Leslie Sutton (my Dad) was from Bristol, joined the army and was posted to Hunstanton where he met Peggie (Margaret) Green (my Mum) in 1941. He was in the signals and she worked in the post office. One of her duties was to collect messages from the lighthouse where he was stationed and forward them by teleprinter(?) to London. Without the war they would never have met! One early letter while Les was on leave in Bristol describes the devastation of the city.
They were engaged in November 1942 and after further training in Cornwall and Woolwich barracks, Les was posted abroad in January 1943. He was in India for 4 years but in this letter he could not tell Peggie where he was going – apart from a clue at the bottom of the last page of this letter mentioning little black elephants?
I have 780 letters covering the years of their separation, 605 from Les to Peggy and 175 from Peggie to Leslie, all her letters to him from 1943-45 are missing. The letters are a social history as they outline what life was like in India and back at home during those years. They cover their engagement, planning their wedding, purchasing their first house (£700) in Somerset Road Bristol, Mum drew him a sketch of the 2 floors. Among other things he sent home, Leslie bought the silk and lace for Peggie’s wedding dress as well as raisins, sultanas, demerara sugar, tinned butter (only good for cooking) and almonds for the wedding cake. Towels, sheets, metal hair clips and curtain material were purchased too, only items made in India could be bought to be sent abroad. We still have the wedding dress, embroidered shoes and many photographs and memorabilia from India.
Leslie passed away in December 1999. We discovered the box of letters when clearing the house in 2019 after Mum was moved to a nursing home suffering from vascular dementia, sadly she was too unwell to be able to communicate with us about the letters.
Leslie wrote the letters below after the announcement of the surrender of Germany. It is interesting to read how the end of the war in Europe affected those serving in India. He describes things as being very unsettled where he was stationed and how they gathered in the mess tent to listen to Prime Minister Churchill’s speech. Then immediately returned to guard duty.
It was not until nearly a year later on 20 March 1946 that Leslie left India heading home on board the Orion after 4 years. He had been fearful that he would be posted further afield to Japan. The attached letters and telegram tell of his journey and arrival in Liverpool on 7 April 1946.
Leslie and Peggie were married in Much Hadham on 21 April 1946. Peggie wearing the wedding dress made from the Indian silk Leslie had sent home earlier and the bridesmaids dresses of green parachute silk all made by Peggie’s mother. Leslie had bought the wedding ring (that I still have) in Bombay, initially getting the size from a piece of string that Peggie had wrapped around her finger, then later she sent a ring sample to get a more accurate size. They had a short honeymoon on the Isle of Wight where they made sand pictures (these are included among their memorabilia!). They returned there 50 years later to celebrate their Golden Wedding!
Very soon after the wedding Leslie was posted to various places in the UK including York, Harrogate and Lisburn before finally being demobbed in September 1946 – 18 months after the end of the war. They made their first home in Somerset Road, Bristol.
Leslie Sutton letters
