about 80 miles from
                        Arusha where we were to spend a few days with the Forest Officer before going on to
                        Mbulu. I enjoyed this section of the road very much because it runs across wide plains
                        which are bounded on the West by the blue mountains of the Rift Valley wall. Here for
                        the first time I saw the Masai on their home ground guarding their vast herds of cattle. I
                        also saw their strange primitive hovels called Manyattas, with their thorn walled cattle
                        bomas and lots of plains game – giraffe, wildebeest, ostriches and antelope. Kate was
                        wildly excited and entranced with the game especially the giraffe which stood gazing
                        curiously and unafraid of us, often within a few yards of the road.

                        Finally we came across the greatest thrill of all, my first view of Mt Meru the extinct
                        volcano about 16,000 feet high which towers over Arusha township. The approach to
                        Arusha is through flourishing coffee plantations very different alas from our farm at Mchewe. George says that at Arusha coffee growing is still a paying proposition
                        because here the yield of berry per acre is much higher than in the Southern highlands
                        and here in the North the farmers have not such heavy transport costs as the railway runs
                        from Arusha to the port at Tanga.

                        We stayed overnight at a rather second rate hotel but the food was good and we
                        had hot baths and a good nights rest. Next day Tom Lewis the Forest Officer, fetched
                        us and we spent a few days camping in a tent in the Lewis’ garden having meals at their
                        home. Both Tom and Lillian Lewis were most friendly. Tom lewis explained to George
                        what his work in the Mbulu District was to be, and they took us camping in a Forest
                        Reserve where Lillian and her small son David and Kate and I had a lovely lazy time
                        amidst beautiful surroundings. Before we left for Mbulu, Lillian took me shopping to buy
                        material for curtains for our new home. She described the Forest House at Mbulu to me
                        and it sounded delightful but alas, when we reached Mbulu we discovered that the
                        Assistant District Officer had moved into the Forest House and we were directed to the
                        Fort or Boma. The night before we left Arusha for Mbulu it rained very heavily and the
                        road was very treacherous and slippery due to the surface being of ‘black cotton’ soil
                        which has the appearance and consistency of chocolate blancmange, after rain. To get to
                        Mbulu we had to drive back in the direction of Dodoma for some 70 miles and then turn
                        to the right and drive across plains to the Great Rift Valley Wall. The views from this
                        escarpment road which climbs this wall are magnificent. At one point one looks down
                        upon Lake Manyara with its brilliant white beaches of soda.

                        The drive was a most trying one for George. We had no chains for the wheels
                        and several times we stuck in the mud and our two houseboys had to put grass and
                        branches under the wheels to stop them from spinning. Quite early on in the afternoon
                        George gave up all hope of reaching Mbulu that day and planned to spend the night in
                        a little bush rest camp at Karatu. However at one point it looked as though we would not
                        even reach this resthouse for late afternoon found us properly bogged down in a mess
                        of mud at the bottom of a long and very steep hill. In spite of frantic efforts on the part of
                        George and the two boys, all now very wet and muddy, the heavy car remained stuck.
                        Suddenly five Masai men appeared through the bushes beside the road. They
                        were all tall and angular and rather terrifying looking to me. Each wore only a blanket
                        knotted over one shoulder and all were armed with spears. They lined up by the side of
                        the road and just looked – not hostile but simply aloof and supercilious. George greeted
                        them and said in Ki-Swahili, “Help to push and I will reward you.” But they said nothing,
                        just drawing back imperceptibly to register disgust at the mere idea of manual labour.
                        Their expressions said quite clearly “A Masai is a warrior and does not soil his hands.”
                        George then did something which startled them I think, as much as me. He
                        plucked their spears from their hands one by one and flung them into the back of the
                        boxbody. “Now push!” he said, “And when we are safely out of the mud you shall have
                        your spears back.” To my utter astonishment the Masai seemed to applaud George’s
                        action. I think they admire courage in a man more than anything else. They pushed with a
                        will and soon we were roaring up the long steep slope. “I can’t stop here” quoth George
                        as up and up we went. The Masai were in mad pursuit with their blankets streaming
                        behind. They took a very steep path which was a shortcut to the top. They are certainly
                        amazing athletes and reached the top at the same time as the car. Their route of course
                        was shorter but much more steep, yet they came up without any sign of fatigue to claim
                        their spears and the money which George handed out with a friendly grin. The Masai
                        took the whole episode in good heart and we parted on the most friendly terms.

                        After a rather chilly night in the three walled shack, we started on the last lap of our
                        journey yesterday morning in bright weather and made the trip to Mbulu without incident.

                        Eleanor.

                        Mbulu 24th March, 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Mbulu is an attractive station but living in this rather romantic looking fort has many
                        disadvantages. Our quarters make up one side of the fort which is built up around a
                        hollow square. The buildings are single storied but very tall in the German manner and
                        there is a tower on one corner from which the Union Jack flies. The tower room is our
                        sitting room, and one has very fine views from the windows of the rolling country side.
                        However to reach this room one has to climb a steep flight of cement steps from the
                        court yard. Another disadvantage of this tower room is that there is a swarm of bees in
                        the roof and the stray ones drift down through holes in the ceiling and buzz angrily
                        against the window panes or fly around in a most menacing manner.

                        Ours are the only private quarters in the Fort. Two other sides of the Fort are
                        used as offices, storerooms and court room and the fourth side is simply a thick wall with
                        battlements and loopholes and a huge iron shod double door of enormous thickness
                        which is always barred at sunset when the flag is hauled down. Two Police Askari always
                        remain in the Fort on guard at night. The effect from outside the whitewashed fort is very
                        romantic but inside it is hardly homely and how I miss my garden at Mchewe and the
                        grass and trees.

                        We have no privacy downstairs because our windows overlook the bare
                        courtyard which is filled with Africans patiently waiting to be admitted to the courtroom as
                        witnesses or spectators. The outside windows which overlook the valley are heavily
                        barred. I can only think that the Germans who built this fort must have been very scared
                        of the local natives.

                        Our rooms are hardly cosy and are furnished with typical heavy German pieces.
                        We have a vast bleak bedroom, a dining room and an enormous gloomy kitchen in
                        which meals for the German garrison were cooked. At night this kitchen is alive with
                        gigantic rats but fortunately they do not seem to care for the other rooms. To crown
                        everything owls hoot and screech at night on the roof.

                        On our first day here I wandered outside the fort walls with Kate and came upon a
                        neatly fenced plot enclosing the graves of about fifteen South African soldiers killed by
                        the Germans in the 1914-18 war. I understand that at least one of theses soldiers died in
                        the courtyard here. The story goes, that during the period in the Great War when this fort
                        was occupied by a troop of South African Horse, a German named Siedtendorf
                        appeared at the great barred door at night and asked to speak to the officer in command
                        of the Troop. The officer complied with this request and the small shutter in the door was
                        opened so that he could speak with the German. The German, however, had not come
                        to speak. When he saw the exposed face of the officer, he fired, killing him, and
                        escaped into the dark night. I had this tale on good authority but cannot vouch for it. I do
                        know though, that there are two bullet holes in the door beside the shutter. An unhappy
                        story to think about when George is away, as he is now, and the moonlight throws queer
                        shadows in the court yard and the owls hoot.

                        However though I find our quarters depressing, I like Mbulu itself very much. It is
                        rolling country, treeless except for the plantations of the Forestry Dept. The land is very
                        fertile in the watered valleys but the grass on hills and plains is cropped to the roots by
                        the far too numerous cattle and goats. There are very few Europeans on the station, only
                        Mr Duncan, the District Officer, whose wife and children recently left for England, the
                        Assistant District Officer and his wife, a bachelor Veterinary Officer, a Road Foreman and
                        ourselves, and down in the village a German with an American wife and an elderly
                        Irishman whom I have not met. The Government officials have a communal vegetable
                        garden in the valley below the fort which keeps us well supplied with green stuff. 

                        Most afternoons George, Kate and I go for walks after tea. On Fridays there is a
                        little ceremony here outside the fort. In the late afternoon a little procession of small
                        native schoolboys, headed by a drum and penny whistle band come marching up the
                        road to a tune which sounds like ‘Two lovely black eyes”. They form up below our tower
                        and as the flag is lowered for the day they play ‘God save the King’, and then march off
                        again. It is quite a cheerful little ceremony.

                        The local Africans are a skinny lot and, I should say, a poor tribe. They protect
                        themselves against the cold by wrapping themselves in cotton blankets or a strip of
                        unbleached sheeting. This they drape over their heads, almost covering their faces and
                        the rest is wrapped closely round their bodies in the manner of a shroud. A most
                        depressing fashion. They live in very primitive comfortless houses. They simply make a
                        hollow in the hillside and build a front wall of wattle and daub. Into this rude shelter at night
                        go cattle and goats, men, women, and children.

                        Mbulu village has the usual mud brick and wattle dukas and wattle and daub
                        houses. The chief trader is a Goan who keeps a surprisingly good variety of tinned
                        foodstuffs and also sells hardware and soft goods.

                        The Europeans here have been friendly but as you will have noted there are
                        only two other women on station and no children at all to be companions for Kate.

                        Eleanor.

                        Mbulu 20th June 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Here we are on Safari with George at Babati where we are occupying a rest
                        house on the slopes of Ufiome Mountain. The slopes are a Forest Reserve and
                        George is supervising the clearing of firebreaks in preparation for the dry weather. He
                        goes off after a very early breakfast and returns home in the late afternoon so Kate and I
                        have long lazy days.

                        Babati is a pleasant spot and the resthouse is quite comfortable. It is about a mile
                        from the village which is just the usual collection of small mud brick and corrugated iron
                        Indian Dukas. There are a few settlers in the area growing coffee, or going in for mixed
                        farming but I don’t think they are doing very well. The farm adjoining the rest house is
                        owned by Lord Lovelace but is run by a manager.

                        George says he gets enough exercise clambering about all day on the mountain,
                        so Kate and I do our walking in the mornings when George is busy, and we all relax in
                        the evenings when George returns from his field work. Kate’s favourite walk is to the big
                        block of mtama (sorghum) shambas lower down the hill. There are huge swarms of tiny
                        grain eating birds around waiting the chance to plunder the mtama, so the crops are
                        watched from sunrise to sunset.

                        Crude observation platforms have been erected for this purpose in the centre of
                        each field and the women and the young boys of the family concerned, take it in turn to
                        occupy the platform and scare the birds. Each watcher has a sling and uses clods of
                        earth for ammunition. The clod is placed in the centre of the sling which is then whirled
                        around at arms length. Suddenly one end of the sling is released and the clod of earth
                        flies out and shatters against the mtama stalks. The sling makes a loud whip like crack and
                        the noise is quite startling and very effective in keeping the birds at a safe distance.

                        Eleanor.

                        Karatu 3rd July 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Still on safari you see! We left Babati ten days ago and passed through Mbulu
                        on our way to this spot. We slept out of doors one night beside Lake Tiawa about eight
                        miles from Mbulu. It was a peaceful spot and we enjoyed watching the reflection of the
                        sunset on the lake and the waterhens and duck and pelicans settling down for the night.
                        However it turned piercingly cold after sunset so we had an early supper and then all
                        three of us lay down to sleep in the back of the boxbody (station wagon). It was a tight
                        fit and a real case of ‘When Dad turns, we all turn.’

                        Here at Karatu we are living in a grass hut with only three walls. It is rather sweet
                        and looks like the setting for a Nativity Play. Kate and I share the only camp bed and
                        George and the dogs sleep on the floor. The air here is very fresh and exhilarating and
                        we all feel very fit. George is occupied all day supervising the cutting of firebreaks
                        around existing plantations and the forest reserve of indigenous trees. Our camp is on
                        the hillside and below us lie the fertile wheat lands of European farmers.

                        They are mostly Afrikaners, the descendants of the Boer families who were
                        invited by the Germans to settle here after the Boer War. Most of them are pro-British
                        now and a few have called in here to chat to George about big game hunting. George
                        gets on extremely well with them and recently attended a wedding where he had a
                        lively time dancing at the reception. He likes the older people best as most are great
                        individualists. One fine old man, surnamed von Rooyen, visited our camp. He is a Boer
                        of the General Smuts type with spare figure and bearded face. George tells me he is a
                        real patriarch with an enormous family – mainly sons. This old farmer fought against the
                        British throughout the Boer War under General Smuts and again against the British in the
                        German East Africa campaign when he was a scout and right hand man to Von Lettow. It
                        is said that Von Lettow was able to stay in the field until the end of the Great War
                        because he listened to the advise given to him by von Rooyen. However his dislike for
                        the British does not extend to George as they have a mutual interest in big game
                        hunting.

                        Kate loves being on safari. She is now so accustomed to having me as her nurse
                        and constant companion that I do not know how she will react to paid help. I shall have to
                        get someone to look after her during my confinement in the little German Red Cross
                        hospital at Oldeani.

                        George has obtained permission from the District Commissioner, for Kate and
                        me to occupy the Government Rest House at Oldeani from the end of July until the end
                        of August when my baby is due. He will have to carry on with his field work but will join
                        us at weekends whenever possible.

                        Eleanor.

                        Karatu 12th July 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Not long now before we leave this camp. We have greatly enjoyed our stay
                        here in spite of the very chilly earl mornings and the nights when we sit around in heavy
                        overcoats until our early bed time.

                        Last Sunday I persuaded George to take Kate and me to the famous Ngoro-
                        Ngoro Crater. He was not very keen to do so because the road is very bumpy for
                        anyone in my interesting condition but I feel so fit that I was most anxious to take this
                        opportunity of seeing the enormous crater. We may never be in this vicinity again and in
                        any case safari will not be so simple with a small baby.

                        What a wonderful trip it was! The road winds up a steep escarpment from which
                        one gets a glorious birds eye view of the plains of the Great Rift Valley far, far below.
                        The crater is immense. There is a road which skirts the rim in places and one has quite
                        startling views of the floor of the crater about two thousand feet below.

                        A camp for tourists has just been built in a clearing in the virgin forest. It is most
                        picturesque as the camp buildings are very neatly constructed log cabins with very high
                        pitched thatched roofs. We spent about an hour sitting on the grass near the edge of the
                        crater enjoying the sunshine and the sharp air and really awe inspiring view. Far below us
                        in the middle of the crater was a small lake and we could see large herds of game
                        animals grazing there but they were too far away to be impressive, even seen through
                        George’s field glasses. Most appeared to be wildebeest and zebra but I also picked
                        out buffalo. Much more exciting was my first close view of a wild elephant. George
                        pointed him out to me as we approached the rest camp on the inward journey. He
                        stood quietly under a tree near the road and did not seem to be disturbed by the car
                        though he rolled a wary eye in our direction. On our return journey we saw him again at
                        almost uncomfortably close quarters. We rounded a sharp corner and there stood the
                        elephant, facing us and slap in the middle of the road. He was busily engaged giving
                        himself a dust bath but spared time to give us an irritable look. Fortunately we were on a
                        slight slope so George quickly switched off the engine and backed the car quietly round
                        the corner. He got out of the car and loaded his rifle, just in case! But after he had finished
                        his toilet the elephant moved off the road and we took our chance and passed without
                        incident.

                        One notices the steepness of the Ngoro-Ngoro road more on the downward
                        journey than on the way up. The road is cut into the side of the mountain so that one has
                        a steep slope on one hand and a sheer drop on the other. George told me that a lorry
                        coming down the mountain was once charged from behind by a rhino. On feeling and
                        hearing the bash from behind the panic stricken driver drove off down the mountain as
                        fast as he dared and never paused until he reached level ground at the bottom of the
                        mountain. There was no sign of the rhino so the driver got out to examine his lorry and
                        found the rhino horn embedded in the wooden tail end of the lorry. The horn had been
                        wrenched right off!

                        Happily no excitement of that kind happened to us. I have yet to see a rhino.

                        Eleanor.

                        Oldeani. 19th July 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Greetings from a lady in waiting! Kate and I have settled down comfortably in the
                        new, solidly built Government Rest House which comprises one large living room and
                        one large office with a connecting door. Outside there is a kitchen and a boys quarter.
                        There are no resident Government officials here at Oldeani so the office is in use only
                        when the District Officer from Mbulu makes his monthly visit. However a large Union
                        Jack flies from a flagpole in the front of the building as a gentle reminder to the entirely
                        German population of Oldeani that Tanganyika is now under British rule.

                        There is quite a large community of German settlers here, most of whom are
                        engaged in coffee farming. George has visited several of the farms in connection with his
                        forestry work and says the coffee plantations look very promising indeed. There are also
                        a few German traders in the village and there is a large boarding school for German
                        children and also a very pleasant little hospital where I have arranged to have the baby.
                        Right next door to the Rest House is a General Dealers Store run by a couple named
                        Schnabbe. The shop is stocked with drapery, hardware, china and foodstuffs all
                        imported from Germany and of very good quality. The Schnabbes also sell local farm
                        produce, beautiful fresh vegetables, eggs and pure rich milk and farm butter. Our meat
                        comes from a German butchery and it is a great treat to get clean, well cut meat. The
                        sausages also are marvellous and in great variety.

                        The butcher is an entertaining character. When he called round looking for custom I
                        expected him to break out in a yodel any minute, as it was obvious from a glance that
                        the Alps are his natural background. From under a green Tyrollean hat with feather,
                        blooms a round beefy face with sparkling small eyes and such widely spaced teeth that
                        one inevitably thinks of a garden rake. Enormous beefy thighs bulge from greasy
                        lederhosen which are supported by the traditional embroidered braces. So far the
                        butcher is the only cheery German, male or female, whom I have seen, and I have met
                        most of the locals at the Schnabbe’s shop. Most of the men seem to have cultivated
                        the grim Hitler look. They are all fanatical Nazis and one is usually greeted by a raised
                        hand and Heil Hitler! All very theatrical. I always feel like crying in ringing tones ‘God
                        Save the King’ or even ‘St George for England’. However the men are all very correct
                        and courteous and the women friendly. The women all admire Kate and cry, “Ag, das
                        kleine Englander.” She really is a picture with her rosy cheeks and huge grey eyes and
                        golden curls. Kate is having a wonderful time playing with Manfried, the Scnabbe’s small
                        son. Neither understands a word said by the other but that doesn’t seem to worry them.

                        Before he left on safari, George took me to hospital for an examination by the
                        nurse, Sister Marianne. She has not been long in the country and knows very little
                        English but is determined to learn and carried on an animated, if rather quaint,
                        conversation with frequent references to a pocket dictionary. She says I am not to worry
                        because there is not doctor here. She is a very experienced midwife and anyway in an
                        emergency could call on the old retired Veterinary Surgeon for assistance.
                        I asked sister Marianne whether she knew of any German woman or girl who
                        would look after Kate whilst I am in hospital and today a very top drawer German,
                        bearing a strong likeness to ‘Little Willie’, called and offered the services of his niece who
                        is here on a visit from Germany. I was rather taken aback and said, “Oh no Baron, your
                        niece would not be the type I had in mind. I’m afraid I cannot pay much for a companion.”
                        However the Baron was not to be discouraged. He told me that his niece is seventeen
                        but looks twenty, that she is well educated and will make a cheerful companion. Her
                        father wishes her to learn to speak English fluently and that is why the Baron wished her
                        to come to me as a house daughter. As to pay, a couple of pounds a month for pocket
                        money and her keep was all he had in mind. So with some misgivings I agreed to take
                        the niece on as a companion as from 1st August.

                        Eleanor.

                        Oldeani. 10th August 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Never a dull moment since my young companion arrived. She is a striking looking
                        girl with a tall boyish figure and very short and very fine dark hair which she wears
                        severely slicked back. She wears tweeds, no make up but has shiny rosy cheeks and
                        perfect teeth – she also,inevitably, has a man friend and I have an uncomfortable
                        suspicion that it is because of him that she was planted upon me. Upon second
                        thoughts though, maybe it was because of her excessive vitality, or even because of
                        her healthy appetite! The Baroness, I hear is in poor health and I can imagine that such
                        abundant health and spirit must have been quite overpowering. The name is Ingeborg,
                        but she is called Mouche, which I believe means Mouse. Someone in her family must
                        have a sense of humour.

                        Her English only needed practice and she now chatters fluently so that I know her
                        background and views on life. Mouche’s father is a personal friend of Goering. He was
                        once a big noise in the German Airforce but is now connected with the car industry and
                        travels frequently and intensively in Europe and America on business. Mouche showed
                        me some snap shots of her family and I must say they look prosperous and charming.
                        Mouche tells me that her father wants her to learn to speak English fluently so that
                        she can get a job with some British diplomat in Cairo. I had immediate thought that I
                        might be nursing a future Mata Hari in my bosom, but this was immediately extinguished
                        when Mouche remarked that her father would like her to marry an Englishman. However
                        it seems that the mere idea revolts her. “Englishmen are degenerates who swill whisky
                        all day.” I pointed out that she had met George, who was a true blue Englishman, but
                        was nevertheless a fine physical specimen and certainly didn’t drink all day. Mouche
                        replied that George is not an Englishman but a hunter, as though that set him apart.
                        Mouche is an ardent Hitler fan and an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth
                        Movement. The house resounds with Hitler youth songs and when she is not singing,
                        her gramophone is playing very stirring marching songs. I cannot understand a word,
                        which is perhaps as well. Every day she does the most strenuous exercises watched
                        with envy by me as my proportions are now those of a circus Big Top. Mouche eats a
                        fantastic amount of meat and I feel it is a blessing that she is much admired by our
                        Tyrollean butcher who now delivers our meat in person and adds as a token of his
                        admiration some extra sausages for Mouche.

                        I must confess I find her stimulating company as George is on safari most of the
                        time and my evenings otherwise would be lonely. I am a little worried though about
                        leaving Kate here with Mouche when I go to hospital. The dogs and Kate have not taken
                        to her. I am trying to prepare Kate for the separation but she says, “She’s not my
                        mummy. You are my dear mummy, and I want you, I want you.” George has got
                        permission from the Provincial Forestry Officer to spend the last week of August here at
                        the Rest House with me and I only hope that the baby will be born during that time.
                        Kate adores her dad and will be perfectly happy to remain here with him.

                        One final paragraph about Mouche. I thought all German girls were domesticated
                        but not Mouche. I have Kesho-Kutwa here with me as cook and I have engaged a local
                        boy to do the laundry. I however expected Mouche would take over making the
                        puddings and pastry but she informed me that she can only bake a chocolate cake and
                        absolutely nothing else. She said brightly however that she would do the mending. As
                        there is none for her to do, she has rescued a large worn handkerchief of George’s and
                        sits with her feet up listening to stirring gramophone records whilst she mends the
                        handkerchief with exquisite darning.

                        Eleanor.

                        Oldeani. 20th August 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        Just after I had posted my last letter I received what George calls a demi official
                        letter from the District Officer informing me that I would have to move out of the Rest
                        House for a few days as the Governor and his hangers on would be visiting Oldeani
                        and would require the Rest House. Fortunately George happened to be here for a few
                        hours and he arranged for Kate and Mouche and me to spend a few days at the
                        German School as borders. So here I am at the school having a pleasant and restful
                        time and much entertained by all the goings on.

