Letter from Jane Saunders to Frances Hodgkins
Object Detail
Transcript
Dear Frances
I was very sorry indeed to hear from Amy at Christmas that you had been ill & I hope you are now better. I have had no news of you & no address since Sept 1939 until Amy wrote.
You will have heard that Manchester had a terrible time at Christmas – a more savage attack than any place has had, according to the salvage & demolition men. It lasted 2 nights and firebombs, landmines & every other kind of bomb have wrought the most appalling havoc all over Manchester. Great business houses & warehouses standing blackened shells full of debris. Some streets in the city are now closed because of wreckage. But worse of all for us is the loss of our new school at Grangethorpe. No words can describe the bitter disappointment of losing it after one term only or the dreadful scene of destruction which is beyond one’s memory or imagination so that it comes as a fresh shock at every visit.
Hannah’s house has been damaged & bombs fell all around here, destroying several houses (Miss Pilkington’s for one) and damaging very many. All the windows in this road are gone. I live in electric light. In some districts whole large areas are completely gone. It is all beyond description.
I hear Mrs Wertheim is holding a show shortly here in spite of everything.
The Hearn’s have left Whittingham & I had to go at Christmas & remove all my things (so escaped the Blitz). So, I now have nothing left to me that I once had. I have also removed my home twice – it no longer feels like a home. I have been painting today & feel tired so please excuse this note. Best wishes for a better time for all of us & love from Jane.
P.S. The Unnamed Theatre is completely destroyed. Poor F.S.S. has no work
(Written in margin) The Government has ordered the Farm people at Whittingham to leave, on account of neglect of the farm.
I was very sorry indeed to hear from Amy at Christmas that you had been ill & I hope you are now better. I have had no news of you & no address since Sept 1939 until Amy wrote.
You will have heard that Manchester had a terrible time at Christmas – a more savage attack than any place has had, according to the salvage & demolition men. It lasted 2 nights and firebombs, landmines & every other kind of bomb have wrought the most appalling havoc all over Manchester. Great business houses & warehouses standing blackened shells full of debris. Some streets in the city are now closed because of wreckage. But worse of all for us is the loss of our new school at Grangethorpe. No words can describe the bitter disappointment of losing it after one term only or the dreadful scene of destruction which is beyond one’s memory or imagination so that it comes as a fresh shock at every visit.
Hannah’s house has been damaged & bombs fell all around here, destroying several houses (Miss Pilkington’s for one) and damaging very many. All the windows in this road are gone. I live in electric light. In some districts whole large areas are completely gone. It is all beyond description.
I hear Mrs Wertheim is holding a show shortly here in spite of everything.
The Hearn’s have left Whittingham & I had to go at Christmas & remove all my things (so escaped the Blitz). So, I now have nothing left to me that I once had. I have also removed my home twice – it no longer feels like a home. I have been painting today & feel tired so please excuse this note. Best wishes for a better time for all of us & love from Jane.
P.S. The Unnamed Theatre is completely destroyed. Poor F.S.S. has no work
(Written in margin) The Government has ordered the Farm people at Whittingham to leave, on account of neglect of the farm.
Pages
2 pages
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-48
Credit Line
Letters
to
Frances
Hodgkins.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-48.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23189170
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23189170