1929 all dates
From LJT to Annette
Jalpaiguri
Bengal
25.1.29
My darling Annette
It seems so funny without you and Miss Pearce. I wonder how you liked the night in the train. I do hope you did not mind the injections at the hospital. I have not worried very much because I know you are a brave little girl.
All the people have gone away to-day – and I am trying to tidy things up and write some letters.
Rosemary and I are going to take a picnic tea to the club to-day. She has been playing all morning with her Farm horses, donkey and dogs. Mogul gave her some rice, which she has been useing as food for them.
Give my love to Miss Pearce and say I have not forgotten the cheque.
Best love and a kiss from your loving
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
3 Mandeville Gardens,
Ballygunge,
Calcutta.
8.7.29
My darling Annette
How is life getting on with you? I hope you are not feeling too dull. It seemed so queer being back in Jalpaiguri on Friday evening. I did not see our old house as I only went from the station to the Taylors bungalow and the club.
Everyone asked after you particularly the Blackmans. It is great fun being here with Uncle Harry and Auntie Winsome. Auntie Winsome showed me where the “Female Gate” is, which used to make you laugh so much.
Yesterday morning I went out to Tollygunge with Daddy and walked round with him while he played golf. Afterwards we bathed in the swimming bath. In the evening we went to the Saturday Club and had a look at the bath there. There is a small shallow bath for children. It will be a splendid place for you and Rosemary to learn to swim.
It is not so very hot down here.
Daddy is looking pretty well, but very thin I think. We shall have to see if we cannot fatten him up a bit in the cold weather.
I hope you are not getting the measles!
A big kiss and lots of love from your loving
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
3 Mandeville Gardens,
Ballygunge,
Calcutta.
14.7.29
My poor little Annetta!
I am sorry for you – I hope you are not feeling too dreadfully uncomfortable and will soon be over the feverish itchy stage. Be very careful not to get into draughts, wont you? For some reason one is very liable to get a chill when one has measles, and then it makes one very ill. I have got something more to send to amuse you, but cannot post a parcel to-day. It shall go off to-morrow. How do you like the flower making? I dont suppose you will feel up to doing any for a day or two. It was an oldish box and the little tube of paste they give with it had gone hard but ordinary paste will do quite well.
I am so so pleased that we have got No 22 Mandeville Gardens. We have got to take it from August 1st so I am going to stay down till the evening of the 4th of August, so that I can settle Daddy in there.
I bought a bathing dress at Whiteaways and it went into holes – so Mrs Gurner and I took it back yesterday, and after being rather fierce about it, they consented to take it back and give me another. It was rather lucky, as they just had some new ones in and I was able to get a much prettier one – bright red, with dark blue and white stripes going diagonally across the body part – so (drawing of bathing dress inserted)
We liked your letter about the dream. What fun it would be if Tibet began just below the Birch Hill Rd!
Mrs. Gurner and I are very busy learning to dive. Its such fun!
Best love, my darling
Your loving Mummy
From LJT to Annette
3 Mandeville Gardens,
Ballygunge,
Calcutta
19.7. 28
My darling Annette
I am so sorry to hear that your poor old eyes have been so sore. I do hope they are feeling better now. It was most unfortunate that I had to come away just at this time.
Miss Pearce tells me that you have made quite a nice bunch of Roses. I look forward to seeing them when I come up. I am getting on with my diving. Yesterday Col: Hutchinson and another man who has been helping me said they would have given me full marks for one dive and 9 marks out of ten for another, had they been marking me for a competition. That gave me courage to venture on to a higher spring board which is about 8 ft above the water. It looks a long way down, but really I dont think it is any more difficult than going off the low one. What fun it will be if you learn to swim quickly and can learn to dive. Do you know Henry’s enemy the black dog, who lives a few houses away from here? He was out yesterday morning when we went to office and rushed alongside the car for such a distance. Henry was on the syce’s knee in front yelling like mad and struggling so that he almost pulled the syce out of the car! I laughed until I felt quite weak.
I am sending up a letter of Richards for you to read. You can tear it up afterwards, as I have answered it. He had a very good half term report. Most of my letters are written before breakfast here and the bearer is just calling me to go to my bath.
Will you ask Miss Pearce if there is anything she wants for your lessons, as I could go and get it from the School Supply Depot.
With best love
from your loving
Mummy
From LJT to Annette and Rosemary
3 Mandeville Gardens,
Ballygunge,
Calcutta.
20.7.29
Dearest Children
Yesterday morning I intended to go and buy some more post-cards for you both – but somehow Mrs Gurner and I had such a lot of things to do, that we never managed it.
We took Daddy to change his bathing dress, which had gone into holes – and got him a beautiful yellow one with brown edgings. He looks very nich in it. I went to lunch with “Miss Jones” – but we really must learn to call her “Mrs O’Connor” mus’nt we? She has a lovely black spaniel called Betty, which made great friends with me. When Mrs O’Connor goes to fetch her husband from office, she just lets Betty out of the car and says “fetch Master” – and Betty trots off and finds Mr. O’Connor. Very clever is’nt it
Its raining like anything this morning. I hope it wont stop the races this afternoon.
I have got such a pretty remnent of flower crêpe which I think will make a frock for each of you. I hope my Annette is feeling and Rosemary enjoying being free once more. Dear love to you both
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
3 Mandeville Gardens
Ballygunge,
Calcutta.