                        The school buildings were built with funds from Germany and the school is run on
                        the lines of a contemporary German school. I think the school gets a grant from the
                        Tanganyika Government towards running expenses, but I am not sure. The school hall is
                        dominated by a more than life sized oil painting of Adolf Hitler which, at present, is
                        flanked on one side by the German Flag and on the other by the Union Jack. I cannot
                        help feeling that the latter was put up today for the Governor’s visit today.
                        The teachers are very amiable. We all meet at mealtimes, and though few of the
                        teachers speak English, the ones who do are anxious to chatter. The headmaster is a
                        scholarly man but obviously anti-British. He says he cannot understand why so many
                        South Africans are loyal to Britain – or rather to England. “They conquered your country
                        didn’t they?” I said that that had never occurred to me and that anyway I was mainly of
                        Scots descent and that loyalty to the crown was natural to me. “But the English
                        conquered the Scots and yet you are loyal to England. That I cannot understand.” “Well I
                        love England,” said I firmly, ”and so do all British South Africans.” Since then we have
                        stuck to English literature. Shakespeare, Lord Byron and Galsworthy seem to be the
                        favourites and all, thank goodness, make safe topics for conversation.
                        Mouche is in her element but Kate and I do not enjoy the food which is typically
                        German and consists largely of masses of fat pork and sauerkraut and unfamiliar soups. I
                        feel sure that the soup at lunch today had blobs of lemon curd in it! I also find most
                        disconcerting the way that everyone looks at me and says, “Bon appetite”, with much
                        smiling and nodding so I have to fight down my nausea and make a show of enjoying
                        the meals.

                        The teacher whose room adjoins mine is a pleasant woman and I take my
                        afternoon tea with her. She, like all the teachers, has a large framed photo of Hitler on her
                        wall flanked by bracket vases of fresh flowers. One simply can’t get away from the man!
                        Even in the dormitories each child has a picture of Hitler above the bed. Hitler accepting
                        flowers from a small girl, or patting a small boy on the head. Even the children use the
                        greeting ‘Heil Hitler’. These German children seem unnaturally prim when compared with
                        my cheerful ex-pupils in South Africa but some of them are certainly very lovely to look
                        at.

                        Tomorrow Mouche, Kate and I return to our quarters in the Rest House and in a
                        few days George will join us for a week.

                        Eleanor.

                        Oldeani Hospital. 9th September 1938

                        Dearest Family,

                        You will all be delighted to hear that we have a second son, whom we have
                        named John. He is a darling, so quaint and good. He looks just like a little old man with a
                        high bald forehead fringed around the edges with a light brown fluff. George and I call
                        him Johnny Jo because he has a tiny round mouth and a rather big nose and reminds us
                        of A.A.Milne’s ‘Jonathan Jo has a mouth like an O’ , but Kate calls him, ‘My brother John’.
                        George was not here when he was born on September 5th, just two minutes
                        before midnight. He left on safari on the morning of the 4th and, of course, that very night
                        the labour pains started. Fortunately Kate was in bed asleep so Mouche walked with
                        me up the hill to the hospital where I was cheerfully received by Sister Marianne who
                        had everything ready for the confinement. I was lucky to have such an experienced
                        midwife because this was a breech birth and sister had to manage single handed. As
                        there was no doctor present I was not allowed even a sniff of anaesthetic. Sister slaved
                        away by the light of a pressure lamp endeavouring to turn the baby having first shoved
                        an inverted baby bath under my hips to raise them.

                        What a performance! Sister Marianne was very much afraid that she might not be
                        able to save the baby and great was our relief when at last she managed to haul him out
                        by the feet. One slap and the baby began to cry without any further attention so Sister
                        wrapped him up in a blanket and took Johnny to her room for the night. I got very little
                        sleep but was so thankful to have the ordeal over that I did not mind even though I
                        heard a hyaena cackling and calling under my window in a most evil way.
                        When Sister brought Johnny to me in the early morning I stared in astonishment.
                        Instead of dressing him in one of his soft Viyella nighties, she had dressed him in a short
                        sleeved vest of knitted cotton with a cotton cloth swayed around his waist sarong
                        fashion. When I protested, “But Sister why is the baby not dressed in his own clothes?”
                        She answered firmly, “I find it is not allowed. A baby’s clotheses must be boiled and I
                        cannot boil clotheses of wool therefore your baby must wear the clotheses of the Red
                        Cross.”

                        It was the same with the bedding. Poor Johnny lies all day in a deep wicker
                        basket with a detachable calico lining. There is no pillow under his head but a vast kind of
                        calico covered pillow is his only covering. There is nothing at all cosy and soft round my
                        poor baby. I said crossly to the Sister, “As every thing must be so sterile, I wonder you
                        don’t boil me too.” This she ignored.

                        When my message reached George he dashed back to visit us. Sister took him
                        first to see the baby and George was astonished to see the baby basket covered by a
                        sheet. “She has the poor little kid covered up like a bloody parrot,” he told me. So I
                        asked him to go at once to buy a square of mosquito netting to replace the sheet.
                        Kate is quite a problem. She behaves like an Angel when she is here in my
                        room but is rebellious when Sister shoos her out. She says she “Hates the Nanny”
                        which is what she calls Mouche. Unfortunately it seems that she woke before midnight
                        on the night Johnny Jo was born to find me gone and Mouche in my bed. According to
                        Mouche, Kate wept all night and certainly when she visited me in the early morning
                        Kate’s face was puffy with crying and she clung to me crying “Oh my dear mummy, why
                        did you go away?” over and over again. Sister Marianne was touched and suggested
                        that Mouche and Kate should come to the hospital as boarders as I am the only patient
                        at present and there is plenty of room. Luckily Kate does not seem at all jealous of the
                        baby and it is a great relief to have here here under my eye.

                        Eleanor.

                        #6264
                        TracyTracy
                        Participant

                          From Tanganyika with Love

                          continued  ~ part 5

                          With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                          Chunya 16th December 1936

                          Dearest Family,

                          Since last I wrote I have visited Chunya and met several of the diggers wives.
                          On the whole I have been greatly disappointed because there is nothing very colourful
                          about either township or women. I suppose I was really expecting something more like
                          the goldrush towns and women I have so often seen on the cinema screen.
                          Chunya consists of just the usual sun-dried brick Indian shops though there are
                          one or two double storied buildings. Most of the life in the place centres on the
                          Goldfields Hotel but we did not call there. From the store opposite I could hear sounds
                          of revelry though it was very early in the afternoon. I saw only one sight which was quite
                          new to me, some elegantly dressed African women, with high heels and lipsticked
                          mouths teetered by on their way to the silk store. “Native Tarts,” said George in answer
                          to my enquiry.

                          Several women have called on me and when I say ‘called’ I mean called. I have
                          grown so used to going without stockings and wearing home made dresses that it was
                          quite a shock to me to entertain these ladies dressed to the nines in smart frocks, silk
                          stockings and high heeled shoes, handbags, makeup and whatnot. I feel like some
                          female Rip van Winkle. Most of the women have a smart line in conversation and their
                          talk and views on life would make your nice straight hair curl Mummy. They make me feel
                          very unsophisticated and dowdy but George says he has a weakness for such types
                          and I am to stay exactly as I am. I still do not use any makeup. George says ‘It’s all right
                          for them. They need it poor things, you don’t.” Which, though flattering, is hardly true.
                          I prefer the men visitors, though they also are quite unlike what I had expected
                          diggers to be. Those whom George brings home are all well educated and well
                          groomed and I enjoy listening to their discussion of the world situation, sport and books.
                          They are extremely polite to me and gentle with the children though I believe that after a
                          few drinks at the pub tempers often run high. There were great arguments on the night
                          following the abdication of Edward VIII. Not that the diggers were particularly attached to
                          him as a person, but these men are all great individualists and believe in freedom of
                          choice. George, rather to my surprise, strongly supported Edward. I did not.

                          Many of the diggers have wireless sets and so we keep up to date with the
                          news. I seldom leave camp. I have my hands full with the three children during the day
                          and, even though Janey is a reliable ayah, I would not care to leave the children at night
                          in these grass roofed huts. Having experienced that fire on the farm, I know just how
                          unlikely it would be that the children would be rescued in time in case of fire. The other
                          women on the diggings think I’m crazy. They leave their children almost entirely to ayahs
                          and I must confess that the children I have seen look very well and happy. The thing is
                          that I simply would not enjoy parties at the hotel or club, miles away from the children
                          and I much prefer to stay at home with a book.

                          I love hearing all about the parties from George who likes an occasional ‘boose
                          up’ with the boys and is terribly popular with everyone – not only the British but with the
                          Germans, Scandinavians and even the Afrikaans types. One Afrikaans woman said “Jou
                          man is ‘n man, al is hy ‘n Engelsman.” Another more sophisticated woman said, “George
                          is a handsome devil. Aren’t you scared to let him run around on his own?” – but I’m not. I
                          usually wait up for George with sandwiches and something hot to drink and that way I
                          get all the news red hot.

                          There is very little gold coming in. The rains have just started and digging is
                          temporarily at a standstill. It is too wet for dry blowing and not yet enough water for
                          panning and sluicing. As this camp is some considerable distance from the claims, all I see of the process is the weighing of the daily taking of gold dust and tiny nuggets.
                          Unless our luck changes I do not think we will stay on here after John Molteno returns.
                          George does not care for the life and prefers a more constructive occupation.
                          Ann and young George still search optimistically for gold. We were all saddened
                          last week by the death of Fanny, our bull terrier. She went down to the shopping centre
                          with us and we were standing on the verandah of a store when a lorry passed with its
                          canvas cover flapping. This excited Fanny who rushed out into the street and the back
                          wheel of the lorry passed right over her, killing her instantly. Ann was very shocked so I
                          soothed her by telling her that Fanny had gone to Heaven. When I went to bed that
                          night I found Ann still awake and she asked anxiously, “Mummy, do you think God
                          remembered to give Fanny her bone tonight?”

                          Much love to all,
                          Eleanor.

                          Itewe, Chunya 23rd December 1936

                          Dearest Family,

                          Your Christmas parcel arrived this morning. Thank you very much for all the
                          clothing for all of us and for the lovely toys for the children. George means to go hunting
                          for a young buffalo this afternoon so that we will have some fresh beef for Christmas for
                          ourselves and our boys and enough for friends too.

                          I had a fright this morning. Ann and Georgie were, as usual, searching for gold
                          whilst I sat sewing in the living room with Kate toddling around. She wandered through
                          the curtained doorway into the store and I heard her playing with the paraffin pump. At
                          first it did not bother me because I knew the tin was empty but after ten minutes or so I
                          became irritated by the noise and went to stop her. Imagine my horror when I drew the
                          curtain aside and saw my fat little toddler fiddling happily with the pump whilst, curled up
                          behind the tin and clearly visible to me lay the largest puffadder I have ever seen.
                          Luckily I acted instinctively and scooped Kate up from behind and darted back into the
                          living room without disturbing the snake. The houseboy and cook rushed in with sticks
                          and killed the snake and then turned the whole storeroom upside down to make sure
                          there were no more.

                          I have met some more picturesque characters since I last wrote. One is a man
                          called Bishop whom George has known for many years having first met him in the
                          Congo. I believe he was originally a sailor but for many years he has wandered around
                          Central Africa trying his hand at trading, prospecting, a bit of elephant hunting and ivory
                          poaching. He is now keeping himself by doing ‘Sign Writing”. Bish is a gentle and
                          dignified personality. When we visited his camp he carefully dusted a seat for me and
                          called me ‘Marm’, quite ye olde world. The only thing is he did spit.

                          Another spitter is the Frenchman in a neighbouring camp. He is in bed with bad
                          rheumatism and George has been going across twice a day to help him and cheer him
                          up. Once when George was out on the claim I went across to the Frenchman’s camp in
                          response to an SOS, but I think he was just lonely. He showed me snapshots of his
                          two daughters, lovely girls and extremely smart, and he chatted away telling me his life
                          history. He punctuated his remarks by spitting to right and left of the bed, everywhere in
                          fact, except actually at me.

                          George took me and the children to visit a couple called Bert and Hilda Farham.
                          They have a small gold reef which is worked by a very ‘Heath Robinson’ type of
                          machinery designed and erected by Bert who is reputed to be a clever engineer though
                          eccentric. He is rather a handsome man who always looks very spruce and neat and
                          wears a Captain Kettle beard. Hilda is from Johannesburg and quite a character. She
                          has a most generous figure and literally masses of beetroot red hair, but she also has a
                          warm deep voice and a most generous disposition. The Farhams have built
                          themselves a more permanent camp than most. They have a brick cottage with proper
                          doors and windows and have made it attractive with furniture contrived from petrol
                          boxes. They have no children but Hilda lavishes a great deal of affection on a pet
                          monkey. Sometimes they do quite well out of their gold and then they have a terrific
                          celebration at the Club or Pub and Hilda has an orgy of shopping. At other times they
                          are completely broke but Hilda takes disasters as well as triumphs all in her stride. She
                          says, “My dear, when we’re broke we just live on tea and cigarettes.”

                          I have met a young woman whom I would like as a friend. She has a dear little
                          baby, but unfortunately she has a very wet husband who is also a dreadful bore. I can’t
                          imagine George taking me to their camp very often. When they came to visit us George
                          just sat and smoked and said,”Oh really?” to any remark this man made until I felt quite
                          hysterical. George looks very young and fit and the children are lively and well too. I ,
                          however, am definitely showing signs of wear and tear though George says,
                          “Nonsense, to me you look the same as you always did.” This I may say, I do not
                          regard as a compliment to the young Eleanor.

                          Anyway, even though our future looks somewhat unsettled, we are all together
                          and very happy.

                          With love,
                          Eleanor.

                          Itewe, Chunya 30th December 1936

                          Dearest Family,

                          We had a very cheery Christmas. The children loved the toys and are so proud
                          of their new clothes. They wore them when we went to Christmas lunch to the
                          Cresswell-Georges. The C-Gs have been doing pretty well lately and they have a
                          comfortable brick house and a large wireless set. The living room was gaily decorated
                          with bought garlands and streamers and balloons. We had an excellent lunch cooked by
                          our ex cook Abel who now works for the Cresswell-Georges. We had turkey with
                          trimmings and plum pudding followed by nuts and raisons and chocolates and sweets
                          galore. There was also a large variety of drinks including champagne!

                          There were presents for all of us and, in addition, Georgie and Ann each got a
                          large tin of chocolates. Kate was much admired. She was a picture in her new party frock
                          with her bright hair and rosy cheeks. There were other guests beside ourselves and
                          they were already there having drinks when we arrived. Someone said “What a lovely
                          child!” “Yes” said George with pride, “She’s a Marie Stopes baby.” “Truby King!” said I
                          quickly and firmly, but too late to stop the roar of laughter.

                          Our children played amicably with the C-G’s three, but young George was
                          unusually quiet and surprised me by bringing me his unopened tin of chocolates to keep
                          for him. Normally he is a glutton for sweets. I might have guessed he was sickening for
                          something. That night he vomited and had diarrhoea and has had an upset tummy and a
                          slight temperature ever since.

                          Janey is also ill. She says she has malaria and has taken to her bed. I am dosing
                          her with quinine and hope she will soon be better as I badly need her help. Not only is
                          young George off his food and peevish but Kate has a cold and Ann sore eyes and
                          they all want love and attention. To complicate things it has been raining heavily and I
                          must entertain the children indoors.

                          Eleanor.

                          Itewe, Chunya 19th January 1937

                          Dearest Family,

                          So sorry I have not written before but we have been in the wars and I have had neither
                          the time nor the heart to write. However the worst is now over. Young George and
                          Janey are both recovering from Typhoid Fever. The doctor had Janey moved to the
                          native hospital at Chunya but I nursed young George here in the camp.

                          As I told you young George’s tummy trouble started on Christmas day. At first I
                          thought it was only a protracted bilious attack due to eating too much unaccustomed rich
                          food and treated him accordingly but when his temperature persisted I thought that the
                          trouble might be malaria and kept him in bed and increased the daily dose of quinine.
                          He ate less and less as the days passed and on New Years Day he seemed very
                          weak and his stomach tender to the touch.

                          George fetched the doctor who examined small George and said he had a very
                          large liver due no doubt to malaria. He gave the child injections of emertine and quinine
                          and told me to give young George frequent and copious drinks of water and bi-carb of
                          soda. This was more easily said than done. Young George refused to drink this mixture
                          and vomited up the lime juice and water the doctor had suggested as an alternative.
                          The doctor called every day and gave George further injections and advised me
                          to give him frequent sips of water from a spoon. After three days the child was very
                          weak and weepy but Dr Spiers still thought he had malaria. During those anxious days I
                          also worried about Janey who appeared to be getting worse rather that better and on
                          January the 3rd I asked the doctor to look at her. The next thing I knew, the doctor had
                          put Janey in his car and driven her off to hospital. When he called next morning he
                          looked very grave and said he wished to talk to my husband. I said that George was out
                          on the claim but if what he wished to say concerned young George’s condition he might
                          just as well tell me.

                          With a good deal of reluctance Dr Spiers then told me that Janey showed all the
                          symptoms of Typhoid Fever and that he was very much afraid that young George had
                          contracted it from her. He added that George should be taken to the Mbeya Hospital
                          where he could have the professional nursing so necessary in typhoid cases. I said “Oh
                          no,I’d never allow that. The child had never been away from his family before and it
                          would frighten him to death to be sick and alone amongst strangers.” Also I was sure that
                          the fifty mile drive over the mountains in his weak condition would harm him more than
                          my amateur nursing would. The doctor returned to the camp that afternoon to urge
                          George to send our son to hospital but George staunchly supported my argument that
                          young George would stand a much better chance of recovery if we nursed him at home.
                          I must say Dr Spiers took our refusal very well and gave young George every attention
                          coming twice a day to see him.

                          For some days the child was very ill. He could not keep down any food or liquid
                          in any quantity so all day long, and when he woke at night, I gave him a few drops of
                          water at a time from a teaspoon. His only nourishment came from sucking Macintosh’s
                          toffees. Young George sweated copiously especially at night when it was difficult to
                          change his clothes and sponge him in the draughty room with the rain teeming down
                          outside. I think I told you that the bedroom is a sort of shed with only openings in the wall
                          for windows and doors, and with one wall built only a couple of feet high leaving a six
                          foot gap for air and light. The roof leaked and the damp air blew in but somehow young
                          George pulled through.

                          Only when he was really on the mend did the doctor tell us that whilst he had
                          been attending George, he had also been called in to attend to another little boy of the same age who also had typhoid. He had been called in too late and the other little boy,
                          an only child, had died. Young George, thank God, is convalescent now, though still on a
                          milk diet. He is cheerful enough when he has company but very peevish when left
                          alone. Poor little lad, he is all hair, eyes, and teeth, or as Ann says” Georgie is all ribs ribs
                          now-a-days Mummy.” He shares my room, Ann and Kate are together in the little room.
                          Anyway the doctor says he should be up and around in about a week or ten days time.
                          We were all inoculated against typhoid on the day the doctor made the diagnosis
                          so it is unlikely that any of us will develop it. Dr Spiers was most impressed by Ann’s
                          unconcern when she was inoculated. She looks gentle and timid but has always been
                          very brave. Funny thing when young George was very ill he used to wail if I left the
                          room, but now that he is convalescent he greatly prefers his dad’s company. So now I
                          have been able to take the girls for walks in the late afternoons whilst big George
                          entertains small George. This he does with the minimum of effort, either he gets out
                          cartons of ammunition with which young George builds endless forts, or else he just sits
                          beside the bed and cleans one of his guns whilst small George watches with absorbed
                          attention.

                          The Doctor tells us that Janey is also now convalescent. He says that exhusband
                          Abel has been most attentive and appeared daily at the hospital with a tray of
                          food that made his, the doctor’s, mouth water. All I dare say, pinched from Mrs
                          Cresswell-George.

                          I’ll write again soon. Lots of love to all,
                          Eleanor.

                          Chunya 29th January 1937

                          Dearest Family,

                          Georgie is up and about but still tires very easily. At first his legs were so weak
                          that George used to carry him around on his shoulders. The doctor says that what the
                          child really needs is a long holiday out of the Tropics so that Mrs Thomas’ offer, to pay all
                          our fares to Cape Town as well as lending us her seaside cottage for a month, came as
                          a Godsend. Luckily my passport is in order. When George was in Mbeya he booked
                          seats for the children and me on the first available plane. We will fly to Broken Hill and go
                          on to Cape Town from there by train.

                          Ann and George are wildly thrilled at the idea of flying but I am not. I remember
                          only too well how airsick I was on the old Hannibal when I flew home with the baby Ann.
                          I am longing to see you all and it will be heaven to give the children their first seaside
                          holiday.

                          I mean to return with Kate after three months but, if you will have him, I shall leave
                          George behind with you for a year. You said you would all be delighted to have Ann so
                          I do hope you will also be happy to have young George. Together they are no trouble
                          at all. They amuse themselves and are very independent and loveable.
                          George and I have discussed the matter taking into consideration the letters from
                          you and George’s Mother on the subject. If you keep Ann and George for a year, my
                          mother-in-law will go to Cape Town next year and fetch them. They will live in England
                          with her until they are fit enough to return to the Tropics. After the children and I have left
                          on this holiday, George will be able to move around and look for a job that will pay
                          sufficiently to enable us to go to England in a few years time to fetch our children home.
                          We both feel very sad at the prospect of this parting but the children’s health
                          comes before any other consideration. I hope Kate will stand up better to the Tropics.
                          She is plump and rosy and could not look more bonny if she lived in a temperate
                          climate.

                          We should be with you in three weeks time!

                          Very much love,
                          Eleanor.

                          Broken Hill, N Rhodesia 11th February 1937

                          Dearest Family,

                          Well here we are safe and sound at the Great Northern Hotel, Broken Hill, all
                          ready to board the South bound train tonight.

                          We were still on the diggings on Ann’s birthday, February 8th, when George had
                          a letter from Mbeya to say that our seats were booked on the plane leaving Mbeya on
                          the 10th! What a rush we had packing up. Ann was in bed with malaria so we just
                          bundled her up in blankets and set out in John Molteno’s car for the farm. We arrived that
                          night and spent the next day on the farm sorting things out. Ann and George wanted to
                          take so many of their treasures and it was difficult for them to make a small selection. In
                          the end young George’s most treasured possession, his sturdy little boots, were left
                          behind.

                          Before leaving home on the morning of the tenth I took some snaps of Ann and
                          young George in the garden and one of them with their father. He looked so sad. After
                          putting us on the plane, George planned to go to the fishing camp for a day or two
                          before returning to the empty house on the farm.

                          John Molteno returned from the Cape by plane just before we took off, so he
                          will take over the running of his claims once more. I told John that I dreaded the plane trip
                          on account of air sickness so he gave me two pills which I took then and there. Oh dear!
                          How I wished later that I had not done so. We had an extremely bumpy trip and
                          everyone on the plane was sick except for small George who loved every moment.
                          Poor Ann had a dreadful time but coped very well and never complained. I did not
                          actually puke until shortly before we landed at Broken Hill but felt dreadfully ill all the way.
                          Kate remained rosy and cheerful almost to the end. She sat on my lap throughout the
                          trip because, being under age, she travelled as baggage and was not entitled to a seat.
                          Shortly before we reached Broken Hill a smartly dressed youngish man came up
                          to me and said, “You look so poorly, please let me take the baby, I have children of my
                          own and know how to handle them.” Kate made no protest and off they went to the
                          back of the plane whilst I tried to relax and concentrate on not getting sick. However,
                          within five minutes the man was back. Kate had been thoroughly sick all over his collar
                          and jacket.

                          I took Kate back on my lap and then was violently sick myself, so much so that
                          when we touched down at Broken Hill I was unable to speak to the Immigration Officer.
                          He was so kind. He sat beside me until I got my diaphragm under control and then
                          drove me up to the hotel in his own car.

                          We soon recovered of course and ate a hearty dinner. This morning after
                          breakfast I sallied out to look for a Bank where I could exchange some money into
                          Rhodesian and South African currency and for the Post Office so that I could telegraph
                          to George and to you. What a picnic that trip was! It was a terribly hot day and there was
                          no shade. By the time we had done our chores, the children were hot, and cross, and
                          tired and so indeed was I. As I had no push chair for Kate I had to carry her and she is
                          pretty heavy for eighteen months. George, who is still not strong, clung to my free arm
                          whilst Ann complained bitterly that no one was helping her.

