Letters to Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott from various family members, September 1913 - September 1930 - Part 11

Magazines with the account of the opening of

your new Parliament at Canberra & the
Duke of York's visit. I can imagine you would 

have quite a busy time then. Evidently they

have returned with the friendliest feelings

for all the kindness & hospitality shown

them. Our royal family are quite a decent

lot of people - nothing snobbish or silly about

any of them & their visits abroad seems to 

have always done good & brought about 

better understanding. This country cant have 

a better commercial traveller then the Prince of Wales

who resembles his grandfather King Edward.

We are all interested to hear of Violet your 

little girl wanting to come to England. It

will be splendid, as we should love to make 

her personal acquaintance. From her photo she 

seems a dear bright lassie & you must feel

very proud of her & also your boy Ian who 

is so successful in carrying off so many prizes at
 

you may depend we shall make any of your 

friends most heartily welcome & Minnie & 

Nellie too. Do not, however, expect ever to 

receive him as a future cousin in-law, for 

already I have settled down into comfortable

middle age with carpet slippers & clothed in 

flannel & a shawl which will certainly not

attract this gay young man in search of 

a wife.

I am enclosing a photograph of Mother

taken on her 77 birthday. Don't you think 

she , like good wine improves with age.

With love to you all.

Your affectionate cousin 

Jessie.
 

it is v.good . What I had before I 

got from the Civil Service Coop: stores

in London,  whc make a feature
of Empire produce. Messrs. Thanes
& Sons' letter to Mr. Paterson wh you
sent me seems to prove that
Austn. flour is not sold over the 
counter, but perhaps the difficulties
of the Flour Trade are being overcome
and the xxxx millers may have a
surplus - I thought the letter very
interesting - one does not generally
get any insight into how things
work, and is prone to imagine that
steamers come and go like clockwork
and freightage is always available
when wanted.
I am glad you drew my attention
to the perforated "O.S" on the
stamps. I always keep them all
carefully - Alicia Carter & I have
a joint stamp Collection. She keeps
the book & I send her all the stamps ^I get

from time to time. She has just
been to Wales to see the Eclipse,
but they had no luck there.
Emily 
CROSS-PARK,
MORETONHAMPSTEADM
DEVON. 

July 6^th 1927
Dear Cousin Harold,
I much enjoyed yr letter
of May 24^th. Many thanks for it and
the interesting papers about the
Yorks' visit. I appreciate yr letters
all the more that know you
have such a busy life. I am
v. glad that the Royal [[lers?]] xxx
made such a good impression,
and are sure they must have
been delighted with the splendid
welcome they had everywhere.
I always think judging by the portraits
of her, the little Duchess looks particularly
attractive - she has such a
gentle and unaffected expression.
I have heard people say that the
Duke is not v. popular at home;
but probably he suffers rather in
 

comparison with the P. of Wales, who
is so very genial & affable.
The Duke is said to be very shy and
not a ready speaker. I thought
the picture of them and their infant
in one of the papers you sent,
quite the best I had seen. The
Canberra functions must have
been especially interesting, particularly
the Review which must
have been a grand and very
beautiful sight - I am v. glad
you had rain, and hope there
has been plenty since. We had
a drought here for some weeks,
and we are now having more rain
than we want. The hay crop here
will be v. poor I fear - it aught
to be cut by now, or v. soon, and
the wind & rain are 'laying it
badly. I believe other parts of the
country had xxx it wet while
we were dried up, so perhaps the
average crop may not be so bad.
Personally the only crop that suffered
much in my pasture was the strawberries,
wh should have been splendid.
I couldn't have watered them if
I had wanted to, because our water
supply was so scanty - not the fault
of the Reservoir but the pressure -
After agitating for many years we
have now succeeded in inducing
the Parish Council to give us a
separate pipe from the Reservoir,
so that we shall not now depend
on whether the town has a larger
number of visitors or is washing
its clothes, or using more water for
any ^other reason - Our water supply tho'
plentiful since a day or two ago
has now a strong flavour of creosote
or some such antiseptic, wh I hope
will soon disappear.
Many thanks for the enclosure about
the flour. Oddly enough Nurse told
me just lately that our grocer,
who is keen on Empire products, says
that he is now getting Australian
flour, and people are so pleased with
it that he is now laying in twice
the quantity he had at first. Nurse
has been getting some seed says
 

Carter, and finally to the Lloyd
Edwardses - Probably I shall not
be at home again till September.
It is very tiresome that all my
relatives settle in places that don't
agree with me; but so it is, and
I shall return home much plumper
than when I set out! Nurse has
been a cause of anxiety to me
lately - her heart has become weak
and after her exertions in Spring ^cleaning
she suffered so much from swelled 
legs & feet, that wh she called gout,
that finally I sent for the doctor,
much to her indignation - He said
that rest was what she required,
so she went away for her holiday -
she is much better but I fear
will never carry out the Dr's recommendations:
never to hurry, or excite herself,
or do too much in the garden, &c.
I don't know what I should do without
Nurse if she had to retire.
I am so glad the children are doing
so well at their books. Maths: must
be a difficult subject to teach, I think.
When I was at school we had some
splendid Professors, but I really don't 
think I ever learnt anything from
our instructors in mathematics - The
cleverer of the two hadn't the remotest
idea how to explain things to slow-witted
persons like myself.
I hear from Patty Whitworth occasionally.
She still seems very much in love with
Cyprus, and there is no talk of their
coming home yet. What she seems to
like most is riding about in the mountains -
they have two nice ponies,
accustomed to climbing, & descending
bred foremost. She has also taken to
gardening - The earth has to be brought
there, as it is nothing but rock, but
she seems to grow plenty of things, vegetables
as well as flowers.
I was very glad to hear that your
mother is keeping well - She must
be wonderful.
What did you think of our Govt
turning out the Russian delegation?
I think most sane people heaved a
sigh of relief, but some papers (including
the "Spectator") talk what seems
to be a lot of rubbish about its not
 

