Reference
Z681
Title
Papers of the Woodward Family of Kempston, donated by Mrs G.M. Boothby Calile
Date free text
1869-1984
Production date
From: 1869 To: 1963
Scope and Content
Two generations of the Woodward family, James (c1869-1897) and his son Ernest (1886-1948) served in the 5th Foot, the Northumberland Fusiliers, and their papers form a large part of the archive. Service documents exist for both men but Ernest Woodward also left a series of letters to his mother Sarah (Z681/9-25) and sister Margaret (Z681/26-30) which provide details of army life in barracks in 1900-1901 and in India during the First World War, 1915-1917. In around 1916 Ernest Woodward married Alice Hatton and on demobilisation he moved with his wife to Leamington Spa. Their surviving letters to Margaret woodward, 1925-1929
(Z681/35-53) show that Ernest was frequently unemployed and money was short. An attempt to take over the tenancy of County Council owned East End Farm, Pavenham, failed, (Z 681/46-49). Ernest's mother Sarah was in the Workhouse several times during the 1920s (Z681/50). Margaret Woodward also appears to have been in straightened circumstances. Ernest and Alice's last letter to her in 1929 mentions that Margaret had to give up her home at Odell and move into lodgings (Z681/53). Altogether the later letters paint a fairly depressing picture of family illnesses, unemployment and near-poverty in the 1920s.
Esther Woodward, born at Cardington in 1890, emigrated to Canada in 1908 on her marriage to William Burt of London, Ontario (Z681/59) and only intermittently kept in touch with the rest of the family. Her son Billy was in the Canadian Navy (Z681/62, 65-66).
The contents of the letters have been summarised and spelling corrected. Commonplace remarks about health and apologies for not having written are omitted.
Level of description
fonds