                          Eventually Ann simply sat down on the pavement and declared that she could
                          not go another step, whereupon George of course decided that he also had reached his
                          limit and sat down too. Neither pleading no threats would move them so I had to resort
                          to bribery and had to promise that when we reached the hotel they could have cool
                          drinks and ice-cream. This promise got the children moving once more but I am determined that nothing will induce me to stir again until the taxi arrives to take us to the
                          station.

                          This letter will go by air and will reach you before we do. How I am longing for
                          journeys end.

                          With love to you all,
                          Eleanor.

                          Leaving home 10th February 1937,  George Gilman Rushby with Ann and Georgie (Mike) Rushby:

                          George Rushby Ann and Georgie

                          NOTE
                          We had a very warm welcome to the family home at Plumstead Cape Town.
                          After ten days with my family we moved to Hout Bay where Mrs Thomas lent us her
                          delightful seaside cottage. She also provided us with two excellent maids so I had
                          nothing to do but rest and play on the beach with the children.

                          After a month at the sea George had fully recovered his health though not his
                          former gay spirits. After another six months with my parents I set off for home with Kate,
                          leaving Ann and George in my parent’s home under the care of my elder sister,
                          Marjorie.

                          One or two incidents during that visit remain clearly in my memory. Our children
                          had never met elderly people and were astonished at the manifestations of age. One
                          morning an elderly lady came around to collect church dues. She was thin and stooped
                          and Ann surveyed her with awe. She turned to me with a puzzled expression and
                          asked in her clear voice, “Mummy, why has that old lady got a moustache – oh and a
                          beard?’ The old lady in question was very annoyed indeed and said, “What a rude little
                          girl.” Ann could not understand this, she said, “But Mummy, I only said she had a
                          moustache and a beard and she has.” So I explained as best I could that when people
                          have defects of this kind they are hurt if anyone mentions them.

                          A few days later a strange young woman came to tea. I had been told that she
                          had a most disfiguring birthmark on her cheek and warned Ann that she must not
                          comment on it. Alas! with the kindest intentions Ann once again caused me acute
                          embarrassment. The young woman was hardly seated when Ann went up to her and
                          gently patted the disfiguring mark saying sweetly, “Oh, I do like this horrible mark on your
                          face.”

                          I remember also the afternoon when Kate and George were christened. My
                          mother had given George a white silk shirt for the occasion and he wore it with intense
                          pride. Kate was baptised first without incident except that she was lost in admiration of a
                          gold bracelet given her that day by her Godmother and exclaimed happily, “My
                          bangle, look my bangle,” throughout the ceremony. When George’s turn came the
                          clergyman held his head over the font and poured water on George’s forehead. Some
                          splashed on his shirt and George protested angrily, “Mum, he has wet my shirt!” over
                          and over again whilst I led him hurriedly outside.

                          My last memory of all is at the railway station. The time had come for Kate and
                          me to get into our compartment. My sisters stood on the platform with Ann and George.
                          Ann was resigned to our going, George was not so, at the last moment Sylvia, my
                          younger sister, took him off to see the engine. The whistle blew and I said good-bye to
                          my gallant little Ann. “Mummy”, she said urgently to me, “Don’t forget to wave to
                          George.”

                          And so I waved good-bye to my children, never dreaming that a war would
                          intervene and it would be eight long years before I saw them again.

                          #6263
                          TracyTracy
                          Participant

                            From Tanganyika with Love

                            continued  ~ part 4

                            With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                            Mchewe Estate. 31st January 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Life is very quiet just now. Our neighbours have left and I miss them all especially
                            Joni who was always a great bearer of news. We also grew fond of his Swedish
                            brother-in-law Max, whose loud ‘Hodi’ always brought a glad ‘Karibu’ from us. His wife,
                            Marion, I saw less often. She is not strong and seldom went visiting but has always
                            been friendly and kind and ready to share her books with me.

                            Ann’s birthday is looming ahead and I am getting dreadfully anxious that her
                            parcels do not arrive in time. I am delighted that you were able to get a good head for
                            her doll, dad, but horrified to hear that it was so expensive. You would love your
                            ‘Charming Ann’. She is a most responsible little soul and seems to have outgrown her
                            mischievous ways. A pity in a way, I don’t want her to grow too serious. You should see
                            how thoroughly Ann baths and towels herself. She is anxious to do Georgie and Kate
                            as well.

                            I did not mean to teach Ann to write until after her fifth birthday but she has taught
                            herself by copying the large print in newspaper headlines. She would draw a letter and
                            ask me the name and now I find that at four Ann knows the whole alphabet. The front
                            cement steps is her favourite writing spot. She uses bits of white clay we use here for
                            whitewashing.

                            Coffee prices are still very low and a lot of planters here and at Mbosi are in a
                            mess as they can no longer raise mortgages on their farms or get advances from the
                            Bank against their crops. We hear many are leaving their farms to try their luck on the
                            Diggings.

                            George is getting fed up too. The snails are back on the shamba and doing
                            frightful damage. Talk of the plagues of Egypt! Once more they are being collected in
                            piles and bashed into pulp. The stench on the shamba is frightful! The greybeards in the
                            village tell George that the local Chief has put a curse on the farm because he is angry
                            that the Government granted George a small extension to the farm two years ago! As
                            the Chief was consulted at the time and was agreeable this talk of a curse is nonsense
                            but goes to show how the uneducated African put all disasters down to witchcraft.

                            With much love,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe Estate. 9th February 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Ann’s birthday yesterday was not quite the gay occasion we had hoped. The
                            seventh was mail day so we sent a runner for the mail, hoping against hope that your
                            parcel containing the dolls head had arrived. The runner left for Mbeya at dawn but, as it
                            was a very wet day, he did not return with the mail bag until after dark by which time Ann
                            was fast asleep. My heart sank when I saw the parcel which contained the dolls new
                            head. It was squashed quite flat. I shed a few tears over that shattered head, broken
                            quite beyond repair, and George felt as bad about it as I did. The other parcel arrived in
                            good shape and Ann loves her little sewing set, especially the thimble, and the nursery
                            rhymes are a great success.

                            Ann woke early yesterday and began to open her parcels. She said “But
                            Mummy, didn’t Barbara’s new head come?” So I had to show her the fragments.
                            Instead of shedding the flood of tears I expected, Ann just lifted the glass eyes in her
                            hand and said in a tight little voice “Oh poor Barbara.” George saved the situation. as
                            usual, by saying in a normal voice,”Come on Ann, get up and lets play your new
                            records.” So we had music and sweets before breakfast. Later I removed Barbara’s
                            faded old blond wig and gummed on the glossy new brown one and Ann seems quite
                            satisfied.

                            Last night, after the children were tucked up in bed, we discussed our financial
                            situation. The coffee trees that have survived the plagues of borer beetle, mealie bugs
                            and snails look strong and fine, but George says it will be years before we make a living
                            out of the farm. He says he will simply have to make some money and he is leaving for
                            the Lupa on Saturday to have a look around on the Diggings. If he does decide to peg
                            a claim and work it he will put up a wattle and daub hut and the children and I will join him
                            there. But until such time as he strikes gold I shall have to remain here on the farm and
                            ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’.

                            Now don’t go and waste pity on me. Women all over the country are having to
                            stay at home whilst their husbands search for a livelihood. I am better off than most
                            because I have a comfortable little home and loyal servants and we still have enough
                            capitol to keep the wolf from the door. Anyway this is the rainy season and hardly the
                            best time to drag three small children around the sodden countryside on prospecting
                            safaris.

                            So I’ll stay here at home and hold thumbs that George makes a lucky strike.

                            Heaps of love to all,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe Estate. 27th February 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Well, George has gone but here we are quite safe and cosy. Kate is asleep and
                            Ann and Georgie are sprawled on the couch taking it in turns to enumerate the things
                            God has made. Every now and again Ann bothers me with an awkward question. “Did
                            God make spiders? Well what for? Did he make weeds? Isn’t He silly, mummy? She is
                            becoming a very practical person. She sews surprisingly well for a four year old and has
                            twice made cakes in the past week, very sweet and liberally coloured with cochineal and
                            much appreciated by Georgie.

                            I have been without George for a fortnight and have adapted myself to my new
                            life. The children are great company during the day and I have arranged my evenings so
                            that they do not seem long. I am determined that when George comes home he will find
                            a transformed wife. I read an article entitled ‘Are you the girl he married?’ in a magazine
                            last week and took a good look in the mirror and decided that I certainly was not! Hair dry,
                            skin dry, and I fear, a faint shadow on the upper lip. So now I have blown the whole of
                            your Christmas Money Order on an order to a chemist in Dar es Salaam for hair tonic,
                            face cream and hair remover and am anxiously awaiting the parcel.

                            In the meantime, after tucking the children into bed at night, I skip on the verandah
                            and do the series of exercises recommended in the magazine article. After this exertion I
                            have a leisurely bath followed by a light supper and then read or write letters to pass
                            the time until Kate’s ten o’clock feed. I have arranged for Janey to sleep in the house.
                            She comes in at 9.30 pm and makes up her bed on the living room floor by the fire.

                            The days are by no means uneventful. The day before yesterday the biggest
                            troop of monkeys I have ever seen came fooling around in the trees and on the grass
                            only a few yards from the house. These monkeys were the common grey monkeys
                            with black faces. They came in all sizes and were most entertaining to watch. Ann and
                            Georgie had a great time copying their antics and pulling faces at the monkeys through
                            the bedroom windows which I hastily closed.

                            Thomas, our headman, came running up and told me that this troop of monkeys
                            had just raided his maize shamba and asked me to shoot some of them. I would not of
                            course do this. I still cannot bear to kill any animal, but I fired a couple of shots in the air
                            and the monkeys just melted away. It was fantastic, one moment they were there and
                            the next they were not. Ann and Georgie thought I had been very unkind to frighten the
                            poor monkeys but honestly, when I saw what they had done to my flower garden, I
                            almost wished I had hardened my heart and shot one or two.

                            The children are all well but Ann gave me a nasty fright last week. I left Ann and
                            Georgie at breakfast whilst I fed Fanny, our bull terrier on the back verandah. Suddenly I
                            heard a crash and rushed inside to find Ann’s chair lying on its back and Ann beside it on
                            the floor perfectly still and with a paper white face. I shouted for Janey to bring water and
                            laid Ann flat on the couch and bathed her head and hands. Soon she sat up with a wan
                            smile and said “I nearly knocked my head off that time, didn’t I.” She must have been
                            standing on the chair and leaning against the back. Our brick floors are so terribly hard that
                            she might have been seriously hurt.

                            However she was none the worse for the fall, but Heavens, what an anxiety kids
                            are.

                            Lots of love,
                            Eleanor

                            Mchewe Estate. 12th March 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            It was marvellous of you to send another money order to replace the one I spent
                            on cosmetics. With this one I intend to order boots for both children as a protection from
                            snake bite, though from my experience this past week the threat seems to be to the
                            head rather than the feet. I was sitting on the couch giving Kate her morning milk from a
                            cup when a long thin snake fell through the reed ceiling and landed with a thud just behind
                            the couch. I shouted “Nyoka, Nyoka!” (Snake,Snake!) and the houseboy rushed in with
                            a stick and killed the snake. I then held the cup to Kate’s mouth again but I suppose in
                            my agitation I tipped it too much because the baby choked badly. She gasped for
                            breath. I quickly gave her a sharp smack on the back and a stream of milk gushed
                            through her mouth and nostrils and over me. Janey took Kate from me and carried her
                            out into the fresh air on the verandah and as I anxiously followed her through the door,
                            another long snake fell from the top of the wall just missing me by an inch or so. Luckily
                            the houseboy still had the stick handy and dispatched this snake also.

                            The snakes were a pair of ‘boomslangs’, not nice at all, and all day long I have
                            had shamba boys coming along to touch hands and say “Poli Memsahib” – “Sorry
                            madam”, meaning of course ‘Sorry you had a fright.’

                            Apart from that one hectic morning this has been a quiet week. Before George
                            left for the Lupa he paid off most of the farm hands as we can now only afford a few
                            labourers for the essential work such as keeping the weeds down in the coffee shamba.
                            There is now no one to keep the grass on the farm roads cut so we cannot use the pram
                            when we go on our afternoon walks. Instead Janey carries Kate in a sling on her back.
                            Janey is a very clean slim woman, and her clothes are always spotless, so Kate keeps
                            cool and comfortable. Ann and Georgie always wear thick overalls on our walks as a
                            protection against thorns and possible snakes. We usually make our way to the
                            Mchewe River where Ann and Georgie paddle in the clear cold water and collect shiny
                            stones.

                            The cosmetics parcel duly arrived by post from Dar es Salaam so now I fill the
                            evenings between supper and bed time attending to my face! The much advertised
                            cream is pink and thick and feels revolting. I smooth it on before bedtime and keep it on
                            all night. Just imagine if George could see me! The advertisements promise me a skin
                            like a rose in six weeks. What a surprise there is in store for George!

                            You will have been wondering what has happened to George. Well on the Lupa
                            he heard rumours of a new gold strike somewhere in the Sumbawanga District. A couple
                            of hundred miles from here I think, though I am not sure where it is and have no one to
                            ask. You look it up on the map and tell me. John Molteno is also interested in this and
                            anxious to have it confirmed so he and George have come to an agreement. John
                            Molteno provided the porters for the journey together with prospecting tools and
                            supplies but as he cannot leave his claims, or his gold buying business, George is to go
                            on foot to the area of the rumoured gold strike and, if the strike looks promising will peg
                            claims in both their names.

                            The rainy season is now at its height and the whole countryside is under water. All
                            roads leading to the area are closed to traffic and, as there are few Europeans who
                            would attempt the journey on foot, George proposes to get a head start on them by
                            making this uncomfortable safari. I have just had my first letter from George since he left
                            on this prospecting trip. It took ages to reach me because it was sent by runner to
                            Abercorn in Northern Rhodesia, then on by lorry to Mpika where it was put on a plane
                            for Mbeya. George writes the most charming letters which console me a little upon our
                            all too frequent separations.

                            His letter was cheerful and optimistic, though reading between the lines I should
                            say he had a grim time. He has reached Sumbawanga after ‘a hell of a trip’, to find that
                            the rumoured strike was at Mpanda and he had a few more days of foot safari ahead.
                            He had found the trip from the Lupa even wetter than he had expected. The party had
                            three days of wading through swamps sometimes waist deep in water. Of his sixteen
                            porters, four deserted an the second day out and five others have had malaria and so
                            been unable to carry their loads. He himself is ‘thin but very fit’, and he sounds full of
                            beans and writes gaily of the marvellous holiday we will have if he has any decent luck! I
                            simply must get that mink and diamonds complexion.

                            The frustrating thing is that I cannot write back as I have no idea where George is
                            now.

                            With heaps of love,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe Estate. 24th March 1936

                            Dearest Family,
                            How kind you are. Another parcel from home. Although we are very short
                            of labourers I sent a special runner to fetch it as Ann simply couldn’t bear the suspense
                            of waiting to see Brenda, “My new little girl with plaits.” Thank goodness Brenda is
                            unbreakable. I could not have born another tragedy. She really is an exquisite little doll
                            and has hardly been out of Ann’s arms since arrival. She showed Brenda proudly to all
                            the staff. The kitchen boy’s face was a study. His eyes fairly came out on sticks when he
                            saw the dolls eyes not only opening and shutting, but moving from side to side in that
                            incredibly lifelike way. Georgie loves his little model cars which he carries around all day
                            and puts under his pillow at night.

                            As for me, I am enchanted by my very smart new frock. Janey was so lavish with
                            her compliments when I tried the frock on, that in a burst of generosity I gave her that
                            rather tartish satin and lace trousseau nighty, and she was positively enthralled. She
                            wore it that very night when she appeared as usual to doss down by the fire.
                            By the way it was Janey’s turn to have a fright this week. She was in the
                            bathroom washing the children’s clothes in an outsize hand basin when it happened. As
                            she took Georgie’s overalls from the laundry basket a large centipede ran up her bare
                            arm. Luckily she managed to knock the centipede off into the hot water in the hand basin.
                            It was a brute, about six inches long of viciousness with a nasty sting. The locals say that
                            the bite is much worse than a scorpions so Janey had a lucky escape.

                            Kate cut her first two teeth yesterday and will, I hope, sleep better now. I don’t
                            feel that pink skin food is getting a fair trial with all those broken nights. There is certainly
                            no sign yet of ‘The skin he loves to touch”. Kate, I may say, is rosy and blooming. She
                            can pull herself upright providing she has something solid to hold on to. She is so plump
                            I have horrible visions of future bow legs so I push her down, but she always bobs up
                            again.

                            Both Ann and Georgie are mad on books. Their favourites are ‘Barbar and
                            Celeste” and, of all things, ‘Struvel Peter’ . They listen with absolute relish to the sad tale
                            of Harriet who played with matches.

                            I have kept a laugh for the end. I am hoping that it will not be long before George
                            comes home and thought it was time to take the next step towards glamour, so last
                            Wednesday after lunch I settled the children on their beds and prepared to remove the ,
                            to me, obvious down on my upper lip. (George always loyally says that he can’t see
                            any.) Well I got out the tube of stuff and carefully followed the directions. I smoothed a
                            coating on my upper lip. All this was watched with great interest by the children, including
                            the baby, who stood up in her cot for a better view. Having no watch, I had propped
                            the bedroom door open so that I could time the operation by the cuckoo clock in the
                            living room. All the children’s surprised comments fell on deaf ears. I would neither talk
                            nor smile for fear of cracking the hair remover which had set hard. The set time was up
                            and I was just about to rinse the remover off when Kate slipped, knocking her head on
                            the corner of the cot. I rushed to the rescue and precious seconds ticked off whilst I
                            pacified her.

                            So, my dears, when I rinsed my lip, not only the plaster and the hair came away
                            but the skin as well and now I really did have a Ronald Coleman moustache – a crimson
                            one. I bathed it, I creamed it, powdered it but all to no avail. Within half an hour my lip
                            had swollen until I looked like one of those Duckbilled West African women. Ann’s
                            comments, “Oh Mummy, you do look funny. Georgie, doesn’t Mummy look funny?”
                            didn’t help to soothe me and the last straw was that just then there was the sound of a car drawing up outside – the first car I had heard for months. Anyway, thank heaven, it
                            was not George, but the representative of a firm which sells agricultural machinery and
                            farm implements, looking for orders. He had come from Dar es Salaam and had not
                            heard that all the planters from this district had left their farms. Hospitality demanded that I
                            should appear and offer tea. I did not mind this man because he was a complete
                            stranger and fat, middle aged and comfortable. So I gave him tea, though I didn’t
                            attempt to drink any myself, and told him the whole sad tale.

                            Fortunately much of the swelling had gone next day and only a brown dryness
                            remained. I find myself actually hoping that George is delayed a bit longer. Of one thing
                            I am sure. If ever I grow a moustache again, it stays!

                            Heaps of love from a sadder but wiser,
                            Eleanor

                            Mchewe Estate. 3rd April 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Sound the trumpets, beat the drums. George is home again. The safari, I am sad
                            to say, was a complete washout in more ways than one. Anyway it was lovely to be
                            together again and we don’t yet talk about the future. The home coming was not at all as
                            I had planned it. I expected George to return in our old A.C. car which gives ample
                            warning of its arrival. I had meant to wear my new frock and make myself as glamourous
                            as possible, with our beautiful babe on one arm and our other jewels by my side.
                            This however is what actually happened. Last Saturday morning at about 2 am , I
                            thought I heard someone whispering my name. I sat up in bed, still half asleep, and
                            there was George at the window. He was thin and unshaven and the tiredest looking
                            man I have ever seen. The car had bogged down twenty miles back along the old Lupa
                            Track, but as George had had no food at all that day, he decided to walk home in the
                            bright moonlight.

                            This is where I should have served up a tasty hot meal but alas, there was only
                            the heal of a loaf and no milk because, before going to bed I had given the remaining
                            milk to the dog. However George seemed too hungry to care what he ate. He made a
                            meal off a tin of bully, a box of crustless cheese and the bread washed down with cup
                            after cup of black tea. Though George was tired we talked for hours and it was dawn
                            before we settled down to sleep.

                            During those hours of talk George described his nightmarish journey. He started
                            up the flooded Rukwa Valley and there were days of wading through swamp and mud
                            and several swollen rivers to cross. George is a strong swimmer and the porters who
                            were recruited in that area, could also swim. There remained the problem of the stores
                            and of Kianda the houseboy who cannot swim. For these they made rough pole rafts
                            which they pulled across the rivers with ropes. Kianda told me later that he hopes never
                            to make such a journey again. He swears that the raft was submerged most of the time
                            and that he was dragged through the rivers underwater! You should see the state of
                            George’s clothes which were packed in a supposedly water tight uniform trunk. The
                            whole lot are mud stained and mouldy.

                            To make matters more trying for George he was obliged to live mostly on
                            porters rations, rice and groundnut oil which he detests. As all the district roads were
                            closed the little Indian Sores in the remote villages he passed had been unable to
                            replenish their stocks of European groceries. George would have been thinner had it not
                            been for two Roman Catholic missions enroute where he had good meals and dry
                            nights. The Fathers are always wonderfully hospitable to wayfarers irrespective of
                            whether or not they are Roman Catholics. George of course is not a Catholic. One finds
                            the Roman Catholic missions right out in the ‘Blue’ and often on spots unhealthy to
                            Europeans. Most of the Fathers are German or Dutch but they all speak a little English
                            and in any case one can always fall back on Ki-Swahili.

                            George reached his destination all right but it soon became apparent that reports
                            of the richness of the strike had been greatly exaggerated. George had decided that
                            prospects were brighter on the Lupa than on the new strike so he returned to the Lupa
                            by the way he had come and, having returned the borrowed equipment decided to
                            make his way home by the shortest route, the old and now rarely used road which
                            passes by the bottom of our farm.

                            The old A.C. had been left for safe keeping at the Roman Catholic Galala
                            Mission 40 miles away, on George’s outward journey, and in this old car George, and
                            the houseboy Kianda , started for home. The road was indescribably awful. There were long stretches that were simply one big puddle, in others all the soil had been washed
                            away leaving the road like a rocky river bed. There were also patches where the tall
                            grass had sprung up head high in the middle of the road,
                            The going was slow because often the car bogged down because George had
                            no wheel chains and he and Kianda had the wearisome business of digging her out. It
                            was just growing dark when the old A.C. settled down determinedly in the mud for the
                            last time. They could not budge her and they were still twenty miles from home. George
                            decided to walk home in the moonlight to fetch help leaving Kianda in charge of the car
                            and its contents and with George’s shot gun to use if necessary in self defence. Kianda
                            was reluctant to stay but also not prepared to go for help whilst George remained with
                            the car as lions are plentiful in that area. So George set out unarmed in the moonlight.
                            Once he stopped to avoid a pride of lion coming down the road but he circled safely
                            around them and came home without any further alarms.

                            Kianda said he had a dreadful night in the car, “With lions roaming around the car
                            like cattle.” Anyway the lions did not take any notice of the car or of Kianda, and the next
                            day George walked back with all our farm boys and dug and pushed the car out of the
                            mud. He brought car and Kianda back without further trouble but the labourers on their
                            way home were treed by the lions.

                            The wet season is definitely the time to stay home.

                            Lots and lots of love,
                            Eleanor

                            Mchewe Estate. 30th April 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Young George’s third birthday passed off very well yesterday. It started early in
                            the morning when he brought his pillow slip of presents to our bed. Kate was already
                            there and Ann soon joined us. Young George liked all the presents you sent, especially
                            the trumpet. It has hardly left his lips since and he is getting quite smart about the finger
                            action.

