Description

A collection of letters and documents relating to the Brown family of Tiverton, Devon. Most of the letters are from the six children to their father’s second wife (mother to four of them, step-mother to the eldest two). There are a number of letters written from school, but most come from when the children were spread around the British Empire, and regularly wrote home with news and details of their lives. The four ‘boys’ also served in the First World War and some had long army careers.

The family comprises: Col. F.D.M. Brown, V.C. (Father), Mrs J. D. (Doris) Brown (mother/step-mother), Claude Russell Brown and Frank Brown (sons by FDMB’s first marriage), Wynyard (Wyn), Vincent (Kit), Llewyn (Llew) and Jessie (children from FDMB’s second marriage).

Envelope 1: Letters from Jessie Brown to her mother, 1898-1925

Letters are mostly personal, discussing family business, local gossip and events, school and work conditions. Broken into sections:

• Letters from school, 1899-1903
• From nurse training, Salop, 1913
• Nursing, Salop, 1914; nursing home becomes a centre for injured from the war
• Nursing, Salop, 1915; details of war wounded throughout
• Nursing, Salop, 1916; further details of wartime nursing
• 1922-25, Salop and also from the British Legation in Kathmandu.

Envelope 2: Letters from Vincent (Kit) Brown to his mother

Letters written while at school.

Envelope 3: Letters from Kit Brown to his mother, 1910-1913

Letters written during the early part of Kit Brown’s army career, mostly from Abbotabad.

Envelope 4: Letters from Kit Brown to his mother, 1914-1931

Letters written during the First World War – including from Gallipoli; also written from training and camps in Britain, from India [Pakistan] and other postings.

Envelope 5: Letters to Kit Brown from his mother