Raymond was my husband’s great grandfather, who came to London from France as a young man in the late 19th century. He met and married his wife Lucie here (also French) and they settled in Pimlico. Raymond was a talented chef, and worked for many notable people, including Sir Jacky Fisher, Lady Victoria Sackville and Sir Edwin Lutyens.
The letter is from Raymond in London, to his daughter Nellie, son-in-law Jack (my husband’s grandparents) and 12 year old granddaughter Mary (my husband’s mother) in Durham. Raymond’s flourished, cursive handwriting is hard to read, so I’ve transcribed it as best as possible.
The postmark on the envelope is 17 May 1941, which means that the event Raymond is describing in his letter was the horrendous air raid of the night of Saturday 10th/Sunday 11th May 1941. He vividly recounts the devastation around him, after he’d left the Sloane Square Air Raid Shelter (of which he was warden) on the Sunday morning, and in the week after. We still have his warden’s armband and various letters from Chelsea Town Hall at that time, relating to the administration of the shelter, including one about bed-bug infestation and another about a swimming competition in the Serpentine between the various Borough shelters.
The air raid letter was amongst a tied bundle of letters that I rescued from the skip when my mother-in-law’s house was cleared after her death in 2006.
The photo is of Raymond and his wife Lucie in mid-late 1930’s.