                            We had quite a party. Ann and I decorated the table with Christmas tree tinsel
                            and hung a bunch of balloons above it. Ann also decorated young George’s chair with
                            roses and phlox from the garden. I had made and iced a fruit cake but Ann begged to
                            make a plain pink cake. She made it entirely by herself though I stood by to see that
                            she measured the ingredients correctly. When the cake was baked I mixed some soft
                            icing in a jug and she poured it carefully over the cake smoothing the gaps with her
                            fingers!

                            During the party we had the gramophone playing and we pulled crackers and
                            wore paper hats and altogether had a good time. I forgot for a while that George is
                            leaving again for the Lupa tomorrow for an indefinite time. He was marvellous at making
                            young George’s party a gay one. You will have noticed the change from Georgie to
                            young George. Our son declares that he now wants to be called George, “Like Dad”.
                            He an Ann are a devoted couple and I am glad that there is only a fourteen
                            months difference in their ages. They play together extremely well and are very
                            independent which is just as well for little Kate now demands a lot of my attention. My
                            garden is a real cottage garden and looks very gay and colourful. There are hollyhocks
                            and Snapdragons, marigolds and phlox and of course the roses and carnations which, as
                            you know, are my favourites. The coffee shamba does not look so good because the
                            small labour force, which is all we can afford, cannot cope with all the weeds. You have
                            no idea how things grow during the wet season in the tropics.

                            Nothing alarming ever seems to happen when George is home, so I’m afraid this
                            letter is rather dull. I wanted you to know though, that largely due to all your gifts of toys
                            and sweets, Georgie’s 3rd birthday party went with a bang.

                            Your very affectionate,
                            Eleanor

                            Mchewe Estate. 17th September 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            I am sorry to hear that Mummy worries about me so much. “Poor Eleanor”,
                            indeed! I have a quite exceptional husband, three lovely children, a dear little home and
                            we are all well.It is true that I am in rather a rut but what else can we do? George comes
                            home whenever he can and what excitement there is when he does come. He cannot
                            give me any warning because he has to take advantage of chance lifts from the Diggings
                            to Mbeya, but now that he is prospecting nearer home he usually comes walking over
                            the hills. About 50 miles of rough going. Really and truly I am all right. Although our diet is
                            monotonous we have plenty to eat. Eggs and milk are cheap and fruit plentiful and I
                            have a good cook so can devote all my time to the children. I think it is because they are
                            my constant companions that Ann and Georgie are so grown up for their years.
                            I have no ayah at present because Janey has been suffering form rheumatism
                            and has gone home for one of her periodic rests. I manage very well without her except
                            in the matter of the afternoon walks. The outward journey is all right. George had all the
                            grass cut on his last visit so I am able to push the pram whilst Ann, George and Fanny
                            the dog run ahead. It is the uphill return trip that is so trying. Our walk back is always the
                            same, down the hill to the river where the children love to play and then along the car
                            road to the vegetable garden. I never did venture further since the day I saw a leopard
                            jump on a calf. I did not tell you at the time as I thought you might worry. The cattle were
                            grazing on a small knoll just off our land but near enough for me to have a clear view.
                            Suddenly the cattle scattered in all directions and we heard the shouts of the herd boys
                            and saw – or rather had the fleeting impression- of a large animal jumping on a calf. I
                            heard the herd boy shout “Chui, Chui!” (leopard) and believe me, we turned in our
                            tracks and made for home. To hasten things I picked up two sticks and told the children
                            that they were horses and they should ride them home which they did with
                            commendable speed.

                            Ann no longer rides Joseph. He became increasingly bad tempered and a
                            nuisance besides. He took to rolling all over my flower beds though I had never seen
                            him roll anywhere else. Then one day he kicked Ann in the chest, not very hard but
                            enough to send her flying. Now George has given him to the native who sells milk to us
                            and he seems quite happy grazing with the cattle.

                            With love to you all,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe Estate. 2nd October 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Since I last wrote George has been home and we had a lovely time as usual.
                            Whilst he was here the District Commissioner and his wife called. Mr Pollock told
                            George that there is to be a big bush clearing scheme in some part of the Mbeya
                            District to drive out Tsetse Fly. The game in the area will have to be exterminated and
                            there will probably be a job for George shooting out the buffalo. The pay would be
                            good but George says it is a beastly job. Although he is a professional hunter, he hates
                            slaughter.

                            Mrs P’s real reason for visiting the farm was to invite me to stay at her home in
                            Mbeya whilst she and her husband are away in Tukuyu. Her English nanny and her small
                            daughter will remain in Mbeya and she thought it might be a pleasant change for us and
                            a rest for me as of course Nanny will do the housekeeping. I accepted the invitation and I
                            think I will go on from there to Tukuyu and visit my friend Lillian Eustace for a fortnight.
                            She has given us an open invitation to visit her at any time.

                            I had a letter from Dr Eckhardt last week, telling me that at a meeting of all the
                            German Settlers from Mbeya, Tukuyu and Mbosi it had been decided to raise funds to
                            build a school at Mbeya. They want the British Settlers to co-operate in this and would
                            be glad of a subscription from us. I replied to say that I was unable to afford a
                            subscription at present but would probably be applying for a teaching job.
                            The Eckhardts are the leaders of the German community here and are ardent
                            Nazis. For this reason they are unpopular with the British community but he is the only
                            doctor here and I must say they have been very decent to us. Both of them admire
                            George. George has still not had any luck on the Lupa and until he makes a really
                            promising strike it is unlikely that the children and I will join him. There is no fresh milk there
                            and vegetables and fruit are imported from Mbeya and Iringa and are very expensive.
                            George says “You wouldn’t be happy on the diggings anyway with a lot of whores and
                            their bastards!”

                            Time ticks away very pleasantly here. Young George and Kate are blooming
                            and I keep well. Only Ann does not look well. She is growing too fast and is listless and
                            pale. If I do go to Mbeya next week I shall take her to the doctor to be overhauled.
                            We do not go for our afternoon walks now that George has returned to the Lupa.
                            That leopard has been around again and has killed Tubbage that cowardly Alsatian. We
                            gave him to the village headman some months ago. There is no danger to us from the
                            leopard but I am terrified it might get Fanny, who is an excellent little watchdog and
                            dearly loved by all of us. Yesterday I sent a note to the Boma asking for a trap gun and
                            today the farm boys are building a trap with logs.

                            I had a mishap this morning in the garden. I blundered into a nest of hornets and
                            got two stings in the left arm above the elbow. Very painful at the time and the place is
                            still red and swollen.

                            Much love to you all,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe Estate. 10th October 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            Well here we are at Mbeya, comfortably installed in the District Commissioner’s
                            house. It is one of two oldest houses in Mbeya and is a charming gabled place with tiled
                            roof. The garden is perfectly beautiful. I am enjoying the change very much. Nanny
                            Baxter is very entertaining. She has a vast fund of highly entertaining tales of the goings
                            on amongst the British Aristocracy, gleaned it seems over the nursery teacup in many a
                            Stately Home. Ann and Georgie are enjoying the company of other children.
                            People are very kind about inviting us out to tea and I gladly accept these
                            invitations but I have turned down invitations to dinner and one to a dance at the hotel. It
                            is no fun to go out at night without George. There are several grass widows at the pub
                            whose husbands are at the diggings. They have no inhibitions about parties.
                            I did have one night and day here with George, he got the chance of a lift and
                            knowing that we were staying here he thought the chance too good to miss. He was
                            also anxious to hear the Doctor’s verdict on Ann. I took Ann to hospital on my second
                            day here. Dr Eckhardt said there was nothing specifically wrong but that Ann is a highly
                            sensitive type with whom the tropics does not agree. He advised that Ann should
                            spend a year in a more temperate climate and that the sooner she goes the better. I felt
                            very discouraged to hear this and was most relieved when George turned up
                            unexpectedly that evening. He phoo-hood Dr Eckhardt’s recommendation and next
                            morning called in Dr Aitkin, the Government Doctor from Chunya and who happened to
                            be in Mbeya.

                            Unfortunately Dr Aitkin not only confirmed Dr Eckhardt’s opinion but said that he
                            thought Ann should stay out of the tropics until she had passed adolescence. I just don’t
                            know what to do about Ann. She is a darling child, very sensitive and gentle and a
                            lovely companion to me. Also she and young George are inseparable and I just cannot
                            picture one without the other. I know that you would be glad to have Ann but how could
                            we bear to part with her?

                            Your worried but affectionate,
                            Eleanor.

                            Tukuyu. 23rd October 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            As you see we have moved to Tukuyu and we are having a lovely time with
                            Lillian Eustace. She gave us such a warm welcome and has put herself out to give us
                            every comfort. She is a most capable housekeeper and I find her such a comfortable
                            companion because we have the same outlook in life. Both of us are strictly one man
                            women and that is rare here. She has a two year old son, Billy, who is enchanted with
                            our rolly polly Kate and there are other children on the station with whom Ann and
                            Georgie can play. Lillian engaged a temporary ayah for me so I am having a good rest.
                            All the children look well and Ann in particular seems to have benefited by the
                            change to a cooler climate. She has a good colour and looks so well that people all
                            exclaim when I tell them, that two doctors have advised us to send Ann out of the
                            country. Perhaps after all, this holiday in Tukuyu will set her up.

                            We had a trying journey from Mbeya to Tukuyu in the Post Lorry. The three
                            children and I were squeezed together on the front seat between the African driver on
                            one side and a vast German on the other. Both men smoked incessantly – the driver
                            cigarettes, and the German cheroots. The cab was clouded with a blue haze. Not only
                            that! I suddenly felt a smarting sensation on my right thigh. The driver’s cigarette had
                            burnt a hole right through that new checked linen frock you sent me last month.
                            I had Kate on my lap all the way but Ann and Georgie had to stand against the
                            windscreen all the way. The fat German offered to take Ann on his lap but she gave him
                            a very cold “No thank you.” Nor did I blame her. I would have greatly enjoyed the drive
                            under less crowded conditions. The scenery is gorgeous. One drives through very high
                            country crossing lovely clear streams and at one point through rain forest. As it was I
                            counted the miles and how thankful I was to see the end of the journey.
                            In the days when Tanganyika belonged to the Germans, Tukuyu was the
                            administrative centre for the whole of the Southern Highlands Province. The old German
                            Fort is still in use as Government offices and there are many fine trees which were
                            planted by the Germans. There is a large prosperous native population in this area.
                            They go in chiefly for coffee and for bananas which form the basis of their diet.
                            There are five British married couples here and Lillian and I go out to tea most
                            mornings. In the afternoon there is tennis or golf. The gardens here are beautiful because
                            there is rain or at least drizzle all the year round. There are even hedge roses bordering
                            some of the district roads. When one walks across the emerald green golf course or
                            through the Boma gardens, it is hard to realise that this gentle place is Tropical Africa.
                            ‘Such a green and pleasant land’, but I think I prefer our corner of Tanganyika.

                            Much love,
                            Eleanor.

                            Mchewe. 12th November 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            We had a lovely holiday but it is so nice to be home again, especially as Laza,
                            the local Nimrod, shot that leopard whilst we were away (with his muzzleloader gun). He
                            was justly proud of himself, and I gave him a tip so that he could buy some native beer
                            for a celebration. I have never seen one of theses parties but can hear the drums and
                            sounds of merrymaking, especially on moonlight nights.

                            Our house looks so fresh and uncluttered. Whilst I was away, the boys
                            whitewashed the house and my houseboy had washed all the curtains, bedspreads,
                            and loose covers and watered the garden. If only George were here it would be
                            heaven.

                            Ann looked so bonny at Tukuyu that I took her to the Government Doctor there
                            hoping that he would find her perfectly healthy, but alas he endorsed the finding of the
                            other two doctors so, when an opportunity offers, I think I shall have to send Ann down
                            to you for a long holiday from the Tropics. Mother-in-law has offered to fetch her next
                            year but England seems so far away. With you she will at least be on the same
                            continent.

                            I left the children for the first time ever, except for my stay in hospital when Kate
                            was born, to go on an outing to Lake Masoko in the Tukuyu district, with four friends.
                            Masoko is a beautiful, almost circular crater lake and very very deep. A detachment of
                            the King’s African Rifles are stationed there and occupy the old German barracks
                            overlooking the lake.

                            We drove to Masoko by car and spent the afternoon there as guests of two
                            British Army Officers. We had a good tea and the others went bathing in the lake but i
                            could not as I did not have a costume. The Lake was as beautiful as I had been lead to
                            imagine and our hosts were pleasant but I began to grow anxious as the afternoon
                            advanced and my friends showed no signs of leaving. I was in agonies when they
                            accepted an invitation to stay for a sundowner. We had this in the old German beer
                            garden overlooking the Lake. It was beautiful but what did I care. I had promised the
                            children that I would be home to give them their supper and put them to bed. When I
                            did at length return to Lillian’s house I found the situation as I had expected. Ann, with her
                            imagination had come to the conclusion that I never would return. She had sobbed
                            herself into a state of exhaustion. Kate was screaming in sympathy and George 2 was
                            very truculent. He wouldn’t even speak to me. Poor Lillian had had a trying time.
                            We did not return to Mbeya by the Mail Lorry. Bill and Lillian drove us across to
                            Mbeya in their new Ford V8 car. The children chattered happily in the back of the car
                            eating chocolate and bananas all the way. I might have known what would happen! Ann
                            was dreadfully and messily car sick.

                            I engaged the Mbeya Hotel taxi to drive us out to the farm the same afternoon
                            and I expect it will be a long time before we leave the farm again.

                            Lots and lots of love to all,
                            Eleanor.

                            Chunya 27th November 1936

                            Dearest Family,

                            You will be surprised to hear that we are all together now on the Lupa goldfields.
                            I have still not recovered from my own astonishment at being here. Until last Saturday
                            night I never dreamed of this move. At about ten o’clock I was crouched in the inglenook
                            blowing on the embers to make a fire so that I could heat some milk for Kate who is
                            cutting teeth and was very restless. Suddenly I heard a car outside. I knew it must be
                            George and rushed outside storm lamp in hand. Sure enough, there was George
                            standing by a strange car, and beaming all over his face. “Something for you my love,”
                            he said placing a little bundle in my hand. It was a knotted handkerchief and inside was a
                            fine gold nugget.

                            George had that fire going in no time, Kate was given the milk and half an aspirin
                            and settles down to sleep, whilst George and I sat around for an hour chatting over our
                            tea. He told me that he had borrowed the car from John Molteno and had come to fetch
                            me and the children to join him on the diggings for a while. It seems that John, who has a
                            camp at Itewe, a couple of miles outside the township of Chunya, the new
                            Administrative Centre of the diggings, was off to the Cape to visit his family for a few
                            months. John had asked George to run his claims in his absence and had given us the
                            loan of his camp and his car.

                            George had found the nugget on his own claim but he is not too elated because
                            he says that one good month on the diggings is often followed by several months of
                            dead loss. However, I feel hopeful, we have had such a run of bad luck that surely it is
                            time for the tide to change. George spent Sunday going over the farm with Thomas, the
                            headman, and giving him instructions about future work whilst I packed clothes and
                            kitchen equipment. I have brought our ex-kitchenboy Kesho Kutwa with me as cook and
                            also Janey, who heard that we were off to the Lupa and came to offer her services once
                            more as ayah. Janey’s ex-husband Abel is now cook to one of the more successful
                            diggers and I think she is hoping to team up with him again.

                            The trip over the Mbeya-Chunya pass was new to me and I enjoyed it very
                            much indeed. The road winds over the mountains along a very high escarpment and
                            one looks down on the vast Usangu flats stretching far away to the horizon. At the
                            highest point the road rises to about 7000 feet, and this was too much for Ann who was
                            leaning against the back of my seat. She was very thoroughly sick, all over my hair.
                            This camp of John Molteno’s is very comfortable. It consists of two wattle and
                            daub buildings built end to end in a clearing in the miombo bush. The main building
                            consists of a large living room, a store and an office, and the other of one large bedroom
                            and a small one separated by an area for bathing. Both buildings are thatched. There are
                            no doors, and there are no windows, but these are not necessary because one wall of
                            each building is built up only a couple of feet leaving a six foot space for light and air. As
                            this is the dry season the weather is pleasant. The air is fresh and dry but not nearly so
                            hot as I expected.

                            Water is a problem and must be carried long distances in kerosene tins.
                            vegetables and fresh butter are brought in a van from Iringa and Mbeya Districts about
                            once a fortnight. I have not yet visited Chunya but I believe it is as good a shopping
                            centre as Mbeya so we will be able to buy all the non perishable food stuffs we need.
                            What I do miss is the fresh milk. The children are accustomed to drinking at least a pint of
                            milk each per day but they do not care for the tinned variety.

                            Ann and young George love being here. The camp is surrounded by old
                            prospecting trenches and they spend hours each day searching for gold in the heaps of gravel. Sometimes they find quartz pitted with little spots of glitter and they bring them
                            to me in great excitement. Alas it is only Mica. We have two neighbours. The one is a
                            bearded Frenchman and the other an Australian. I have not yet met any women.
                            George looks very sunburnt and extremely fit and the children also look well.
                            George and I have decided that we will keep Ann with us until my Mother-in-law comes
                            out next year. George says that in spite of what the doctors have said, he thinks that the
                            shock to Ann of being separated from her family will do her more harm than good. She
                            and young George are inseparable and George thinks it would be best if both
                            George and Ann return to England with my Mother-in-law for a couple of years. I try not
                            to think at all about the breaking up of the family.

                            Much love to all,
                            Eleanor.

                             

                            #6260
                            TracyTracy
                            Participant

                              From Tanganyika with Love

                              With thanks to Mike Rushby.

                              • “The letters of Eleanor Dunbar Leslie to her parents and her sister in South Africa
                                concerning her life with George Gilman Rushby of Tanganyika, and the trials and
                                joys of bringing up a family in pioneering conditions.

                              These letters were transcribed from copies of letters typed by Eleanor Rushby from
                              the originals which were in the estate of Marjorie Leslie, Eleanor’s sister. Eleanor
                              kept no diary of her life in Tanganyika, so these letters were the living record of an
                              important part of her life.

                              Prelude
                              Having walked across Africa from the East coast to Ubangi Shauri Chad
                              in French Equatorial Africa, hunting elephant all the way, George Rushby
                              made his way down the Congo to Leopoldville. He then caught a ship to
                              Europe and had a holiday in Brussels and Paris before visiting his family
                              in England. He developed blackwater fever and was extremely ill for a
                              while. When he recovered he went to London to arrange his return to
                              Africa.

                              Whilst staying at the Overseas Club he met Eileen Graham who had come
                              to England from Cape Town to study music. On hearing that George was
                              sailing for Cape Town she arranged to introduce him to her friend
                              Eleanor Dunbar Leslie. “You’ll need someone lively to show you around,”
                              she said. “She’s as smart as paint, a keen mountaineer, a very good school
                              teacher, and she’s attractive. You can’t miss her, because her father is a
                              well known Cape Town Magistrate. And,” she added “I’ve already written
                              and told her what ship you are arriving on.”

                              Eleanor duly met the ship. She and George immediately fell in love.
                              Within thirty six hours he had proposed marriage and was accepted
                              despite the misgivings of her parents. As she was under contract to her
                              High School, she remained in South Africa for several months whilst
                              George headed for Tanganyika looking for a farm where he could build
                              their home.

                              These details are a summary of chapter thirteen of the Biography of
                              George Gilman Rushby ‘The Hunter is Death “ by T.V.Bulpin.

                               

                              Dearest Marj,
                              Terrifically exciting news! I’ve just become engaged to an Englishman whom I
                              met last Monday. The result is a family upheaval which you will have no difficulty in
                              imagining!!

                              The Aunts think it all highly romantic and cry in delight “Now isn’t that just like our
                              El!” Mummy says she doesn’t know what to think, that anyway I was always a harum
                              scarum and she rather expected something like this to happen. However I know that
                              she thinks George highly attractive. “Such a nice smile and gentle manner, and such
                              good hands“ she murmurs appreciatively. “But WHY AN ELEPHANT HUNTER?” she
                              ends in a wail, as though elephant hunting was an unmentionable profession.
                              Anyway I don’t think so. Anyone can marry a bank clerk or a lawyer or even a
                              millionaire – but whoever heard of anyone marrying anyone as exciting as an elephant
                              hunter? I’m thrilled to bits.

                              Daddy also takes a dim view of George’s profession, and of George himself as
                              a husband for me. He says that I am so impulsive and have such wild enthusiasms that I
                              need someone conservative and steady to give me some serenity and some ballast.
                              Dad says George is a handsome fellow and a good enough chap he is sure, but
                              he is obviously a man of the world and hints darkly at a possible PAST. George says
                              he has nothing of the kind and anyway I’m the first girl he has asked to marry him. I don’t
                              care anyway, I’d gladly marry him tomorrow, but Dad has other ideas.

                              He sat in his armchair to deliver his verdict, wearing the same look he must wear
                              on the bench. If we marry, and he doesn’t think it would be a good thing, George must
                              buy a comfortable house for me in Central Africa where I can stay safely when he goes
                              hunting. I interrupted to say “But I’m going too”, but dad snubbed me saying that in no
                              time at all I’ll have a family and one can’t go dragging babies around in the African Bush.”
                              George takes his lectures with surprising calm. He says he can see Dad’s point of
                              view much better than I can. He told the parents today that he plans to buy a small
                              coffee farm in the Southern Highlands of Tanganyika and will build a cosy cottage which
                              will be a proper home for both of us, and that he will only hunt occasionally to keep the
                              pot boiling.

                              Mummy, of course, just had to spill the beans. She said to George, “I suppose
                              you know that Eleanor knows very little about house keeping and can’t cook at all.” a fact
                              that I was keeping a dark secret. But George just said, “Oh she won’t have to work. The
                              boys do all that sort of thing. She can lie on a couch all day and read if she likes.” Well
                              you always did say that I was a “Lily of the field,” and what a good thing! If I were one of
                              those terribly capable women I’d probably die of frustration because it seems that
                              African house boys feel that they have lost face if their Memsahibs do anything but the
                              most gracious chores.

                              George is absolutely marvellous. He is strong and gentle and awfully good
                              looking too. He is about 5 ft 10 ins tall and very broad. He wears his curly brown hair cut
                              very short and has a close clipped moustache. He has strongly marked eyebrows and
                              very striking blue eyes which sometimes turn grey or green. His teeth are strong and
                              even and he has a quiet voice.

                              I expect all this sounds too good to be true, but come home quickly and see for
                              yourself. George is off to East Africa in three weeks time to buy our farm. I shall follow as
                              soon as he has bought it and we will be married in Dar es Salaam.

                              Dad has taken George for a walk “to get to know him” and that’s why I have time
                              to write such a long screed. They should be back any minute now and I must fly and
                              apply a bit of glamour.

                              Much love my dear,
                              your jubilant
                              Eleanor

                              S.S.Timavo. Durban. 28th.October. 1930.

                              Dearest Family,
                              Thank you for the lovely send off. I do wish you were all on board with me and
                              could come and dance with me at my wedding. We are having a very comfortable
                              voyage. There were only four of the passengers as far as Durban, all of them women,
                              but I believe we are taking on more here. I have a most comfortable deck cabin to
                              myself and the use of a sumptuous bathroom. No one is interested in deck games and I
                              am having a lazy time, just sunbathing and reading.

                              I sit at the Captain’s table and the meals are delicious – beautifully served. The
                              butter for instance, is moulded into sprays of roses, most exquisitely done, and as for
                              the ice-cream, I’ve never tasted anything like them.

