Mean Shabby Letter

KIMBERLEY CLUB,

KIMBERLEY.

November 29th 1897

My dear Raymond and Joe

I don't like writing these mean shabby letters to you both on one piece of paper. But what can I do, when things are put off till the last moment? You must put up with it for the present, & hope for better things, & a reformation in this respect.

Hooroosh! Raymond; more power to you; let me congratulate you, first on the result of your examinations, and next on winning your football colours. Your letter came all right, after all, last week. It must have been mislaid at the post office, for it was delivered to me three days after I got the others.

You must have enjoyed yourself at Portsmouth Dock yard, in spite of your disappointment, at not seeing any machinery; and you must have enjoyed that tenpenny lunch of Gingerbread & buns and your threepenny cigar. What a howling swell you must have thought yourself as you swaggered around with that cigar in your mouth. Mr Begbie starts for Mashonaland next Wednesday. He is going to look after DeBeer's Cos. properties in that country. Did I tell you he had received the Distinguished Service Order, for his bravery during the Matabeels war? It is a great honour. I am very glad & feel proud, that you came out so well in your examinations. As you say "it is encouraging". Go ahead my boy, and as you say work "systematically".

Golf Player and the Parson

KIMBERLEY CLUB,

KIMBERLEY.

November 15th 1897

My dear Raymond & Joe

It is late on Monday night & as I have left my English letters to the last moment again, I must put you off with this shabby little note. Your splendid letters of Oct 20th came on Saturday.

I am glad you stick to your Wednesday writing Raymond. Your letter is very good & you have improved in writing. Always try & write your best - don't try & write fast. You must first aquire a good style of handwriting before you try to write fast.

I am glad you licked those Isle of Wight chaps at foot ball. I hope Parker is a good boy - drop him, like a hot potato, if you find him a bad boy. Don't be led away by any one. Try rather to influence other boys for good. I am glad you are trying to do this. It is a good thing you are sometimes too busy to smoke. Don't neglect Joe. He ought to be your greatest friend. Remember there are only two of you. Take care of him & keep him from harm. Don't let him get into bad company. I am very glad you like your work, & take an interest in it. I will give your message to MacGregor. Keep up your reputation and strive not only to be one of the strongest, but the best boy in the school.

This is Often the Result of Smoking

 Kimberley Nov 1st, 1897

My Dear Raymond & Joe

last mail brought me no letters from you. I suppose the Excitement of Mother's visit to Lee-on-Solent, and your spending all your spare time with her, prevented your writing.

Mother said you were both looking well, and that you were both working hard, and both very happy.

Raymond, Mother says your eyes were not looking strong. This is often the result of smoking. Reduce your smoking, my dear boy, and give yourself every chance.

Darting Cow

KIMBERELY CLUB,

KIMBERLEY.

October 4th, 1897

My dear Raymond & Joe,

It is shabby of me to write to you both on one sheet of paper - and such a little one too. I got your last letters from Criccieth dated Sept 10th just two days before you left for London.

Mother, and Mary wrote and told me of your memorable expedition to the Black Rock and the capsizing of Mother & Mrs. Newbery into the sea. They told me how hard you two boys worked and how much everybody appreciated your work. How you, Raymond, worked like a brick; how you, Joe worked like another brick, and how you both worked like two bricks.

Well, the holidays are over and you must have had a very happy time. Towards the end, you seemed to have had very good fishing - catching sand-dabs - pollocks & mackarel.

I would have given a great deal to have been with you and to have enjoyed some of the fun.

Douce of an Expert

September 20th, 1897

My dear Raymond and Joe


Those were splendid letters you wrote to me from Criccieth, dated August 25th. They were long, and interesting, and well, and carefully written.

What a splendid swim you two boys and Uncle Joe must have had on that rough day at Criccieth. Didn't you feel proud when the Photographer came and asked to have the honour of taking your portraits. I looked eagerly for them in the Illustrated London News on the Graphic. What paper were they put in? Do tell me. Never mind my chuff my boys. I was just as proud myself, when I was a boy, and when we were at Dover or some other place, we would bathe when no one else would venture in the water. I remember how proud I felt when the people crowded on the esplanade and looked at those daring swimmers (ahem), and then, didn't we show off, and do all sorts of wonderful things? Well a few! But soberly my dear boys, it is not well to be to venturesome. The sea is always treacherous, and you should always be prudent and careful when dealing with her. Better to err on the side of prudence than to be too rash.

Rod in Pickle

You said you enclosed a letter from Mrs. McCan, but you must have forgotten to do so, for none came.
F.M.

KIMBERLEY CLUB,
KIMBERLEY.

Sept 13th, 1897

My dear Mary

Your letter from Criccieth, of Aug 19, came to me early last week. Joe and Sara had just arrived, and you were having pleasant times.

I should like to see your little Welsh maid, who is so like Brenda Bennett, and hear her imperfect English. Imperfect English from pretty lips is always pretty.

You can not wish me with you, more than I wish to be with you. Mrs. and Miss Coghlan, are not going to live with the Moreton's. I asked Moreton, and he said the report must have originated in Mrs. Moreton having offered to take Mrs. & Miss Coghlan for a week, whilst their own house was being done up. I felt my way in the matter of getting a room at the Moretons, but I do not know yet, how the scheme will meet their views.

Welsh Pens

Remember me most kindly to Sir Edmund Hay-Currie and Mr. Milne
FM

Kimberley Club,
Kimberley
August 30th, 1897

My Dear Joe,

I received your nice little letter, written on Aug 5th, from some place in North Wales, with a name I can not only pronounce, nor even read. I have studied it as written by you, as written by Raymond as written by Mary, and as written by Mother. But it beats me; I dare say it is easy enough, but you must all have written with Welsh pens, for blow me! if I can even read the name. That pen of yours must have been a beast, its spelling was awful in places. For instance your pen wrote, that the front tyre of your bicycle was "cracced". I presume you really meant to write "cracked," but the welsh pen had a way of spelling all its own. After all, this is the only bad spell in your letter. I think you have improved very much in spelling, my boy; and if you had written with an English pen, you would not have made even that single mistake.

Welcome

I intend to post here a series of letters sent from my great grandfather while he was in Kimberley South Africa to his family in the UK. The letters date from 1897 to 1903. My intention is to post one or two per month which is about the pace at which he wrote them.

It is unfortunate that I have only one half of the correspondence. My Grandfather saved all of these letters from Frank which he bound into a book. I found it on a bookshelf in my Grandmother's house after her death in 1997, 100 years later.

I will try to transcribe these as accurately as possible. There are some odd spellings, which may be archaic and when he strikes out a word, if I can read it, I will include it striked out. Words in red are ones where I couldn't make out the spelling. I may correct these as I go. Frank sometimes wrote asides in the header, footer or margins with his initials F.M., I include these in italics.

I find the stories in these letters fascinating and wanted to preserve them by transcribing them here. I hope there are others who will find these as interesting as I do, enjoy!

Adrian Mandy