"Great meerkat attack on Dutch parson" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mimmie Murray 2001.24/20 |
| Archive | National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Saturday 2 December 1917 |
| Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
| Address To | Portlock, Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape |
| Who To | Andre Murray |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National English Literary Museum (NELM) for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. The date of this letter has been derived from the postmark on an attached envelope; Haldane Murray was killed on 16 September 1916 and Oliver Schreiner went to Mesopotamia in 1917. Schreiner moved to Porchester Place in April 1917. The envelope provides the address the letter was sent to.
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1
9 Porchester Place
2 Edgeware Rd
3 Saturday
4
5 My dearest Andre
6
7 Thank you for your beautiful long letter. I was so glad, dear to hear
8all you told me about the dear beautiful father, a man among thousands.
9 I am so glad you are with your mother: the farm must be quite all she
10can manage. How I wish I could be with you all for a few days, & see
11you as you are now.
12
13 Give my love to your mother: I am so thankful she has the open air
14farming work: it will be more good for her than anything. Do you go up
15to Port Lock in the summer or stay all the while at the lower farm? I
16hope you will get that little trip to Cape Town.
17
18 We are having pouring endless rain here, this year has been the
19wettest in England for many long years. My little niece Ursula
20Schreiner who has been nursing in France for a year & half got married
21yesterday. Her husband only got 9 days leave for his wedding & has to
22go back to France on Thursday. My other niece Lyndall is still nursing
23in France close to the front. My favourite & beloved nephew Oliver, as
24I think I told you, was wounded a year ago in the Somme battle. His
25elbow was blown away, & he will never have the real use of his arm
26again. Six months ago he went out to take troops to Mesopotamia. In
27the Mediterranean the ship he was on was torpedoed, 240 were drowned,
28but he was one of the saved. He is now in India, but when he last
29wrote was soon going to Bagdad in Mesopotamia. I sometimes feel we
30shall never see him again.
31
32 Good bye, dear. Give my love to Kathie & Bob & above all to the dear
33Mother.
34
35 Your loving friend
36 Olive Schreiner
37
2 Edgeware Rd
3 Saturday
4
5 My dearest Andre
6
7 Thank you for your beautiful long letter. I was so glad, dear to hear
8all you told me about the dear beautiful father, a man among thousands.
9 I am so glad you are with your mother: the farm must be quite all she
10can manage. How I wish I could be with you all for a few days, & see
11you as you are now.
12
13 Give my love to your mother: I am so thankful she has the open air
14farming work: it will be more good for her than anything. Do you go up
15to Port Lock in the summer or stay all the while at the lower farm? I
16hope you will get that little trip to Cape Town.
17
18 We are having pouring endless rain here, this year has been the
19wettest in England for many long years. My little niece Ursula
20Schreiner who has been nursing in France for a year & half got married
21yesterday. Her husband only got 9 days leave for his wedding & has to
22go back to France on Thursday. My other niece Lyndall is still nursing
23in France close to the front. My favourite & beloved nephew Oliver, as
24I think I told you, was wounded a year ago in the Somme battle. His
25elbow was blown away, & he will never have the real use of his arm
26again. Six months ago he went out to take troops to Mesopotamia. In
27the Mediterranean the ship he was on was torpedoed, 240 were drowned,
28but he was one of the saved. He is now in India, but when he last
29wrote was soon going to Bagdad in Mesopotamia. I sometimes feel we
30shall never see him again.
31
32 Good bye, dear. Give my love to Kathie & Bob & above all to the dear
33Mother.
34
35 Your loving friend
36 Olive Schreiner
37