                              The meals are continental type and we have hors d’oeuvre in a great variety
                              served on large round trays. The Italians souse theirs with oil, Ugh! We also of course
                              get lots of spaghetti which I have some difficulty in eating. However this presents no
                              problem to the Chief Engineer who sits opposite to me. He simply rolls it around his
                              fork and somehow the spaghetti flows effortlessly from fork to mouth exactly like an
                              ascending escalator. Wine is served at lunch and dinner – very mild and pleasant stuff.
                              Of the women passengers the one i liked best was a young German widow
                              from South west Africa who left the ship at East London to marry a man she had never
                              met. She told me he owned a drapers shop and she was very happy at the prospect
                              of starting a new life, as her previous marriage had ended tragically with the death of her
                              husband and only child in an accident.

                              I was most interested to see the bridegroom and stood at the rail beside the gay
                              young widow when we docked at East London. I picked him out, without any difficulty,
                              from the small group on the quay. He was a tall thin man in a smart grey suit and with a
                              grey hat perched primly on his head. You can always tell from hats can’t you? I wasn’t
                              surprised to see, when this German raised his head, that he looked just like the Kaiser’s
                              “Little Willie”. Long thin nose and cold grey eyes and no smile of welcome on his tight
                              mouth for the cheery little body beside me. I quite expected him to jerk his thumb and
                              stalk off, expecting her to trot at his heel.

                              However she went off blithely enough. Next day before the ship sailed, she
                              was back and I saw her talking to the Captain. She began to cry and soon after the
                              Captain patted her on the shoulder and escorted her to the gangway. Later the Captain
                              told me that the girl had come to ask him to allow her to work her passage back to
                              Germany where she had some relations. She had married the man the day before but
                              she disliked him because he had deceived her by pretending that he owned a shop
                              whereas he was only a window dresser. Bad show for both.

                              The Captain and the Chief Engineer are the only officers who mix socially with
                              the passengers. The captain seems rather a melancholy type with, I should say, no
                              sense of humour. He speaks fair English with an American accent. He tells me that he
                              was on the San Francisco run during Prohibition years in America and saw many Film
                              Stars chiefly “under the influence” as they used to flock on board to drink. The Chief
                              Engineer is big and fat and cheerful. His English is anything but fluent but he makes up
                              for it in mime.

                              I visited the relations and friends at Port Elizabeth and East London, and here at
                              Durban. I stayed with the Trotters and Swans and enjoyed myself very much at both
                              places. I have collected numerous wedding presents, china and cutlery, coffee
                              percolator and ornaments, and where I shall pack all these things I don’t know. Everyone has been terribly kind and I feel extremely well and happy.

                              At the start of the voyage I had a bit of bad luck. You will remember that a
                              perfectly foul South Easter was blowing. Some men were busy working on a deck
                              engine and I stopped to watch and a tiny fragment of steel blew into my eye. There is
                              no doctor on board so the stewardess put some oil into the eye and bandaged it up.
                              The eye grew more and more painful and inflamed and when when we reached Port
                              Elizabeth the Captain asked the Port Doctor to look at it. The Doctor said it was a job for
                              an eye specialist and telephoned from the ship to make an appointment. Luckily for me,
                              Vincent Tofts turned up at the ship just then and took me off to the specialist and waited
                              whilst he extracted the fragment with a giant magnet. The specialist said that I was very
                              lucky as the thing just missed the pupil of my eye so my sight will not be affected. I was
                              temporarily blinded by the Belladona the eye-man put in my eye so he fitted me with a
                              pair of black goggles and Vincent escorted me back to the ship. Don’t worry the eye is
                              now as good as ever and George will not have to take a one-eyed bride for better or
                              worse.

                              I have one worry and that is that the ship is going to be very much overdue by
                              the time we reach Dar es Salaam. She is taking on a big wool cargo and we were held
                              up for three days in East london and have been here in Durban for five days.
                              Today is the ninth Anniversary of the Fascist Movement and the ship was
                              dressed with bunting and flags. I must now go and dress for the gala dinner.

                              Bless you all,
                              Eleanor.

                              S.S.Timavo. 6th. November 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              Nearly there now. We called in at Lourenco Marques, Beira, Mozambique and
                              Port Amelia. I was the only one of the original passengers left after Durban but there we
                              took on a Mrs Croxford and her mother and two men passengers. Mrs C must have
                              something, certainly not looks. She has a flat figure, heavily mascared eyes and crooked
                              mouth thickly coated with lipstick. But her rather sweet old mother-black-pearls-type tells
                              me they are worn out travelling around the world trying to shake off an admirer who
                              pursues Mrs C everywhere.

                              The one male passenger is very quiet and pleasant. The old lady tells me that he
                              has recently lost his wife. The other passenger is a horribly bumptious type.
                              I had my hair beautifully shingled at Lourenco Marques, but what an experience it
                              was. Before we docked I asked the Captain whether he knew of a hairdresser, but he
                              said he did not and would have to ask the agent when he came aboard. The agent was
                              a very suave Asian. He said “Sure he did” and offered to take me in his car. I rather
                              doubtfully agreed — such a swarthy gentleman — and was driven, not to a hairdressing
                              establishment, but to his office. Then he spoke to someone on the telephone and in no
                              time at all a most dago-y type arrived carrying a little black bag. He was all patent
                              leather, hair, and flashing smile, and greeted me like an old and valued friend.
                              Before I had collected my scattered wits tthe Agent had flung open a door and
                              ushered me through, and I found myself seated before an ornate mirror in what was only
                              too obviously a bedroom. It was a bedroom with a difference though. The unmade bed
                              had no legs but hung from the ceiling on brass chains.

                              The agent beamingly shut the door behind him and I was left with my imagination
                              and the afore mentioned oily hairdresser. He however was very business like. Before I
                              could say knife he had shingled my hair with a cut throat razor and then, before I could
                              protest, had smothered my neck in stinking pink powder applied with an enormous and
                              filthy swansdown powder puff. He held up a mirror for me to admire his handiwork but I
                              was aware only of the enormous bed reflected in it, and hurriedly murmuring “very nice,
                              very nice” I made my escape to the outer office where, to my relief, I found the Chief
                              Engineer who escorted me back to the ship.

                              In the afternoon Mrs Coxford and the old lady and I hired a taxi and went to the
                              Polana Hotel for tea. Very swish but I like our Cape Peninsula beaches better.
                              At Lorenco Marques we took on more passengers. The Governor of
                              Portuguese Nyasaland and his wife and baby son. He was a large middle aged man,
                              very friendly and unassuming and spoke perfect English. His wife was German and
                              exquisite, as fragile looking and with the delicate colouring of a Dresden figurine. She
                              looked about 18 but she told me she was 28 and showed me photographs of two
                              other sons – hefty youngsters, whom she had left behind in Portugal and was missing
                              very much.

                              It was frightfully hot at Beira and as I had no money left I did not go up to the
                              town, but Mrs Croxford and I spent a pleasant hour on the beach under the Casurina
                              trees.

                              The Governor and his wife left the ship at Mozambique. He looked very
                              imposing in his starched uniform and she more Dresden Sheperdish than ever in a
                              flowered frock. There was a guard of honour and all the trimmings. They bade me a warm farewell and invited George and me to stay at any time.

                              The German ship “Watussi” was anchored in the Bay and I decided to visit her
                              and try and have my hair washed and set. I had no sooner stepped on board when a
                              lady came up to me and said “Surely you are Beeba Leslie.” It was Mrs Egan and she
                              had Molly with her. Considering Mrs Egan had not seen me since I was five I think it was
                              jolly clever of her to recognise me. Molly is charming and was most friendly. She fixed
                              things with the hairdresser and sat with me until the job was done. Afterwards I had tea
                              with them.

                              Port Amelia was our last stop. In fact the only person to go ashore was Mr
                              Taylor, the unpleasant man, and he returned at sunset very drunk indeed.
                              We reached Port Amelia on the 3rd – my birthday. The boat had anchored by
                              the time I was dressed and when I went on deck I saw several row boats cluttered
                              around the gangway and in them were natives with cages of wild birds for sale. Such tiny
                              crowded cages. I was furious, you know me. I bought three cages, carried them out on
                              to the open deck and released the birds. I expected them to fly to the land but they flew
                              straight up into the rigging.

                              The quiet male passenger wandered up and asked me what I was doing. I said
                              “I’m giving myself a birthday treat, I hate to see caged birds.” So next thing there he
                              was buying birds which he presented to me with “Happy Birthday.” I gladly set those
                              birds free too and they joined the others in the rigging.

                              Then a grinning steward came up with three more cages. “For the lady with
                              compliments of the Captain.” They lost no time in joining their friends.
                              It had given me so much pleasure to free the birds that I was only a little
                              discouraged when the quiet man said thoughtfully “This should encourage those bird
                              catchers you know, they are sold out. When evening came and we were due to sail I
                              was sure those birds would fly home, but no, they are still there and they will probably
                              remain until we dock at Dar es Salaam.

                              During the morning the Captain came up and asked me what my Christian name
                              is. He looked as grave as ever and I couldn’t think why it should interest him but said “the
                              name is Eleanor.” That night at dinner there was a large iced cake in the centre of the
                              table with “HELENA” in a delicate wreath of pink icing roses on the top. We had
                              champagne and everyone congratulated me and wished me good luck in my marriage.
                              A very nice gesture don’t you think. The unpleasant character had not put in an
                              appearance at dinner which made the party all the nicer

                              I sat up rather late in the lounge reading a book and by the time I went to bed
                              there was not a soul around. I bathed and changed into my nighty,walked into my cabin,
                              shed my dressing gown, and pottered around. When I was ready for bed I put out my
                              hand to draw the curtains back and a hand grasped my wrist. It was that wretched
                              creature outside my window on the deck, still very drunk. Luckily I was wearing that
                              heavy lilac silk nighty. I was livid. “Let go at once”, I said, but he only grinned stupidly.
                              “I’m not hurting you” he said, “only looking”. “I’ll ring for the steward” said I, and by
                              stretching I managed to press the bell with my free hand. I rang and rang but no one
                              came and he just giggled. Then I said furiously, “Remember this name, George
                              Rushby, he is a fine boxer and he hates specimens like you. When he meets me at Dar
                              es Salaam I shall tell him about this and I bet you will be sorry.” However he still held on
                              so I turned and knocked hard on the adjoining wall which divided my cabin from Mrs
                              Croxfords. Soon Mrs Croxford and the old lady appeared in dressing gowns . This
                              seemed to amuse the drunk even more though he let go my wrist. So whilst the old
                              lady stayed with me, Mrs C fetched the quiet passenger who soon hustled him off. He has kept out of my way ever since. However I still mean to tell George because I feel
                              the fellow got off far too lightly. I reported the matter to the Captain but he just remarked
                              that he always knew the man was low class because he never wears a jacket to meals.
                              This is my last night on board and we again had free champagne and I was given
                              some tooled leather work by the Captain and a pair of good paste earrings by the old
                              lady. I have invited them and Mrs Croxford, the Chief Engineer, and the quiet
                              passenger to the wedding.

                              This may be my last night as Eleanor Leslie and I have spent this long while
                              writing to you just as a little token of my affection and gratitude for all the years of your
                              love and care. I shall post this letter on the ship and must turn now and get some beauty
                              sleep. We have been told that we shall be in Dar es Salaam by 9 am. I am so excited
                              that I shall not sleep.

                              Very much love, and just for fun I’ll sign my full name for the last time.
                              with my “bes respeks”,

                              Eleanor Leslie.

                              Eleanor and George Rushby:

                              Eleanor and George Rushby

                              Splendid Hotel, Dar es Salaam 11th November 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              I’m writing this in the bedroom whilst George is out buying a tin trunk in which to
                              pack all our wedding presents. I expect he will be gone a long time because he has
                              gone out with Hicky Wood and, though our wedding was four days ago, it’s still an
                              excuse for a party. People are all very cheery and friendly here.
                              I am wearing only pants and slip but am still hot. One swelters here in the
                              mornings, but a fresh sea breeze blows in the late afternoons and then Dar es Salaam is
                              heavenly.

                              We arrived in Dar es Salaam harbour very early on Friday morning (7 th Nov).
                              The previous night the Captain had said we might not reach Dar. until 9 am, and certainly
                              no one would be allowed on board before 8 am. So I dawdled on the deck in my
                              dressing gown and watched the green coastline and the islands slipping by. I stood on
                              the deck outside my cabin and was not aware that I was looking out at the wrong side of
                              the landlocked harbour. Quite unknown to me George and some friends, the Hickson
                              Woods, were standing on the Gymkhana Beach on the opposite side of the channel
                              anxiously scanning the ship for a sign of me. George says he had a horrible idea I had
                              missed the ship. Blissfully unconscious of his anxiety I wandered into the bathroom
                              prepared for a good soak. The anchor went down when I was in the bath and suddenly
                              there was a sharp wrap on the door and I heard Mrs Croxford say “There’s a man in a
                              boat outside. He is looking out for someone and I’m sure it’s your George. I flung on
                              some clothes and rushed on deck with tousled hair and bare feet and it was George.
                              We had a marvellous reunion. George was wearing shorts and bush shirt and
                              looked just like the strong silent types one reads about in novels. I finished dressing then
                              George helped me bundle all the wedding presents I had collected en route into my
                              travelling rug and we went into the bar lounge to join the Hickson Woods. They are the
                              couple from whom George bought the land which is to be our coffee farm Hicky-Wood
                              was laughing when we joined them. he said he had called a chap to bring a couple of
                              beers thinking he was the steward but it turned out to be the Captain. He does wear
                              such a very plain uniform that I suppose it was easy to make the mistake, but Hicky
                              says he was not amused.

                              Anyway as the H-W’s are to be our neighbours I’d better describe them. Kath
                              Wood is very attractive, dark Irish, with curly black hair and big brown eyes. She was
                              married before to Viv Lumb a great friend of George’s who died some years ago of
                              blackwater fever. They had one little girl, Maureen, and Kath and Hicky have a small son
                              of three called Michael. Hicky is slightly below average height and very neat and dapper
                              though well built. He is a great one for a party and good fun but George says he can be
                              bad tempered.

                              Anyway we all filed off the ship and Hicky and Cath went on to the hotel whilst
                              George and I went through customs. Passing the customs was easy. Everyone
                              seemed to know George and that it was his wedding day and I just sailed through,
                              except for the little matter of the rug coming undone when George and I had to scramble
                              on the floor for candlesticks and fruit knives and a wooden nut bowl.
                              Outside the customs shed we were mobbed by a crowd of jabbering Africans
                              offering their services as porters, and soon my luggage was piled in one rickshaw whilst
                              George and I climbed into another and we were born smoothly away on rubber shod
                              wheels to the Splendid Hotel. The motion was pleasing enough but it seemed weird to
                              be pulled along by one human being whilst another pushed behind.  We turned up a street called Acacia Avenue which, as its name implies, is lined
                              with flamboyant acacia trees now in the full glory of scarlet and gold. The rickshaw
                              stopped before the Splendid Hotel and I was taken upstairs into a pleasant room which
                              had its own private balcony overlooking the busy street.

                              Here George broke the news that we were to be married in less than an hours
                              time. He would have to dash off and change and then go straight to the church. I would
                              be quite all right, Kath would be looking in and friends would fetch me.
                              I started to dress and soon there was a tap at the door and Mrs Hickson-Wood
                              came in with my bouquet. It was a lovely bunch of carnations and frangipani with lots of
                              asparagus fern and it went well with my primrose yellow frock. She admired my frock
                              and Leghorn hat and told me that her little girl Maureen was to be my flower girl. Then
                              she too left for the church.

                              I was fully dressed when there was another knock on the door and I opened it to
                              be confronted by a Police Officer in a starched white uniform. I’m McCallum”, he said,
                              “I’ve come to drive you to the church.” Downstairs he introduced me to a big man in a
                              tussore silk suit. “This is Dr Shicore”, said McCallum, “He is going to give you away.”
                              Honestly, I felt exactly like Alice in Wonderland. Wouldn’t have been at all surprised if
                              the White Rabbit had popped up and said he was going to be my page.

                              I walked out of the hotel and across the pavement in a dream and there, by the
                              curb, was a big dark blue police car decorated with white ribbons and with a tall African
                              Police Ascari holding the door open for me. I had hardly time to wonder what next when
                              the car drew up before a tall German looking church. It was in fact the Lutheran Church in
                              the days when Tanganyika was German East Africa.

                              Mrs Hickson-Wood, very smart in mushroom coloured georgette and lace, and
                              her small daughter were waiting in the porch, so in we went. I was glad to notice my
                              friends from the boat sitting behind George’s friends who were all complete strangers to
                              me. The aisle seemed very long but at last I reached George waiting in the chancel with
                              Hicky-Wood, looking unfamiliar in a smart tussore suit. However this feeling of unreality
                              passed when he turned his head and smiled at me.

                              In the vestry after the ceremony I was kissed affectionately by several complete
                              strangers and I felt happy and accepted by George’s friends. Outside the church,
                              standing apart from the rest of the guests, the Italian Captain and Chief Engineer were
                              waiting. They came up and kissed my hand, and murmured felicitations, but regretted
                              they could not spare the time to come to the reception. Really it was just as well
                              because they would not have fitted in at all well.

                              Dr Shircore is the Director of Medical Services and he had very kindly lent his
                              large house for the reception. It was quite a party. The guests were mainly men with a
                              small sprinkling of wives. Champagne corks popped and there was an enormous cake
                              and soon voices were raised in song. The chief one was ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’
                              and I shall remember it for ever.

                              The party was still in full swing when George and I left. The old lady from the ship
                              enjoyed it hugely. She came in an all black outfit with a corsage of artificial Lily-of-the-
                              Valley. Later I saw one of the men wearing the corsage in his buttonhole and the old
                              lady was wearing a carnation.

                              When George and I got back to the hotel,I found that my luggage had been
                              moved to George’s room by his cook Lamek, who was squatting on his haunches and
                              clapped his hands in greeting. My dears, you should see Lamek – exactly like a
                              chimpanzee – receding forehead, wide flat nose, and long lip, and such splayed feet. It was quite a strain not to laugh, especially when he produced a gift for me. I have not yet
                              discovered where he acquired it. It was a faded mauve straw toque of the kind worn by
                              Queen Mary. I asked George to tell Lamek that I was touched by his generosity but felt
                              that I could not accept his gift. He did not mind at all especially as George gave him a
                              generous tip there and then.

                              I changed into a cotton frock and shady straw hat and George changed into shorts
                              and bush shirt once more. We then sneaked into the dining room for lunch avoiding our
                              wedding guests who were carrying on the party in the lounge.

                              After lunch we rejoined them and they all came down to the jetty to wave goodbye
                              as we set out by motor launch for Honeymoon Island. I enjoyed the launch trip very
                              much. The sea was calm and very blue and the palm fringed beaches of Dar es Salaam
                              are as romantic as any bride could wish. There are small coral islands dotted around the
                              Bay of which Honeymoon Island is the loveliest. I believe at one time it bore the less
                              romantic name of Quarantine Island. Near the Island, in the shallows, the sea is brilliant
                              green and I saw two pink jellyfish drifting by.

                              There is no jetty on the island so the boat was stopped in shallow water and
                              George carried me ashore. I was enchanted with the Island and in no hurry to go to the
                              bungalow, so George and I took our bathing costumes from our suitcases and sent the
                              luggage up to the house together with a box of provisions.

                              We bathed and lazed on the beach and suddenly it was sunset and it began to
                              get dark. We walked up the beach to the bungalow and began to unpack the stores,
                              tea, sugar, condensed milk, bread and butter, sardines and a large tin of ham. There
                              were also cups and saucers and plates and cutlery.

                              We decided to have an early meal and George called out to the caretaker, “Boy
                              letta chai”. Thereupon the ‘boy’ materialised and jabbered to George in Ki-Swaheli. It
                              appeared he had no utensil in which to boil water. George, ever resourceful, removed
                              the ham from the tin and gave him that. We had our tea all right but next day the ham
                              was bad.

                              Then came bed time. I took a hurricane lamp in one hand and my suitcase in the
                              other and wandered into the bedroom whilst George vanished into the bathroom. To
                              my astonishment I saw two perfectly bare iron bedsteads – no mattress or pillows. We
                              had brought sheets and mosquito nets but, believe me, they are a poor substitute for a
                              mattress.

                              Anyway I arrayed myself in my pale yellow satin nightie and sat gingerly down
                              on the iron edge of the bed to await my groom who eventually appeared in a
                              handsome suit of silk pyjamas. His expression, as he took in the situation, was too much
                              for me and I burst out laughing and so did he.

                              Somewhere in the small hours I woke up. The breeze had dropped and the
                              room was unbearably stuffy. I felt as dry as a bone. The lamp had been turned very
                              low and had gone out, but I remembered seeing a water tank in the yard and I decided
                              to go out in the dark and drink from the tap. In the dark I could not find my slippers so I
                              slipped my feet into George’s shoes, picked up his matches and groped my way out
                              of the room. I found the tank all right and with one hand on the tap and one cupped for
                              water I stooped to drink. Just then I heard a scratchy noise and sensed movements
                              around my feet. I struck a match and oh horrors! found that the damp spot on which I was
                              standing was alive with white crabs. In my hurry to escape I took a clumsy step, put
                              George’s big toe on the hem of my nightie and down I went on top of the crabs. I need
                              hardly say that George was awakened by an appalling shriek and came rushing to my
                              aid like a knight of old.  Anyway, alarms and excursions not withstanding, we had a wonderful weekend on the island and I was sorry to return to the heat of Dar es Salaam, though the evenings
                              here are lovely and it is heavenly driving along the coast road by car or in a rickshaw.
                              I was surprised to find so many Indians here. Most of the shops, large and small,
                              seem to be owned by Indians and the place teems with them. The women wear
                              colourful saris and their hair in long black plaits reaching to their waists. Many wear baggy
                              trousers of silk or satin. They give a carnival air to the sea front towards sunset.
                              This long letter has been written in instalments throughout the day. My first break
                              was when I heard the sound of a band and rushed to the balcony in time to see The
                              Kings African Rifles band and Askaris march down the Avenue on their way to an
                              Armistice Memorial Service. They looked magnificent.

                              I must end on a note of most primitive pride. George returned from his shopping
                              expedition and beamingly informed me that he had thrashed the man who annoyed me
                              on the ship. I felt extremely delighted and pressed for details. George told me that
                              when he went out shopping he noticed to his surprise that the ‘Timavo” was still in the
                              harbour. He went across to the Agents office and there saw a man who answered to the
                              description I had given. George said to him “Is your name Taylor?”, and when he said
                              “yes”, George said “Well my name is George Rushby”, whereupon he hit Taylor on the
                              jaw so that he sailed over the counter and down the other side. Very satisfactory, I feel.
                              With much love to all.

                              Your cave woman
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate. P.O. Mbeya 22 November 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              Well here we are at our Country Seat, Mchewe Estate. (pronounced
                              Mn,-che’-we) but I will start at the beginning of our journey and describe the farm later.
                              We left the hotel at Dar es Salaam for the station in a taxi crowded with baggage
                              and at the last moment Keith Wood ran out with the unwrapped bottom layer of our
                              wedding cake. It remained in its naked state from there to here travelling for two days in
                              the train on the luggage rack, four days in the car on my knee, reposing at night on the
                              roof of the car exposed to the winds of Heaven, and now rests beside me in the tent
                              looking like an old old tombstone. We have no tin large enough to hold it and one
                              simply can’t throw away ones wedding cake so, as George does not eat cake, I can see
                              myself eating wedding cake for tea for months to come, ants permitting.

                              We travelled up by train from Dar to Dodoma, first through the lush vegetation of
                              the coastal belt to Morogoro, then through sisal plantations now very overgrown with
                              weeds owing to the slump in prices, and then on to the arid area around Dodoma. This
                              part of the country is very dry at this time of the year and not unlike parts of our Karoo.
                              The train journey was comfortable enough but slow as the engines here are fed with
                              wood and not coal as in South Africa.