22.7.29
Dearest Annette
It was so nice to get a letter written by yourself. It made me feel that you must be feeling really better. I am glad that you have been making the roses and look forward to seeing them and the Arab and Japanese scenes when I come up.
We all went and bathed at the Saturday Club yesterday morning. Daddy looked very fine in his new yellow bathing suit. There were some very clever divers there, doing wonderful things. I do hope you will learn to swim quickly and then you can begin diving. Its such a splendid opportunity here.
We were going out to Tollygunge for golf in the afternoon – but it poured and poured with rain – so we went to the Pictures instead. There was a short comic film which was rather good. There was a foolish young man rather like Harold Lloyd to look at. He was wrongly suspected by the police of having stolen a necklace so they chased him – He took refuge in a Charity Bazaar and there was a lot of funny business of creeping stalls and into fortune tellers tents and so on – and finally he came to a place where they were to play “Aunt Sally” and there were four life sized dummies setup to shie things at. He thought it would be a good way of hiding to pretend that he was one of these – so he seized the big false moustache and bowler hat off one of them – and then shoved the Dummy out of sight somewhere and got into the chair in its place. A minute or two later the police and detective came along and the detective had the same good idea and said he would get into a chair in place of one of the dummies and watch for the thief. Then it was too ridiculous, because the thief kept on trying to look at the detective, and the detective kept on thinking he saw one of the dummies move and trying to look at it – and then remembering that he was supposed to be quite still. It was funnier still when a man came along and took tickets to have shots at the dummies and knocked off the head of a real dummy – which so frightened the thief and the detective that they both fell over backwards directly they saw he was going to throw again and long before the ball could have hit either of them.
This has grown into a long letter. Will you share all the end part with Rosemary? I’ll just write her a little line for herself.
Best love
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
3 Mandeville Gardens,
Ballygunge,
Calcutta.
24.7.29
My darling Annette
Somehow those postcards have not yet been bought! I did not put them on my shopping list yesterday and came home without them!
My black eye is still a queer colour. “Miss Jones” says she thinks it is rather pretty and would like to get a blue pencil and do the other one to match. I dived again yesterday, but was not allowed to go off the higher board. I think I shall do so to-day.
We had such a lot of rain yesterday. I went with the O’Connors to watch a football match and in 10 minutes all the men playing were covered in mud from head to foot so that you could not tell one side from the other.
They are having some sports in the Swimming Bath at the Saturday Club to-morrow night, and yesterday evening they were working off some heats of pillow fighting on the greasy pole, which was very funny to watch. A big pole, actually the mast of a boat, I think, was put across the bath and well greased. The men sit facing one another and each had an air cushion given him with which to bang his opponent!
Are you out of bed yet? You will be glad when you are able to get up I am sure.
Best love
from
Mummy
P.S. Please thank Miss Pearce for her card.
Postcard from LJT to Annette addressed to ‘Miss Annette Townend, Rainbow, Darjeeling’
Yatung
Sikkim
16.8.29
Dear Annette
I do wish you could have seen some of the marvellous flowers we have seen during the last three days. You would have gone crazy with joy. The mountain sides are just one vast garden. I never dreamed of anything like it.
We are enjoying every minute of the journey. It was so nice to get letters this morning and hear that you were all well. Capt Gass is so glad that Scrap has settled down happily at Rainbow.
Best love
Mummy
Postcard from LJT to Annette addressed to ‘Miss Annette Townend, Rainbow, Darjeeling’
Phari Dzong
Tibet
18.8.29
Dear Annette
We have had two wonderful days since we left Yatung. For a day and a half we travelled up a narrow rocky valley with a roaring river down the middle and high mountains each side – and all trimmed with the most marvellous flowers. By mid-day today we got into grassy down like country, with banks of Alpine flowers and at last on to a plain between two ridges of mountains where there were great herds of Yaks feeding. We saw two wolves evidently come down to try to catch a yak calf. It was very very cold and we were glad to get into the bungalow to fire and hot tea. We shall have to take lots of warm clothes to-morrow
Love Mummy
Postcard from LJT to Annette addressed to ‘Miss Annette Townend, Rainbow, Darjeeling’
Gyantze
Tibet
26.8.29
Dear Annette
Thank you so much for your letter. I hope the cut finger is quite better.
We are having a lovely time. You will hear all about it from diary. I rode out to see a carpet making factory yesterday. Both men women and children were spinning and dying the wool and weaving the rugs.
Until we got here we had not seen any trees for days and days – and up here there are only little groves of stunted willow and poplar, and that practically only round a few of the big houses.
We are sorry we have to leave here to-morrow, to begin our return journey.
Best love from Mummy
Postcard from LJT to Annette addressed to ‘Miss Annette Townend, Rainbow, Darjeeling’
Karponang
Sikkim
5. 9.29
Thank you so much for your nice letter. I found the missing page of my diary and you will have seen it by now. We were so sorry to leave Tibet – but its fun to think I shall see you again so soon. I think this p.c. will only just get to Darjeeling in fron of me. Half our walk from Changu here to-day we had misty rain, and it has been pouring since we got in. I am writing from here, because we have a lot of things to do at Gantok to-morrow. Capt Gass has started collecting butterflies – You must get him to show them to you sometime. Will you give my love to Miss Pearce and say will she forgive me for not writing as I shall be home so soon.
Best love from Mummy.