(2
Edwards went to Yorkshire to
stay with one of Patty's old schoolfellows
and I have not
yet heard if she saw it.
The Astonmere Royal and his
party were v. luck. They went 
to a place called Giggleswick
and the clouds cleared away
for about 9 minutes and they had
a splendid view of the total
eclipse. I am glad I declined to
go to Wales, as I had a conviction
that it would be wet. I got up
about 4.15 and went up the hill
behind this house with two of my
neighbours - The sun came out for
a minute or two just before the
eclipse began and then retired
behind a cloud for the rest of the
day; and I went back to bed - We
didn't regret going as it was a 
particularly pretty morning and one
gets a very extensive view of the
moor & hills & valleys round from
the hilltop - I am hoping to
start next Monday on a round of
visits. first to Henry, who has a house
at Camberley now; then to Alicia
 

Carter, and finally to the Lloyd
Edwardses - Probably I shall not
be at home again till September.
It is very tiresome that all my
relatives settle in places that don't
agree with me; but so it is, and
I shall return home much plumper
than when I set out! Nurse has
been a cause of anxiety to me
lately - her heart has become weak
and after her exertions in Spring ^cleaning
she suffered so much from swelled 
legs & feet, that wh she called gout,
that finally I sent for the doctor,
much to her indignation - He said
that rest was what she required,
so she went away for her holiday -
she is much better but I fear
will never carry out the Dr's recommendations:
never to hurry, or excite herself,
or do too much in the garden, &c.
I don't know what I should do without
Nurse if she had to retire.
I am so glad the children are doing
so well at their books. Maths: must
be a difficult subject to teach, I think.
When I was at school we had some
splendid Professors, but I really don't 
think I ever learnt anything from
our instructors in mathematics - The
cleverer of the two hadn't the remotest
idea how to explain things to slow-witted
persons like myself.
I hear from Patty Whitworth occasionally.
She still seems very much in love with
Cyprus, and there is no talk of their
coming home yet. What she seems to
like most is riding about in the mountains -
they have two nice ponies,
accustomed to climbing, & descending
bred foremost. She has also taken to
gardening - The earth has to be brought
there, as it is nothing but rock, but
she seems to grow plenty of things, vegetables
as well as flowers.
I was very glad to hear that your
mother is keeping well - She must
be wonderful.
What did you think of our Govt
turning out the Russian delegation?
I think most sane people heaved a
sigh of relief, but some papers (including
the "Spectator") talk what seems
to be a lot of rubbish about its not
 

being 'expedient'. Are the Bolshevists
making any way in Australia?
They seem to be active in most parts
of the world. Mr. A. J. Cook, the
Labour Leader who is chiefly responsible
for keeping the Coal strike
going last year, came to Moreton
last Sunday & spoke in the Square
while most people were in Church.
I hear that he was wonderfully mild
& said nothing very provocative, and 
the Moretonians rather liked him.
I hope you yourself and all your
family are keeping well.
yr. affecate cousin

Martha T.
 

 
CROSS-PARK

MORETONHAMPSTEAD

DEVON

Jan.23rd-27

Dear Cousin Harold,

I was v. glad to get

yr. letter - many thanks for yr.

good wishes and the pamphlet

on Canberra, wh interested me

v. much. It must have ^been tremendously

difficult to choose a site

and I am glad that the place

chosen is so satisfactory in most

ways. No doubt the train connections

will be improved as the

new city's population increases.

The presentation of the speaker's 

chair must have been most

interesting. I think I saw a

picture of it in the "Times".

I couldn't quite understand 

[* [[Troubles?]] will also re-act unfavourably on British
affairs - 1927
doesn't seem
to be starting
very propitiously.
It is to be hoped
we shall worry
through somehow
or other.
I hope this
will find you
all flourishing.
Yr mother must
be wonderful.
Yr affecate cousin
Martha T.*]
 

why urban property is only to
be leasehold. I hope yr investments
in land there will turn
out profitable - they certainly
should be; after all xx 99
years lease is a fairly long
time now-a-days when everything
changes so quickly and v. few
people stay long in one place.
I suppose it is rather necessary
to control people's taste in building.
I wish they would do so in England.
The whole country, is being defiled
with hideous erections - It was
a pity that Canberra could not
have been built before the war
came on and swelled the cost
of everything. We have been interested
in reading about New Delhi
and the opening of the Parliament
Buildings there. It must be a
wonderful place and quite
suited to 'the gorgeous East'.