                              Dodoma is the nearest point on the railway to Mbeya so we left the train there to
                              continue our journey by road. We arrived at the one and only hotel in the early hours and
                              whilst someone went to rout out the night watchman the rest of us sat on the dismal
                              verandah amongst a litter of broken glass. Some bright spark remarked on the obvious –
                              that there had been a party the night before.

                              When we were shown to a room I thought I rather preferred the verandah,
                              because the beds had not yet been made up and there was a bucket of vomit beside
                              the old fashioned washstand. However George soon got the boys to clean up the
                              room and I fell asleep to be awakened by George with an invitation to come and see
                              our car before breakfast.

                              Yes, we have our own car. It is a Chev, with what is called a box body. That
                              means that sides, roof and doors are made by a local Indian carpenter. There is just the
                              one front seat with a kapok mattress on it. The tools are kept in a sort of cupboard fixed
                              to the side so there is a big space for carrying “safari kit” behind the cab seat.
                              Lamek, who had travelled up on the same train, appeared after breakfast, and
                              helped George to pack all our luggage into the back of the car. Besides our suitcases
                              there was a huge bedroll, kitchen utensils and a box of provisions, tins of petrol and
                              water and all Lamek’s bits and pieces which included three chickens in a wicker cage and
                              an enormous bunch of bananas about 3 ft long.

                              When all theses things were packed there remained only a small space between
                              goods and ceiling and into this Lamek squeezed. He lay on his back with his horny feet a
                              mere inch or so from the back of my head. In this way we travelled 400 miles over
                              bumpy earth roads and crude pole bridges, but whenever we stopped for a meal
                              Lamek wriggled out and, like Aladdin’s genie, produced good meals in no time at all.
                              In the afternoon we reached a large river called the Ruaha. Workmen were busy
                              building a large bridge across it but it is not yet ready so we crossed by a ford below
                              the bridge. George told me that the river was full of crocodiles but though I looked hard, I
                              did not see any. This is also elephant country but I did not see any of those either, only
                              piles of droppings on the road. I must tell you that the natives around these parts are called Wahehe and the river is Ruaha – enough to make a cat laugh. We saw some Wahehe out hunting with spears
                              and bows and arrows. They live in long low houses with the tiniest shuttered windows
                              and rounded roofs covered with earth.

                              Near the river we also saw a few Masai herding cattle. They are rather terrifying to
                              look at – tall, angular, and very aloof. They wear nothing but a blanket knotted on one
                              shoulder, concealing nothing, and all carried one or two spears.
                              The road climbs steeply on the far side of the Ruaha and one has the most
                              tremendous views over the plains. We spent our first night up there in the high country.
                              Everything was taken out of the car, the bed roll opened up and George and I slept
                              comfortably in the back of the car whilst Lamek, rolled in a blanket, slept soundly by a
                              small fire nearby. Next morning we reached our first township, Iringa, and put up at the
                              Colonist Hotel. We had a comfortable room in the annex overlooking the golf course.
                              our room had its own little dressing room which was also the bathroom because, when
                              ordered to do so, the room boy carried in an oval galvanised bath and filled it with hot
                              water which he carried in a four gallon petrol tin.

                              When we crossed to the main building for lunch, George was immediately hailed
                              by several men who wanted to meet the bride. I was paid some handsome
                              compliments but was not sure whether they were sincere or the result of a nice alcoholic
                              glow. Anyhow every one was very friendly.

                              After lunch I went back to the bedroom leaving George chatting away. I waited and
                              waited – no George. I got awfully tired of waiting and thought I’d give him a fright so I
                              walked out onto the deserted golf course and hid behind some large boulders. Soon I
                              saw George returning to the room and the boy followed with a tea tray. Ah, now the hue
                              and cry will start, thought I, but no, no George appeared nor could I hear any despairing
                              cry. When sunset came I trailed crossly back to our hotel room where George lay
                              innocently asleep on his bed, hands folded on his chest like a crusader on his tomb. In a
                              moment he opened his eyes, smiled sleepily and said kindly, “Did you have a nice walk
                              my love?” So of course I couldn’t play the neglected wife as he obviously didn’t think
                              me one and we had a very pleasant dinner and party in the hotel that evening.
                              Next day we continued our journey but turned aside to visit the farm of a sprightly
                              old man named St.Leger Seaton whom George had known for many years, so it was
                              after dark before George decided that we had covered our quota of miles for the day.
                              Whilst he and Lamek unpacked I wandered off to a stream to cool my hot feet which had
                              baked all day on the floor boards of the car. In the rather dim moonlight I sat down on the
                              grassy bank and gratefully dabbled my feet in the cold water. A few minutes later I
                              started up with a shriek – I had the sensation of red hot pins being dug into all my most
                              sensitive parts. I started clawing my clothes off and, by the time George came to the
                              rescue with the lamp, I was practically in the nude. “Only Siafu ants,” said George calmly.
                              Take off all your clothes and get right in the water.” So I had a bathe whilst George
                              picked the ants off my clothes by the light of the lamp turned very low for modesty’s
                              sake. Siafu ants are beastly things. They are black ants with outsized heads and
                              pinchers. I shall be very, very careful where I sit in future.

                              The next day was even hotter. There was no great variety in the scenery. Most
                              of the country was covered by a tree called Miombo, which is very ordinary when the
                              foliage is a mature deep green, but when in new leaf the trees look absolutely beautiful
                              as the leaves,surprisingly, are soft pastel shades of red and yellow.

                              Once again we turned aside from the main road to visit one of George’s friends.
                              This man Major Hugh Jones MC, has a farm only a few miles from ours but just now he is supervising the making of an airstrip. Major Jones is quite a character. He is below
                              average height and skinny with an almost bald head and one nearly blind eye into which
                              he screws a monocle. He is a cultured person and will, I am sure, make an interesting
                              neighbour. George and Major Jones’ friends call him ‘Joni’ but he is generally known in
                              this country as ‘Ropesoles’ – as he is partial to that type of footwear.
                              We passed through Mbeya township after dark so I have no idea what the place
                              is like. The last 100 miles of our journey was very dusty and the last 15 miles extremely
                              bumpy. The road is used so little that in some places we had to plow our way through
                              long grass and I was delighted when at last George turned into a side road and said
                              “This is our place.” We drove along the bank of the Mchewe River, then up a hill and
                              stopped at a tent which was pitched beside the half built walls of our new home. We
                              were expected so there was hot water for baths and after a supper of tinned food and
                              good hot tea, I climbed thankfully into bed.

                              Next morning I was awakened by the chattering of the African workmen and was
                              soon out to inspect the new surroundings. Our farm was once part of Hickson Wood’s
                              land and is separated from theirs by a river. Our houses cannot be more than a few
                              hundred yards apart as the crow flies but as both are built on the slopes of a long range
                              of high hills, and one can only cross the river at the foot of the slopes, it will be quite a
                              safari to go visiting on foot . Most of our land is covered with shoulder high grass but it
                              has been partly cleared of trees and scrub. Down by the river George has made a long
                              coffee nursery and a large vegetable garden but both coffee and vegetable seedlings
                              are too small to be of use.

                              George has spared all the trees that will make good shade for the coffee later on.
                              There are several huge wild fig trees as big as oaks but with smooth silvery-green trunks
                              and branches and there are lots of acacia thorn trees with flat tops like Japanese sun
                              shades. I’ve seen lovely birds in the fig trees, Louries with bright plumage and crested
                              heads, and Blue Rollers, and in the grasslands there are widow birds with incredibly long
                              black tail feathers.

                              There are monkeys too and horrible but fascinating tree lizards with blue bodies
                              and orange heads. There are so many, many things to tell you but they must wait for
                              another time as James, the house boy, has been to say “Bafu tiari” and if I don’t go at
                              once, the bath will be cold.

                              I am very very happy and terribly interested in this new life so please don’t
                              worry about me.

                              Much love to you all,
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate 29th. November 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              I’ve lots of time to write letters just now because George is busy supervising the
                              building of the house from early morning to late afternoon – with a break for lunch of
                              course.

                              On our second day here our tent was moved from the house site to a small
                              clearing further down the slope of our hill. Next to it the labourers built a ‘banda’ , which is
                              a three sided grass hut with thatched roof – much cooler than the tent in this weather.
                              There is also a little grass lav. so you see we have every convenience. I spend most of
                              my day in the banda reading or writing letters. Occasionally I wander up to the house site
                              and watch the building, but mostly I just sit.

                              I did try exploring once. I wandered down a narrow path towards the river. I
                              thought I might paddle and explore the river a little but I came round a bend and there,
                              facing me, was a crocodile. At least for a moment I thought it was and my adrenaline
                              glands got very busy indeed. But it was only an enormous monitor lizard, four or five
                              feet long. It must have been as scared as I was because it turned and rushed off through
                              the grass. I turned and walked hastily back to the camp and as I passed the house site I
                              saw some boys killing a large puff adder. Now I do my walking in the evenings with
                              George. Nothing alarming ever seems to happen when he is around.

                              It is interesting to watch the boys making bricks for the house. They make a pile
                              of mud which they trample with their feet until it is the right consistency. Then they fill
                              wooden moulds with the clayey mud, and press it down well and turn out beautiful shiny,
                              dark brown bricks which are laid out in rows and covered with grass to bake slowly in the
                              sun.

                              Most of the materials for the building are right here at hand. The walls will be sun
                              dried bricks and there is a white clay which will make a good whitewash for the inside
                              walls. The chimney and walls will be of burnt brick and tiles and George is now busy
                              building a kiln for this purpose. Poles for the roof are being cut in the hills behind the
                              house and every day women come along with large bundles of thatching grass on their
                              heads. Our windows are modern steel casement ones and the doors have been made
                              at a mission in the district. George does some of the bricklaying himself. The other
                              bricklayer is an African from Northern Rhodesia called Pedro. It makes me perspire just
                              to look at Pedro who wears an overcoat all day in the very hot sun.
                              Lamek continues to please. He turns out excellent meals, chicken soup followed
                              by roast chicken, vegetables from the Hickson-Woods garden and a steamed pudding
                              or fruit to wind up the meal. I enjoy the chicken but George is fed up with it and longs for
                              good red meat. The chickens are only about as large as a partridge but then they cost
                              only sixpence each.

                              I had my first visit to Mbeya two days ago. I put on my very best trousseau frock
                              for the occasion- that yellow striped silk one – and wore my wedding hat. George didn’t
                              comment, but I saw later that I was dreadfully overdressed.
                              Mbeya at the moment is a very small settlement consisting of a bundle of small
                              Indian shops – Dukas they call them, which stock European tinned foods and native soft
                              goods which seem to be mainly of Japanese origin. There is a one storied Government
                              office called the Boma and two attractive gabled houses of burnt brick which house the
                              District Officer and his Assistant. Both these houses have lovely gardens but i saw them
                              only from the outside as we did not call. After buying our stores George said “Lets go to the pub, I want you to meet Mrs Menzies.” Well the pub turned out to be just three or four grass rondavels on a bare
                              plot. The proprietor, Ken Menzies, came out to welcome us. I took to him at once
                              because he has the same bush sandy eyebrows as you have Dad. He told me that
                              unfortunately his wife is away at the coast, and then he ushered me through the door
                              saying “Here’s George with his bride.” then followed the Iringa welcome all over again,
                              only more so, because the room was full of diggers from the Lupa Goldfields about fifty
                              miles away.

                              Champagne corks popped as I shook hands all around and George was
                              clapped on the back. I could see he was a favourite with everyone and I tried not to be
                              gauche and let him down. These men were all most kind and most appeared to be men
                              of more than average education. However several were unshaven and looked as
                              though they had slept in their clothes as I suppose they had. When they have a little luck
                              on the diggings they come in here to Menzies pub and spend the lot. George says
                              they bring their gold dust and small nuggets in tobacco tins or Kruschen salts jars and
                              hand them over to Ken Menzies saying “Tell me when I’ve spent the lot.” Ken then
                              weighs the gold and estimates its value and does exactly what the digger wants.
                              However the Diggers get good value for their money because besides the drink
                              they get companionship and good food and nursing if they need it. Mrs Menzies is a
                              trained nurse and most kind and capable from what I was told. There is no doctor or
                              hospital here so her experience as a nursing sister is invaluable.
                              We had lunch at the Hotel and afterwards I poured tea as I was the only female
                              present. Once the shyness had worn off I rather enjoyed myself.

                              Now to end off I must tell you a funny story of how I found out that George likes
                              his women to be feminine. You will remember those dashing black silk pyjamas Aunt
                              Mary gave me, with flowered “happy coat” to match. Well last night I thought I’d give
                              George a treat and when the boy called me for my bath I left George in the ‘banda’
                              reading the London Times. After my bath I put on my Japanese pyjamas and coat,
                              peered into the shaving mirror which hangs from the tent pole and brushed my hair until it
                              shone. I must confess that with my fringe and shingled hair I thought I made quite a
                              glamourous Japanese girl. I walked coyly across to the ‘banda’. Alas no compliment.
                              George just glanced up from the Times and went on reading.
                              He was away rather a long time when it came to his turn to bath. I glanced up
                              when he came back and had a slight concussion. George, if you please, was arrayed in
                              my very best pale yellow satin nightie. The one with the lace and ribbon sash and little
                              bows on the shoulder. I knew exactly what he meant to convey. I was not to wear the
                              trousers in the family. I seethed inwardly, but pretending not to notice, I said calmly “shall
                              I call for food?” In this garb George sat down to dinner and it says a great deal for African
                              phlegm that the boy did not drop the dishes.

                              We conversed politely about this and that, and then, as usual, George went off
                              to bed. I appeared to be engrossed in my book and did not stir. When I went to the
                              tent some time later George lay fast asleep still in my nightie, though all I could see of it
                              was the little ribbon bows looking farcically out of place on his broad shoulders.
                              This morning neither of us mentioned the incident, George was up and dressed
                              by the time I woke up but I have been smiling all day to think what a ridiculous picture
                              we made at dinner. So farewell to pyjamas and hey for ribbons and bows.

                              Your loving
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate. Mbeya. 8th December 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              A mere shadow of her former buxom self lifts a languid pen to write to you. I’m
                              convalescing after my first and I hope my last attack of malaria. It was a beastly
                              experience but all is now well and I am eating like a horse and will soon regain my
                              bounce.

                              I took ill on the evening of the day I wrote my last letter to you. It started with a
                              splitting headache and fits of shivering. The symptoms were all too familiar to George
                              who got me into bed and filled me up with quinine. He then piled on all the available
                              blankets and packed me in hot water bottles. I thought I’d explode and said so and
                              George said just to lie still and I’d soon break into a good sweat. However nothing of the
                              kind happened and next day my temperature was 105 degrees. Instead of feeling
                              miserable as I had done at the onset, I now felt very merry and most chatty. George
                              now tells me I sang the most bawdy songs but I hardly think it likely. Do you?
                              You cannot imagine how tenderly George nursed me, not only that day but
                              throughout the whole eight days I was ill. As we do not employ any African house
                              women, and there are no white women in the neighbourhood at present to whom we
                              could appeal for help, George had to do everything for me. It was unbearably hot in the
                              tent so George decided to move me across to the Hickson-Woods vacant house. They
                              have not yet returned from the coast.

                              George decided I was too weak to make the trip in the car so he sent a
                              messenger over to the Woods’ house for their Machila. A Machila is a canopied canvas
                              hammock slung from a bamboo pole and carried by four bearers. The Machila duly
                              arrived and I attempted to walk to it, clinging to George’s arm, but collapsed in a faint so
                              the trip was postponed to the next morning when I felt rather better. Being carried by
                              Machila is quite pleasant but I was in no shape to enjoy anything and got thankfully into
                              bed in the Hickson-Woods large, cool and rather dark bedroom. My condition did not
                              improve and George decided to send a runner for the Government Doctor at Tukuyu
                              about 60 miles away. Two days later Dr Theis arrived by car and gave me two
                              injections of quinine which reduced the fever. However I still felt very weak and had to
                              spend a further four days in bed.

                              We have now decided to stay on here until the Hickson-Woods return by which
                              time our own house should be ready. George goes off each morning and does not
                              return until late afternoon. However don’t think “poor Eleanor” because I am very
                              comfortable here and there are lots of books to read and the days seem to pass very
                              quickly.

                              The Hickson-Wood’s house was built by Major Jones and I believe the one on
                              his shamba is just like it. It is a square red brick building with a wide verandah all around
                              and, rather astonishingly, a conical thatched roof. There is a beautiful view from the front
                              of the house and a nice flower garden. The coffee shamba is lower down on the hill.
                              Mrs Wood’s first husband, George’s friend Vi Lumb, is buried in the flower
                              garden. He died of blackwater fever about five years ago. I’m told that before her
                              second marriage Kath lived here alone with her little daughter, Maureen, and ran the farm
                              entirely on her own. She must be quite a person. I bet she didn’t go and get malaria
                              within a few weeks of her marriage.

                              The native tribe around here are called Wasafwa. They are pretty primitive but
                              seem amiable people. Most of the men, when they start work, wear nothing but some
                              kind of sheet of unbleached calico wrapped round their waists and hanging to mid calf. As soon as they have drawn their wages they go off to a duka and buy a pair of khaki
                              shorts for five or six shillings. Their women folk wear very short beaded skirts. I think the
                              base is goat skin but have never got close enough for a good look. They are very shy.
                              I hear from George that they have started on the roof of our house but I have not
                              seen it myself since the day I was carried here by Machila. My letters by the way go to
                              the Post Office by runner. George’s farm labourers take it in turn to act in this capacity.
                              The mail bag is given to them on Friday afternoon and by Saturday evening they are
                              back with our very welcome mail.

                              Very much love,
                              Eleanor.

                              Mbeya 23rd December 1930

                              Dearest Family,

                              George drove to Mbeya for stores last week and met Col. Sherwood-Kelly VC.
                              who has been sent by the Government to Mbeya as Game Ranger. His job will be to
                              protect native crops from raiding elephants and hippo etc., and to protect game from
                              poachers. He has had no training for this so he has asked George to go with him on his
                              first elephant safari to show him the ropes.

                              George likes Col. Kelly and was quite willing to go on safari but not willing to
                              leave me alone on the farm as I am still rather shaky after malaria. So it was arranged that
                              I should go to Mbeya and stay with Mrs Harmer, the wife of the newly appointed Lands
                              and Mines Officer, whose husband was away on safari.

                              So here I am in Mbeya staying in the Harmers temporary wattle and daub
                              house. Unfortunately I had a relapse of the malaria and stayed in bed for three days with
                              a temperature. Poor Mrs Harmer had her hands full because in the room next to mine
                              she was nursing a digger with blackwater fever. I could hear his delirious babble through
                              the thin wall – very distressing. He died poor fellow , and leaves a wife and seven
                              children.

                              I feel better than I have done for weeks and this afternoon I walked down to the
                              store. There are great signs of activity and people say that Mbeya will grow rapidly now
                              owing to the boom on the gold fields and also to the fact that a large aerodrome is to be
                              built here. Mbeya is to be a night stop on the proposed air service between England
                              and South Africa. I seem to be the last of the pioneers. If all these schemes come about
                              Mbeya will become quite suburban.

                              26th December 1930

                              George, Col. Kelly and Mr Harmer all returned to Mbeya on Christmas Eve and
                              it was decided that we should stay and have midday Christmas dinner with the
                              Harmers. Col. Kelly and the Assistant District Commissioner came too and it was quite a
                              festive occasion, We left Mbeya in the early afternoon and had our evening meal here at
                              Hickson-Wood’s farm. I wore my wedding dress.

                              I went across to our house in the car this morning. George usually walks across to
                              save petrol which is very expensive here. He takes a short cut and wades through the
                              river. The distance by road is very much longer than the short cut. The men are now
                              thatching the roof of our cottage and it looks charming. It consists of a very large living
                              room-dinning room with a large inglenook fireplace at one end. The bedroom is a large
                              square room with a smaller verandah room adjoining it. There is a wide verandah in the
                              front, from which one has a glorious view over a wide valley to the Livingstone
                              Mountains on the horizon. Bathroom and storeroom are on the back verandah and the
                              kitchen is some distance behind the house to minimise the risk of fire.

                              You can imagine how much I am looking forward to moving in. We have some
                              furniture which was made by an Indian carpenter at Iringa, refrectory dining table and
                              chairs, some small tables and two armchairs and two cupboards and a meatsafe. Other
                              things like bookshelves and extra cupboards we will have to make ourselves. George
                              has also bought a portable gramophone and records which will be a boon.
                              We also have an Irish wolfhound puppy, a skinny little chap with enormous feet
                              who keeps me company all day whilst George is across at our farm working on the
                              house.

                              Lots and lots of love,
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate 8th Jan 1931

                              Dearest Family,

                              Alas, I have lost my little companion. The Doctor called in here on Boxing night
                              and ran over and killed Paddy, our pup. It was not his fault but I was very distressed
                              about it and George has promised to try and get another pup from the same litter.
                              The Hickson-Woods returned home on the 29th December so we decided to
                              move across to our nearly finished house on the 1st January. Hicky Wood decided that
                              we needed something special to mark the occasion so he went off and killed a sucking
                              pig behind the kitchen. The piglet’s screams were terrible and I felt that I would not be
                              able to touch any dinner. Lamek cooked and served sucking pig up in the traditional way
                              but it was high and quite literally, it stank. Our first meal in our own home was not a
                              success.

                              However next day all was forgotten and I had something useful to do. George
                              hung doors and I held the tools and I also planted rose cuttings I had brought from
                              Mbeya and sowed several boxes with seeds.

                              Dad asked me about the other farms in the area. I haven’t visited any but there
                              are five besides ours. One belongs to the Lutheran Mission at Utengule, a few miles
                              from here. The others all belong to British owners. Nearest to Mbeya, at the foot of a
                              very high peak which gives Mbeya its name, are two farms, one belonging to a South
                              African mining engineer named Griffiths, the other to I.G.Stewart who was an officer in the
                              Kings African Rifles. Stewart has a young woman called Queenie living with him. We are
                              some miles further along the range of hills and are some 23 miles from Mbeya by road.
                              The Mchewe River divides our land from the Hickson-Woods and beyond their farm is
                              Major Jones.

                              All these people have been away from their farms for some time but have now
                              returned so we will have some neighbours in future. However although the houses are
                              not far apart as the crow flies, they are all built high in the foothills and it is impossible to
                              connect the houses because of the rivers and gorges in between. One has to drive right
                              down to the main road and then up again so I do not suppose we will go visiting very
                              often as the roads are very bumpy and eroded and petrol is so expensive that we all
                              save it for occasional trips to Mbeya.

                              The rains are on and George has started to plant out some coffee seedlings. The
                              rains here are strange. One can hear the rain coming as it moves like a curtain along the
                              range of hills. It comes suddenly, pours for a little while and passes on and the sun
                              shines again.

                              I do like it here and I wish you could see or dear little home.

                              Your loving,
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate. 1st April 1931

                              Dearest Family,

                              Everything is now running very smoothly in our home. Lamek continues to
                              produce palatable meals and makes wonderful bread which he bakes in a four gallon
                              petrol tin as we have no stove yet. He puts wood coals on the brick floor of the kitchen,
                              lays the tin lengh-wise on the coals and heaps more on top. The bread tins are then put
                              in the petrol tin, which has one end cut away, and the open end is covered by a flat
                              piece of tin held in place by a brick. Cakes are also backed in this make-shift oven and I
                              have never known Lamek to have a failure yet.

