Letters of Affection for Lady Farren
Below is an album of the letters. At the end is the order of service at her funeral and a letter of appreciation to George & John for their presence at the funeral, as close family members. Click the arrow on the right to read through them in turn.
At the bottom of this page is the history of an envelope; how even an envelope re-used just to store a wad of letters has more secrets to reveal.
The Intriguing Life of an Envelope!
The envelope in which the above letters of affection for Mildred were found has its own interesting history, revealing a little bit more about my family history. It is postmarked Barnes,16th March 1939, with a ha'penny stamp showing King George VI. It was an envelope addressed to one of Mildred's sisters, Trixie, and shows where she was living at this time, still in Barnes where the Hooke family grew up. I have posted here many of the letters Trixie received from her father when she was younger. Now, just before the war she is a spinster aged 46. Whatever official business the envelope carried to Trixie, once dealt with, she must have re-used it to store her Red Cross certificates. These probably fell into Ella's hands after Trixie's death in 1974, and she in turn probably disposed of the certificates but then kept the envelope to store the letters of affection! From Ella to my Granny Hooke to my Uncle John and now to me! A bit of speculation and deduction maybe, but that's history!