                              Lamek has a helper, known as the ‘mpishi boy’ , who does most of the hard
                              work, cleans pots and pans and chops the firewood etc. Another of the mpishi boy’s
                              chores is to kill the two chickens we eat each day. The chickens run wild during the day
                              but are herded into a small chicken house at night. One of the kitchen boy’s first duties is
                              to let the chickens out first thing in the early morning. Some time after breakfast it dawns
                              on Lamek that he will need a chicken for lunch. he informs the kitchen boy who selects a
                              chicken and starts to chase it in which he is enthusiastically joined by our new Irish
                              wolfhound pup, Kelly. Together they race after the frantic fowl, over the flower beds and
                              around the house until finally the chicken collapses from sheer exhaustion. The kitchen
                              boy then hands it over to Lamek who murders it with the kitchen knife and then pops the
                              corpse into boiling water so the feathers can be stripped off with ease.

                              I pointed out in vain, that it would be far simpler if the doomed chickens were kept
                              in the chicken house in the mornings when the others were let out and also that the correct
                              way to pluck chickens is when they are dry. Lamek just smiled kindly and said that that
                              may be so in Europe but that his way is the African way and none of his previous
                              Memsahibs has complained.

                              My houseboy, named James, is clean and capable in the house and also a
                              good ‘dhobi’ or washboy. He takes the washing down to the river and probably
                              pounds it with stones, but I prefer not to look. The ironing is done with a charcoal iron
                              only we have no charcoal and he uses bits of wood from the kitchen fire but so far there
                              has not been a mishap.

                              It gets dark here soon after sunset and then George lights the oil lamps and we
                              have tea and toast in front of the log fire which burns brightly in our inglenook. This is my
                              favourite hour of the day. Later George goes for his bath. I have mine in the mornings
                              and we have dinner at half past eight. Then we talk a bit and read a bit and sometimes
                              play the gramophone. I expect it all sounds pretty unexciting but it doesn’t seem so to
                              me.

                              Very much love,
                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate 20th April 1931

                              Dearest Family,

                              It is still raining here and the countryside looks very lush and green, very different
                              from the Mbeya district I first knew, when plains and hills were covered in long brown
                              grass – very course stuff that grows shoulder high.

                              Most of the labourers are hill men and one can see little patches of cultivation in
                              the hills. Others live in small villages near by, each consisting of a cluster of thatched huts
                              and a few maize fields and perhaps a patch of bananas. We do not have labour lines on
                              the farm because our men all live within easy walking distance. Each worker has a labour
                              card with thirty little squares on it. One of these squares is crossed off for each days work
                              and when all thirty are marked in this way the labourer draws his pay and hies himself off
                              to the nearest small store and blows the lot. The card system is necessary because
                              these Africans are by no means slaves to work. They work only when they feel like it or
                              when someone in the family requires a new garment, or when they need a few shillings
                              to pay their annual tax. Their fields, chickens and goats provide them with the food they
                              need but they draw rations of maize meal beans and salt. Only our headman is on a
                              salary. His name is Thomas and he looks exactly like the statues of Julius Caesar, the
                              same bald head and muscular neck and sardonic expression. He comes from Northern
                              Rhodesia and is more intelligent than the locals.

                              We still live mainly on chickens. We have a boy whose job it is to scour the
                              countryside for reasonable fat ones. His name is Lucas and he is quite a character. He
                              has such long horse teeth that he does not seem able to close his mouth and wears a
                              perpetual amiable smile. He brings his chickens in beehive shaped wicker baskets
                              which are suspended on a pole which Lucas carries on his shoulder.

                              We buy our groceries in bulk from Mbeya, our vegetables come from our
                              garden by the river and our butter from Kath Wood. Our fresh milk we buy from the
                              natives. It is brought each morning by three little totos each carrying one bottle on his
                              shaven head. Did I tell you that the local Wasafwa file their teeth to points. These kids
                              grin at one with their little sharks teeth – quite an “all-ready-to-eat-you-with-my-dear” look.
                              A few nights ago a message arrived from Kath Wood to say that Queenie
                              Stewart was very ill and would George drive her across to the Doctor at Tukuyu. I
                              wanted George to wait until morning because it was pouring with rain, and the mountain
                              road to Tukuyu is tricky even in dry weather, but he said it is dangerous to delay with any
                              kind of fever in Africa and he would have to start at once. So off he drove in the rain and I
                              did not see him again until the following night.

                              George said that it had been a nightmare trip. Queenie had a high temperature
                              and it was lucky that Kath was able to go to attend to her. George needed all his
                              attention on the road which was officially closed to traffic, and very slippery, and in some
                              places badly eroded. In some places the decking of bridges had been removed and
                              George had to get out in the rain and replace it. As he had nothing with which to fasten
                              the decking to the runners it was a dangerous undertaking to cross the bridges especially
                              as the rivers are now in flood and flowing strongly. However they reached Tukuyu safely
                              and it was just as well they went because the Doctor diagnosed Queenies illness as
                              Spirillium Tick Fever which is a very nasty illness indeed.

                              Eleanor.

                              Mchewe Estate. 20th May 1931

                              Dear Family,

                              I’m feeling fit and very happy though a bit lonely sometimes because George
                              spends much of his time away in the hills cutting a furrow miles long to bring water to the
                              house and to the upper part of the shamba so that he will be able to irrigate the coffee
                              during the dry season.

                              It will be quite an engineering feat when it is done as George only has makeshift
                              surveying instruments. He has mounted an ordinary cheap spirit level on an old camera
                              tripod and has tacked two gramophone needles into the spirit level to give him a line.
                              The other day part of a bank gave way and practically buried two of George’s labourers
                              but they were quickly rescued and no harm was done. However he will not let them
                              work unless he is there to supervise.

                              I keep busy so that the days pass quickly enough. I am delighted with the
                              material you sent me for curtains and loose covers and have hired a hand sewing
                              machine from Pedro-of-the-overcoat and am rattling away all day. The machine is an
                              ancient German one and when I say rattle, I mean rattle. It is a most cumbersome, heavy
                              affair of I should say, the same vintage as George Stevenson’s Rocket locomotive.
                              Anyway it sews and I am pleased with my efforts. We made a couch ourselves out of a
                              native bed, a mattress and some planks but all this is hidden under the chintz cover and
                              it looks quite the genuine bought article. I have some diversions too. Small black faced
                              monkeys sit in the trees outside our bedroom window and they are most entertaining to
                              watch. They are very mischievous though. When I went out into the garden this morning
                              before breakfast I found that the monkeys had pulled up all my carnations. There they
                              lay, roots in the air and whether they will take again I don’t know.

                              I like the monkeys but hate the big mountain baboons that come and hang
                              around our chicken house. I am terrified that they will tear our pup into bits because he is
                              a plucky young thing and will rush out to bark at the baboons.

                              George usually returns for the weekends but last time he did not because he had
                              a touch of malaria. He sent a boy down for the mail and some fresh bread. Old Lucas
                              arrived with chickens just as the messenger was setting off with mail and bread in a
                              haversack on his back. I thought it might be a good idea to send a chicken to George so
                              I selected a spry young rooster which I handed to the messenger. He, however,
                              complained that he needed both hands for climbing. I then had one of my bright ideas
                              and, putting a layer of newspaper over the bread, I tucked the rooster into the haversack
                              and buckled down the flap so only his head protruded.

                              I thought no more about it until two days later when the messenger again
                              appeared for fresh bread. He brought a rather terse note from George saying that the
                              previous bread was uneatable as the rooster had eaten some of it and messed on the
                              rest. Ah me!

                              The previous weekend the Hickson-Woods, Stewarts and ourselves, went
                              across to Tukuyu to attend a dance at the club there. the dance was very pleasant. All
                              the men wore dinner jackets and the ladies wore long frocks. As there were about
                              twenty men and only seven ladies we women danced every dance whilst the surplus
                              men got into a huddle around the bar. George and I spent the night with the Agricultural
                              Officer, Mr Eustace, and I met his fiancee, Lillian Austin from South Africa, to whom I took
                              a great liking. She is Governess to the children of Major Masters who has a farm in the
                              Tukuyu district.

                              On the Sunday morning we had a look at the township. The Boma was an old German one and was once fortified as the Africans in this district are a very warlike tribe.
                              They are fine looking people. The men wear sort of togas and bands of cloth around
                              their heads and look like Roman Senators, but the women go naked except for a belt
                              from which two broad straps hang down, one in front and another behind. Not a graceful
                              garb I assure you.

                              We also spent a pleasant hour in the Botanical Gardens, laid out during the last
                              war by the District Commissioner, Major Wells, with German prisoner of war labour.
                              There are beautiful lawns and beds of roses and other flowers and shady palm lined
                              walks and banana groves. The gardens are terraced with flights of brick steps connecting
                              the different levels and there is a large artificial pond with little islands in it. I believe Major
                              Wells designed the lake to resemble in miniature, the Lakes of Killarney.
                              I enjoyed the trip very much. We got home at 8 pm to find the front door locked
                              and the kitchen boy fast asleep on my newly covered couch! I hastily retreated to the
                              bedroom whilst George handled the situation.

                              Eleanor.

                              #6243
                              TracyTracy
                              Participant

                                William Housley’s Will and the Court Case

                                William Housley died in 1848, but his widow Ellen didn’t die until 1872.  The court case was in 1873.  Details about the court case are archived at the National Archives at Kew,  in London, but are not available online. They can be viewed in person, but that hasn’t been possible thus far.  However, there are a great many references to it in the letters.

                                William Housley’s first wife was Mary Carrington 1787-1813.  They had three children, Mary Anne, Elizabeth and William. When Mary died, William married Mary’s sister Ellen, not in their own parish church at Smalley but in Ashbourne.  Although not uncommon for a widower to marry a deceased wife’s sister, it wasn’t legal.  This point is mentioned in one of the letters.

                                One of the pages of William Housley’s will:

                                William Housleys Will

                                 

                                An excerpt from Barbara Housley’s Narrative on the Letters:

                                A comment in a letter from Joseph (August 6, 1873) indicated that William was married twice and that his wives were sisters: “What do you think that I believe that Mary Ann is trying to make our father’s will of no account as she says that my father’s marriage with our mother was not lawful he marrying two sisters. What do you think of her? I have heard my mother say something about paying a fine at the time of the marriage to make it legal.” Markwell and Saul in The A-Z Guide to Tracing Ancestors in Britain explain that marriage to a deceased wife’s sister was not permissible under Canon law as the relationship was within the prohibited degrees. However, such marriages did take place–usually well away from the couple’s home area. Up to 1835 such marriages were not void but were voidable by legal action. Few such actions were instituted but the risk was always there.

                                Joseph wrote that when Emma was married, Ellen “broke up the comfortable home and the things went to Derby and she went to live with them but Derby didn’t agree with her so she left again leaving her things behind and came to live with John in the new house where she died.” Ellen was listed with John’s household in the 1871 census. 
                                In May 1872, the Ilkeston Pioneer carried this notice: “Mr. Hopkins will sell by auction on Saturday next the eleventh of May 1872 the whole of the useful furniture, sewing machine, etc. nearly new on the premises of the late Mrs. Housley at Smalley near Heanor in the county of Derby. Sale at one o’clock in the afternoon.”

                                There were hard feelings between Mary Ann and Ellen and her children. Anne wrote: “If you remember we were not very friendly when you left. They never came and nothing was too bad for Mary Ann to say of Mother and me, but when Robert died Mother sent for her to the funeral but she did not think well to come so we took no more notice. She would not allow her children to come either.”
                                Mary Ann was still living in May 1872. Joseph implied that she and her brother, Will “intend making a bit of bother about the settlement of the bit of property” left by their mother. The 1871 census listed Mary Ann’s occupation as “income from houses.”

                                In July 1872, Joseph introduced Ruth’s husband: “No doubt he is a bad lot. He is one of the Heath’s of Stanley Common a miller and he lives at Smalley Mill” (Ruth Heath was Mary Anne Housley’s daughter)
                                In 1873 Joseph wrote, “He is nothing but a land shark both Heath and his wife and his wife is the worst of the two. You will think these is hard words but they are true dear brother.” The solicitor, Abraham John Flint, was not at all pleased with Heath’s obstruction of the settlement of the estate. He wrote on June 30, 1873: “Heath agreed at first and then because I would not pay his expenses he refused and has since instructed another solicitor for his wife and Mrs. Weston who have been opposing us to the utmost. I am concerned for all parties interested except these two….The judge severely censured Heath for his conduct and wanted to make an order for sale there and then but Heath’s council would not consent….” In June 1875, the solicitor wrote: “Heath bid for the property but it fetched more money than he could give for it. He has been rather quieter lately.”

                                In May 1872, Joseph wrote: “For what do you think, John has sold his share and he has acted very bad since his wife died and at the same time he sold all his furniture. You may guess I have never seen him but once since poor mother’s funeral and he is gone now no one knows where.”

                                In 1876, the solicitor wrote to George: “Have you heard of John Housley? He is entitled to Robert’s share and I want him to claim it.”

                                Anne intended that one third of the inheritance coming to her from her father and her grandfather, William Carrington, be divided between her four nieces: Sam’s three daughters and John’s daughter Elizabeth.
                                In the same letter (December 15, 1872), Joseph wrote:
                                “I think we have now found all out now that is concerned in the matter for there was only Sam that we did not know his whereabouts but I was informed a week ago that he is dead–died about three years ago in Birmingham Union. Poor Sam. He ought to have come to a better end than that”

                                However, Samuel was still alive was on the 1871 census in Henley in Arden, and no record of his death can be found. Samuel’s brother in law said he was dead: we do not know why he lied, or perhaps the brothers were lying to keep his share, or another possibility is that Samuel himself told his brother in law to tell them that he was dead. I am inclined to think it was the latter.

                                Excerpts from Barbara Housley’s Narrative on the Letters continued:

                                Charles went to Australia in 1851, and was last heard from in January 1853. According to the solicitor, who wrote to George on June 3, 1874, Charles had received advances on the settlement of their parent’s estate. “Your promissory note with the two signed by your brother Charles for 20 pounds he received from his father and 20 pounds he received from his mother are now in the possession of the court.”

                                In December 1872, Joseph wrote: “I’m told that Charles two daughters has wrote to Smalley post office making inquiries about his share….” In January 1876, the solicitor wrote: “Charles Housley’s children have claimed their father’s share.”

                                In the Adelaide Observer 28 Aug 1875

                                HOUSLEY – wanted information
                                as to the Death, Will, or Intestacy, and
                                Children of Charles Housley, formerly of
                                Smalley, Derbyshire, England, who died at
                                Geelong or Creewick Creek Diggings, Victoria
                                August, 1855. His children will hear of something to their advantage by communicating with
                                Mr. A J. Flint, solicitor, Derby, England.
                                June 16,1875.

                                The Diggers & Diggings of Victoria in 1855. Drawn on Stone by S.T. Gill:

                                Victoria Diggings, Australie

                                 

                                The court case:

                                 Kerry v Housley.
                                Documents: Bill, demurrer.
                                Plaintiffs: Samuel Kerry and Joseph Housley.
                                Defendants: William Housley, Joseph Housley (deleted), Edwin Welch Harvey, Eleanor Harvey (deleted), Ernest Harvey infant, William Stafford, Elizabeth Stafford his wife, Mary Ann Housley, George Purdy and Catherine Purdy his wife, Elizabeth Housley, Mary Ann Weston widow and William Heath and Ruth Heath his wife (deleted).
                                Provincial solicitor employed in Derbyshire.
                                Date: 1873

                                From the Narrative on the Letters:

                                The solicitor wrote on May 23, 1874: “Lately I have not written because I was not certain of your address and because I doubted I had much interesting news to tell you.” Later, Joseph wrote concerning the problems settling the estate, “You see dear brother there is only me here on our side and I cannot do much. I wish you were here to help me a bit and if you think of going for another summer trip this turn you might as well run over here.”

                                In March 1873, Joseph wrote: “You ask me what I think of you coming to England. I think as you have given the trustee power to sign for you I think you could do no good but I should like to see you once again for all that. I can’t say whether there would be anything amiss if you did come as you say it would be throwing good money after bad.”

                                In September 1872 Joseph wrote; “My wife is anxious to come. I hope it will suit her health for she is not over strong.” Elsewhere Joseph wrote that Harriet was “middling sometimes. She is subject to sick headaches. It knocks her up completely when they come on.” In December 1872 Joseph wrote, “Now dear brother about us coming to America you know we shall have to wait until this affair is settled and if it is not settled and thrown into Chancery I’m afraid we shall have to stay in England for I shall never be able to save money enough to bring me out and my family but I hope of better things.”
                                On July 19, 1875 Abraham Flint (the solicitor) wrote: “Joseph Housley has removed from Smalley and is working on some new foundry buildings at Little Chester near Derby. He lives at a village called Little Eaton near Derby. If you address your letter to him as Joseph Housley, carpenter, Little Eaton near Derby that will no doubt find him.”

                                In his last letter (February 11, 1874), Joseph sounded very discouraged and wrote that Harriet’s parents were very poorly and both had been “in bed for a long time.” In addition, Harriet and the children had been ill.
                                The move to Little Eaton may indicate that Joseph received his settlement because in August, 1873, he wrote: “I think this is bad news enough and bad luck too, but I have had little else since I came to live at Kiddsley cottages but perhaps it is all for the best if one could only think so. I have begun to think there will be no chance for us coming over to you for I am afraid there will not be so much left as will bring us out without it is settled very shortly but I don’t intend leaving this house until it is settled either one way or the other. ”

                                Joseph’s letters were much concerned with the settling of their mother’s estate. In 1854, Anne wrote, “As for my mother coming (to America) I think not at all likely. She is tied here with her property.” A solicitor, Abraham John Flint of 42 Full Street Derby, was engaged by John following the death of their mother. On June 30, 1873 the solicitor wrote: “Dear sir, On the death of your mother I was consulted by your brother John. I acted for him with reference to the sale and division of your father’s property at Smalley. Mr. Kerry was very unwilling to act as trustee being over 73 years of age but owing to the will being a badly drawn one we could not appoint another trustee in his place nor could the property be sold without a decree of chancery. Therefore Mr. Kerry consented and after a great deal of trouble with Heath who has opposed us all throughout whenever matters did not suit him, we found the title deeds and offered the property for sale by public auction on the 15th of July last. Heath could not find his purchase money without mortaging his property the solicitor which the mortgagee employed refused to accept Mr. Kerry’s title and owing to another defect in the will we could not compel them.”

                                In July 1872, Joseph wrote, “I do not know whether you can remember who the trustee was to my father’s will. It was Thomas Watson and Samuel Kerry of Smalley Green. Mr. Watson is dead (died a fortnight before mother) so Mr. Kerry has had to manage the affair.”

                                On Dec. 15, 1972, Joseph wrote, “Now about this property affair. It seems as far off of being settled as ever it was….” and in the following March wrote: “I think we are as far off as ever and farther I think.”

                                Concerning the property which was auctioned on July 15, 1872 and brought 700 pounds, Joseph wrote: “It was sold in five lots for building land and this man Heath bought up four lots–that is the big house, the croft and the cottages. The croft was made into two lots besides the piece belonging to the big house and the cottages and gardens was another lot and the little intake was another. William Richardson bought that.” Elsewhere Richardson’s purchase was described as “the little croft against Smith’s lane.” Smith’s Lane was probably named for their neighbor Daniel Smith, Mrs. Davy’s father.
                                But in December 1872, Joseph wrote that they had not received any money because “Mr. Heath is raising all kinds of objections to the will–something being worded wrong in the will.” In March 1873, Joseph “clarified” matters in this way: “His objection was that one trustee could not convey the property that his signature was not guarantee sufficient as it states in the will that both trustees has to sign the conveyance hence this bother.”
                                Joseph indicated that six shares were to come out of the 700 pounds besides Will’s 20 pounds. Children were to come in for the parents shares if dead. The solicitor wrote in 1873, “This of course refers to the Kidsley property in which you take a one seventh share and which if the property sells well may realize you about 60-80 pounds.” In March 1873 Joseph wrote: “You have an equal share with the rest in both lots of property, but I am afraid there will be but very little for any of us.”

                                The other “lot of property” was “property in Smalley left under another will.” On July 17, 1872, Joseph wrote: “It was left by my grandfather Carrington and Uncle Richard is trustee. He seems very backward in bringing the property to a sale but I saw him and told him that I for one expect him to proceed with it.” George seemed to have difficulty understanding that there were two pieces of property so Joseph explained further: “It was left by my grandfather Carrington not by our father and Uncle Richard is the trustee for it but the will does not give him power to sell without the signatures of the parties concerned.” In June 1873 the solicitor Abraham John Flint asked: “Nothing has been done about the other property at Smalley at present. It wants attention and the other parties have asked me to attend to it. Do you authorize me to see to it for you as well?”
                                After Ellen’s death, the rent was divided between Joseph, Will, Mary Ann and Mr. Heath who bought John’s share and was married to Mary Ann’s daughter, Ruth. Joseph said that Mr. Heath paid 40 pounds for John’s share and that John had drawn 110 pounds in advance. The solicitor said Heath said he paid 60. The solicitor said that Heath was trying to buy the shares of those at home to get control of the property and would have defied the absent ones to get anything.
                                In September 1872 Joseph wrote that the lawyer said the trustee cannot sell the property at the bottom of Smalley without the signatures of all parties concerned in it and it will have to go through chancery court which will be a great expense. He advised Joseph to sell his share and Joseph advised George to do the same.

                                George sent a “portrait” so that it could be established that it was really him–still living and due a share. Joseph wrote (July 1872): “the trustee was quite willing to (acknowledge you) for the portrait I think is a very good one.” Several letters later in response to an inquiry from George, Joseph wrote: “The trustee recognized you in a minute…I have not shown it to Mary Ann for we are not on good terms….Parties that I have shown it to own you again but they say it is a deal like John. It is something like him, but I think is more like myself.”
                                In September 1872 Joseph wrote that the lawyer required all of their ages and they would have to pay “succession duty”. Joseph requested that George send a list of birth dates.

                                On May 23, 1874, the solicitor wrote: “I have been offered 240 pounds for the three cottages and the little house. They sold for 200 pounds at the last sale and then I was offered 700 pounds for the whole lot except Richardson’s Heanor piece for which he is still willing to give 58 pounds. Thus you see that the value of the estate has very materially increased since the last sale so that this delay has been beneficial to your interests than other-wise. Coal has become much dearer and they suppose there is coal under this estate. There are many enquiries about it and I believe it will realize 800 pounds or more which increase will more than cover all expenses.” Eventually the solicitor wrote that the property had been sold for 916 pounds and George would take a one-ninth share.

                                January 14, 1876:  “I am very sorry to hear of your lameness and illness but I trust that you are now better. This matter as I informed you had to stand over until December since when all the costs and expenses have been taxed and passed by the court and I am expecting to receive the order for these this next week, then we have to pay the legacy duty and them divide the residue which I doubt won’t come to very much amongst so many of you. But you will hear from me towards the end of the month or early next month when I shall have to send you the papers to sign for your share. I can’t tell you how much it will be at present as I shall have to deduct your share with the others of the first sale made of the property before it went to court.
                                Wishing you a Happy New Year, I am Dear Sir, Yours truly
                                Abram J. Flint”

                                September 15, 1876 (the last letter)
                                “I duly received your power of attorney which appears to have been properly executed on Thursday last and I sent it on to my London agent, Mr. Henry Lyvell, who happens just now to be away for his annual vacation and will not return for 14 or 20 days and as his signature is required by the Paymaster General before he will pay out your share, it must consequently stand over and await his return home. It shall however receive immediate attention as soon as he returns and I hope to be able to send your checque for the balance very shortly.”

                                1874 in chancery:

                                Housley Estate Sale

                                #6242
                                TracyTracy
                                Participant

                                  The Housley Letters

                                  We discovered that one of Samuel’s brothers, George Housley 1826-1877,  emigrated to America in 1851, to Solebury, in Pennsylvania. Another brother, Charles 1823-1856, emigrated to Australia at the same time.

                                  I wrote to the Solebury Historical Society to ask them if they had any information on the Housleys there. About a month later I had a very helpful and detailed reply from them.

                                  There were Housley people in Solebury Township and nearby communities from 1854 to at least 1973, perhaps 1985. George Housley immigrated in 1851, arriving in New York from London in July 1851 on the ship “Senator”. George was in Solebury by 1854, when he is listed on the tax roles for the Township He didn’t own land at that time. Housley family members mostly lived in the Lumberville area, a village in Solebury, or in nearby Buckingham or Wrightstown. The second wife of Howard (aka Harry) Housley was Elsa (aka Elsie) R. Heed, the daughter of the Lumberville Postmaster. Elsie was the proprietor of the Lumberville General Store from 1939 to 1973, and may have continued to live in Lumberville until her death in 1985. The Lumberville General Store was, and still is, a focal point of the community. The store was also the official Post Office at one time, hence the connection between Elsie’s father as Postmaster, and Elsie herself as the proprietor of the store. The Post Office function at Lumberville has been reduced now to a bank of cluster mailboxes, and official U.S. Postal functions are now in Point Pleasant, PA a few miles north of Lumberville.
                                  We’ve attached a pdf of the Housley people buried in Carversville Cemetery, which is in the town next to Lumberville, and is still in Solebury Township. We hope this list will confirm that these are your relatives.

                                  It doesn’t seem that any Housley people still live in the area. Some of George’s descendents moved to Wilkes-Barre, PA and Flemington, NJ. One descendent, Barbara Housley, lived in nearby Doylestown, PA, which is the county seat for Bucks County. She actually visited Solebury Township Historical Society looking for Housley relatives, and it would have been nice to connect you with her. Unfortunately she died in 2018. Her obituary is attached in case you want to follow up with the nieces and great nieces who are listed.

                                  Lumberville General Store, Pennsylvania, Elsie Housley:

                                  Lumberville

                                   

                                  I noticed the name of Barbara’s brother Howard Housley in her obituary, and found him on facebook.  I knew it was the right Howard Housley as I recognized Barbara’s photograph in his friends list as the same photo in the obituary.  Howard didn’t reply initially to a friend request from a stranger, so I found his daughter Laura on facebook and sent her a message.  She replied, spoke to her father, and we exchanged email addresses and were able to start a correspondence.  I simply could not believe my luck when Howard sent me a 17 page file of Barbara’s Narrative on the Letters with numerous letter excerpts interspersed with her own research compiled on a six month trip to England.

                                  The letters were written to George between 1851 and the 1870s, from the Housley family in Smalley.

                                  Narrative of Historic Letters ~ Barbara Housley.
                                  AND BELIEVE ME EVER MY DEAR BROTHER, YOUR AFFECTIONATE FAMILY
                                  In February 1991, I took a picture of my 16 month old niece Laura Ann Housley standing near the tombstones of her great-great-great-grandparents, George and Sarah Ann Hill Housley. The occassion was the funeral of another Sarah Housley, Sarah Lord Housley, wife of Albert Kilmer Housley, youngest son of John Eley Housley (George and Sarah Ann’s first born). Laura Ann’s great-grandfather (my grandfather) was another George, John Eley’s first born. It was Aunt Sarah who brought my mother, Lois, a packet of papers which she had found in the attic. Mom spent hours transcribing the letters which had been written first horizontally and then vertically to save paper. What began to emerge was a priceless glimpse into the lives and concerns of Housleys who lived and died over a century ago. All of the letters ended with the phrase “And believe me ever my dear brother, your affectionate….”
                                  The greeting and opening remarks of each of the letters are included in a list below. The sentence structure and speech patterns have not been altered however spelling and some punctuation has been corrected. Some typical idiosyncrasies were: as for has, were for where and vice versa, no capitals at the beginnings of sentences, occasional commas and dashes but almost no periods. Emma appears to be the best educated of the three Housley letter-writers. Sister-in-law Harriet does not appear to be as well educated as any of the others. Since their mother did not write but apparently was in good health, it must be assumed that she could not.
                                  The people discussed and described in the following pages are for the most part known to be the family and friends of the Housleys of Smalley, Derbyshire, England. However, practically every page brings conjectures about the significance of persons who are mentioned in the letters and information about persons whose names seem to be significant but who have not yet been established as actual members of the family.

                                  To say this was a priceless addition to the family research is an understatement. I have since, with Howard’s permission, sent the file to the Derby Records Office for their family history section.  We are hoping that Howard will find the actual letters in among the boxes he has of his sisters belongings.  Some of the letters mention photographs that were sent. Perhaps some will be found.

                                  #6240
                                  TracyTracy
                                  Participant

                                    Phyllis Ellen Marshall

                                    1909 – 1983

                                    Phyllis Marshall

                                     

                                    Phyllis, my grandfather George Marshall’s sister, never married. She lived in her parents home in Love Lane, and spent decades of her later life bedridden, living alone and crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. She had her bed in the front downstairs room, and had cords hanging by her bed to open the curtains, turn on the tv and so on, and she had carers and meals on wheels visit her daily. The room was dark and grim, but Phyllis was always smiling and cheerful.  Phyllis loved the Degas ballerinas and had a couple of prints on the walls.

                                    I remember visiting her, but it has only recently registered that this was my great grandparents house. When I was a child, we visited her and she indicated a tin on a chest of drawers and said I could take a biscuit. It was a lemon puff, and was the stalest biscuit I’d ever had. To be polite I ate it. Then she offered me another one! I declined, but she thought I was being polite and said “Go on! You can have another!” I ate another one, and have never eaten a lemon puff since that day.

                                    Phyllis’s nephew Bryan Marshall used to visit her regularly. I didn’t realize how close they were until recently, when I resumed contact with Bryan, who emigrated to USA in the 1970s following a successful application for a job selling stained glass windows and church furnishings.

                                    I asked on a Stourbridge facebook group if anyone remembered her.

                                    AF  Yes I remember her. My friend and I used to go up from Longlands school every Friday afternoon to do jobs for her. I remember she had a record player and we used to put her 45rpm record on Send in the Clowns for her. Such a lovely lady. She had her bed in the front room.

                                    KW I remember very clearly a lady in a small house in Love Lane with alley at the left hand.  I was intrigued by this lady who used to sit with the front door open and she was in a large chair of some sort. I used to see people going in and out and the lady was smiling. I was young then (31) and wondered how she coped but my sense was she had lots of help.  I’ve never forgotten that lady in Love Lane sitting in the open door way I suppose when it was warm enough.

                                    LR I used to deliver meals on wheels to her lovely lady.

                                    I sent Bryan the comments from the Stourbridge group and he replied:

                                    Thanks Tracy. I don’t recognize the names here but lovely to see such kind comments.
                                    In the early 70’s neighbors on Corser Street, Mr. & Mrs. Walter Braithwaite would pop around with occasional visits and meals. Walter was my piano teacher for awhile when I was in my early twenties. He was a well known music teacher at Rudolph Steiner School (former Elmfield School) on Love Lane. A very fine school. I seem to recall seeing a good article on Walter recently…perhaps on the Stourbridge News website. He was very well known.
                                    I’m ruminating about life with my Aunt Phyllis. We were very close. Our extra special time was every Saturday at 5pm (I seem to recall) we’d watch Doctor Who. Right from the first episode. We loved it. Likewise I’d do the children’s crossword out of Woman’s Realm magazine…always looking to win a camera but never did ! She opened my mind to the Bible, music and ballet. She once got tickets and had a taxi take us into Birmingham to see the Bolshoi Ballet…at a time when they rarely left their country. It was a very big deal in the early 60’s. ! I’ve many fond memories about her and grandad which I’ll share in due course. I’d change the steel needle on the old record player, following each play of the 78rpm records…oh my…another world.

                                    Bryan continues reminiscing about Phyllis in further correspondence:

                                    Yes, I can recall those two Degas prints. I don’t know much of Phyllis’ early history other than she was a hairdresser in Birmingham. I want to say at John Lewis, for some reason (so there must have been a connection and being such a large store I bet they did have a salon?)
                                    You will know that she had severe and debilitating rheumatoid arthritis that eventually gnarled her hands and moved through her body. I remember strapping on her leg/foot braces and hearing her writhe in pain as I did so but she wanted to continue walking standing/ getting up as long as she could. I’d take her out in the wheelchair and I can’t believe I say it along …but down Stanley Road!! (I had subsequent nightmares about what could have happened to her, had I tripped or let go!) She loved Mary Stevens Park, the swans, ducks and of course Canadian geese. Was grateful for everything in creation. As I used to go over Hanbury Hill on my visit to Love Lane, she would always remind me to smell the “sea-air” as I crested the hill.
                                    In the earlier days she smoked cigarettes with one of those long filters…looking like someone from the twenties.

                                    I’ll check on “Send in the clowns”. I do recall that music. I remember also she loved to hear Neil Diamond. Her favorites in classical music gave me an appreciation of Elgar and Delius especially. She also loved ballet music such as Swan Lake and Nutcracker. Scheherazade and La Boutique Fantastic also other gems.
                                    When grandad died she and aunt Dorothy shared more about grandma (who died I believe when John and I were nine-months old…therefore early 1951). Grandma (Mary Ann Gilman Purdy) played the piano and loved Strauss and Offenbach. The piano in the picture you sent had a bad (wonky) leg which would fall off and when we had the piano at 4, Mount Road it was rather dangerous. In any event my parents didn’t want me or others “banging on it” for fear of waking the younger brothers so it disappeared at sometime.
                                    By the way, the dog, Flossy was always so rambunctious (of course, she was a JRT!) she was put on the stairway which fortunately had a door on it. Having said that I’ve always loved dogs so was very excited to see her and disappointed when she was not around. 

                                    Phyllis with her parents William and Mary Marshall, and Flossie the dog in the garden at Love Lane:

                                    Phyllis William and Mary Marshall

                                     

                                    Bryan continues:

                                    I’ll always remember the early days with the outside toilet with the overhead cistern caked in active BIG spider webs. I used to have to light a candle to go outside, shielding the flame until destination. In that space I’d set the candle down and watch the eery shadows move from side to side whilst…well anyway! Then I’d run like hell back into the house. Eventually the kitchen wall was broken through so it became an indoor loo. Phew!
                                    In the early days the house was rented for ten-shillings a week…I know because I used to take over a ten-bob-note to a grumpy lady next door who used to sign the receipt in the rent book. Then, I think she died and it became available for $600.00 yes…the whole house for $600.00 but it wasn’t purchased then. Eventually aunt Phyllis purchased it some years later…perhaps when grandad died.

                                    I used to work much in the back garden which was a lovely walled garden with arch-type decorations in the brickwork and semicircular shaped capping bricks. The abundant apple tree. Raspberry and loganberry canes. A gooseberry bush and huge Victoria plum tree on the wall at the bottom of the garden which became a wonderful attraction for wasps! (grandad called the “whasps”). He would stew apples and fruit daily.
                                    Do you remember their black and white cat Twinky? Always sat on the pink-screen TV and when she died they were convinced that “that’s wot got ‘er”. Grandad of course loved all his cats and as he aged, he named them all “Billy”.

                                    Have you come across the name “Featherstone” in grandma’s name. I don’t recall any details but Dorothy used to recall this. She did much searching of the family history Such a pity she didn’t hand anything on to anyone. She also said that we had a member of the family who worked with James Watt….but likewise I don’t have details.
                                    Gifts of chocolates to Phyllis were regular and I became the recipient of the overflow!

                                    What a pity Dorothy’s family history research has disappeared!  I have found the Featherstone’s, and the Purdy who worked with James Watt, but I wonder what else Dorothy knew.

                                    I mentioned DH Lawrence to Bryan, and the connection to Eastwood, where Bryan’s grandma (and Phyllis’s mother) Mary Ann Gilman Purdy was born, and shared with him the story about Francis Purdy, the Primitive Methodist minister, and about Francis’s son William who invented the miners lamp.

                                    He replied:

                                    As a nosy young man I was looking through the family bookcase in Love Lane and came across a brown paper covered book. Intrigued, I found “Sons and Lovers” D.H. Lawrence. I knew it was a taboo book (in those days) as I was growing up but now I see the deeper connection. Of course! I know that Phyllis had I think an earlier boyfriend by the name of Maurice who lived in Perry Barr, Birmingham. I think he later married but was always kind enough to send her a book and fond message each birthday (Feb.12). I guess you know grandad’s birthday – July 28. We’d always celebrate those days. I’d usually be the one to go into Oldswinford and get him a cardigan or pullover and later on, his 2oz tins of St. Bruno tobacco for his pipe (I recall the room filled with smoke as he puffed away).
                                    Dorothy and Phyllis always spoke of their ancestor’s vocation as a Minister. So glad to have this history! Wow, what a story too. The Lord rescued him from mischief indeed. Just goes to show how God can change hearts…one at a time.
                                    So interesting to hear about the Miner’s Lamp. My vicar whilst growing up at St. John’s in Stourbridge was from Durham and each Harvest Festival, there would be a miner’s lamp placed upon the altar as a symbol of the colliery and the bountiful harvest.

                                    More recollections from Bryan about the house and garden at Love Lane:

                                    I always recall tea around the three legged oak table bedecked with a colorful seersucker cloth. Battenburg cake. Jam Roll. Rich Tea and Digestive biscuits. Mr. Kipling’s exceedingly good cakes! Home-made jam.  Loose tea from the Coronation tin cannister. The ancient mangle outside the back door and the galvanized steel wash tub with hand-operated agitator on the underside of the lid. The hand operated water pump ‘though modernisation allowed for a cold tap only inside, above the single sink and wooden draining board. A small gas stove and very little room for food preparation. Amazing how the Marshalls (×7) managed in this space!

                                    The small window over the sink in the kitchen brought in little light since the neighbor built on a bathroom annex at the back of their house, leaving #47 with limited light, much to to upset of grandad and Phyllis. I do recall it being a gloomy place..i.e.the kitchen and back room.

                                    The garden was lovely. Long and narrow with privet hedge dividing the properties on the right and the lovely wall on the left. Dorothy planted spectacular lilac bushes against the wall. Vivid blues, purples and whites. Double-flora. Amazing…and with stunning fragrance. Grandad loved older victorian type plants such as foxgloves and comfrey. Forget-me-nots and marigolds (calendulas) in abundance.  Rhubarb stalks. Always plantings of lettuce and other vegetables. Lots of mint too! A large varigated laurel bush outside the front door!

                                    Such a pleasant walk through the past. 

                                    An autograph book belonging to Phyllis from the 1920s has survived in which each friend painted a little picture, drew a cartoon, or wrote a verse.  This entry is perhaps my favourite:

                                    Ripping Time

                                    #6238
                                    TracyTracy
                                    Participant

                                      Ellen (Nellie) Purdy

                                      My grandfathers aunt Nellie Purdy 1872-1947 grew up with his mother Mary Ann at the Gilmans in Buxton.  We knew she was a nurse or a matron, and that she made a number of trips to USA.

                                      I started looking for passenger lists and immigration lists (we had already found some of them, and my cousin Linda Marshall in Boston found some of them), and found one in 1904 with details of the “relatives address while in US”.

                                      October 31st, 1904, Ellen Purdy sailed from Liverpool to Baltimore on the Friesland. She was a 32 year old nurse and she paid for her own ticket. The address of relatives in USA was Druid Hill and Lafayette Ave, Baltimore, Maryland.

                                      I wondered if she stayed with relatives, perhaps they were the Housley descendants. It was her great uncle George Housley who emigrated in 1851, not so far away in Pennsylvania. I wanted to check the Baltimore census to find out the names at that address, in case they were Housley’s. So I joined a Baltimore History group on facebook, and asked how I might find out.  The people were so enormously helpful!  The address was the Home of the Friendless, an orphanage. (a historic landmark of some note I think), and someone even found Ellen Purdy listed in the Baltimore directory as a nurse there.

                                      She sailed back to England in 1913.   Ellen sailed in 1900 and 1920 as well but I haven’t unraveled those trips yet.

                                      THE HOME OF THE FRIENDLESS, is situated at the corner of Lafayette and Druid Hill avenues, Baltimore. It is a large brick building, which was erected at a cost of $62,000. It was organized in 1854.The chief aim of the founders of this institution was to respond to a need for providing a home for the friendless and homeless children, orphans, and half-orphans, or the offspring of vagrants. It has been managed since its organization by a board of ladies, who, by close attention and efficient management, have made the institution one of the most prominent charitable institutions in the State. From its opening to the present time there have been received 5,000 children, and homes have been secured for nearly one thousand of this number. The institution has a capacity of about 200 inmates. The present number of beneficiaries is 165. A kindergarten and other educational facilities are successfully conducted. The home knows no demonimational creed, being non-sectarian. Its principal source of revenue is derived from private contributions. For many years the State has appropriated different sums towards it maintenance, and the General Assembly of 1892 contributed the sum of $3,000 per annum.

                                      A later trip:   The ship’s manifest from May 1920 the Baltic lists Ellen on board arriving in Ellis Island heading to Baltimore age 48. The next of kin is listed as George Purdy (her father) of 2 Gregory Blvd Forest Side, Nottingham. She’s listed as a nurse, and sailed from Liverpool May 8 1920.

                                      Ellen Purdy

                                       

                                      Ellen eventually retired in England and married Frank Garbett, a tax collector,  at the age of 51 in Herefordshire.  Judging from the number of newspaper articles I found about her, she was an active member of the community and was involved in many fundraising activities for the local cottage hospital.

                                      Her obituary in THE KINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 8, 1947:
                                      Mrs. Ellen Garbett wife of Mr. F. Garbett, of Brook Cottage, Kingsland, whose funeral took place at St. Michael’s Church, Kingsland, on October 30th, was a familiar figure in the district, and by her genial manner and kindly ways had endeared herself to many.
                                      Mrs Garbett had had a wide experience in the nursing profession. Beginning her training in this country, she went to the Italian Riviera and there continued her work, later going to the United States. In 1916 she gained the Q.A.I.M.N.S. and returned to England and was appointed sister at the Lord Derby Military Hospital, an appointment she held for four years.

                                      We didn’t know that Ellen had worked on the Italian Riviera, and hope in due course to find out more about it.

                                      Mike Rushby, Ellen’s sister Kate’s grandson in Australia, spoke to his sister in USA recently about Nellie Purdy. She replied:   I told you I remembered Auntie Nellie coming to Jacksdale. She gave me a small green leatherette covered bible which I still have ( though in a very battered condition). Here is a picture of it.

                                      Ellen Purdy bible

                                      #6223
                                      TracyTracy
                                      Participant

                                        Kate Purdy and the DH Lawrence Connection

                                        Catherine (Kate) Purdy 1874-1950  was my grandfather George Marshall’s aunt, and the mother of George Rushby who went to Africa.  The photo is one of our family photos, and we knew that the woman at the back third from the right was an aunt of my grandfather’s. We didn’t know that it was Kate until we saw other photos of her in Mike’s collection.

                                        DH Lawrence was born in Eastwood at roughly the same time as my great grandmother Mary Ann Gilman Purdy. Apparently his books are based on actual people living in the area at the time, so I read as many of his books as I could find, to help paint the picture of the time and place.  I also found out via an Eastwood facebook group, that he was not well liked there, and still isn’t. They say he was a wife beater, a groper and was cruel to animals, and they did not want a statue of him in their town!

                                        Kate Rushby third from right back row:

                                        Kate Rushby

                                        Kate Rushby’s story as told by her grandson Mike:

                                        George’s daughter Catherine (Kate) Purdy grew up in Eastwood and was living at Walnut Tree Lane when, at the age of 21, and on the 24 Sep 1894, she married John Henry Payling Rushby who was a policeman in the Grimsby Police. John Henry left the Police and together they bought a public house “The Three Tuns Inn” at Beggarlee. The establishment was frequented by amongst others, the writer D.H.Lawrence who wrote much of his book “Sons and Lovers” in the Inn. In his book he calls the Inn “The Moon and Stars” and mentions Kate. though not by name.

                                        John Henry Rushby had two children, Charlotte and George Gilman Rushby. But a year after the birth of George on 28 Feb 1900, John Henry died at the age of thirty on 13 Sep 1901. He liked to show off his strength to his friends by lifting above his head an oak barrel full of beer. This would have weighed almost 200 kilograms. “He bust his gut” Kate said. He died of peritonitis following a hernia.

                                        Following the death of John Henry, Kate managed the Three Tuns Inn on her own. But a regular visitor to the Inn was Frank Freer who was a singer and used to entertain the patrons with his fine baritone voice and by playing the cornet. He and Kate got married, but he turned out to be a drunk who beat his wife and was cruel to her son. They separated and he died from alcoholism, though he may also have been struck on the head with a beer bottle by a person unknown. She then married Mr Gregory Simpson who fathered a daughter Catherine, and then died from gas injuries he suffered on the battlefield in the first world war.

                                        Despite her lack of men able to stay the course, Catherine became a very successful business woman. She ran the Three Tuns Inn and later moved to Jacksdale where she owned ”ThePortland Arms Hotel”. She travelled extensively to Europe in times of peace, to Africa several times, and around England frequently. She settled in Selston Lane Jacksdale in a large house bracketed by the homes of her daughters Lottie and Cath. She was a strong and tenacious woman who became the surrogate mother of her grandchildren Ann and George when they were separated from their parents by the second world war.

                                        Mike Rushby’s photo of Kate:

                                        Kate Purdy Rushby

                                         

                                         

                                        #5648

                                        It was the new moon. Rukshan had been walking into the dark of the forest for some time. The noises of nocturnal animals felt like deep silence after his return from the land of the Giants. There, day and night, the giants were restless. You could hear them growling and shouting. It didn’t matter if it was a nasty fight or a friendly brawl, the noise had been taxing for his nerves and his right eye was still twitching randomly.

                                        Rukshan stopped a moment. The silence almost made him cry of relief and he thought in that moment the enchanted forest deserved its name.

                                        He took a deep breath. His nose wiggled, tickled by the scent of smoke from a fire. He was close to his destination, then. He had been following symbols traced with moon paint on the trees, a trail that only his Fae eyes could see even without moonlight. Humans would not to see it the same way. This trail of symbols might even have been left for him by someone who wanted  to be found when he would come back.

                                        Rukshan had found the start of the trail by chance behind the cottage after diner today. He had told Glynis he needed fresh air. The truth was that he had been alone for so long now that having so many people around him made him feel a bit claustrophobic. He had spotted was a faint glow behind a jasmin bush and had thought it was one of the baby snoots. As he was feeling the need for some pet company he had walked up to the bush. Instead of a creature there was the first glowing symbol, a spiral with seven sticks that looked like a hand with seven fingers. Not long after Rukshan had found another symbol, and another. It was clear the hands made a trail for him to follow. So he had followed.

                                        Soon, he found a wooden shack. Smoke was coming out of a hole in its roof and light from the windows. Rukshan could hear two people talking together. One was asking questions and the other answering them. He recognised the voices.

                                        He didn’t bother to knock on the door.

                                        “So that’s where you’ve been going every night after diner”, Rukshan said to Fox.

                                        “I’ve been waiting for you”, said Kumihimo the shaman.

                                        “I’m her new apprentice”, said Fox. “You’ve been away for so long”, he added as if apologising for something.

                                        A wet and warm thing touched Rukshan’s hand. Ronaldo the donkey brayed to welcome him. “Of course you are here too”, said the Fae. He found an apple he had put in his pocket after diner and gave it to the donkey. Ronaldo rolled up its chops and gave a heehaw full of joy, sparkles in its eyes.

                                        “Good, you haven’t forgotten good manners”, said the shaman. “Now, seat! We have much to talk about.”

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