100 Years of Cox

I am telling the story of ten siblings from the Machell Cox family, through the letters they wrote to each other. They were born in England between 1868 and 1884; seven of them lived in England and three lived abroad, in the Colonies. One of the siblings was my great grandfather.

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100 Years of Cox

S2E3: The demise of The Tribune

December 11, 2020 • Frances • Season 2 • Episode 3

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The ten Machell Cox siblings continue writing Budget letters to each other, discussing a variety of subjects.

Enid is married to Cyril, a Schools Inspector, and is a wealthy Edwardian matron, in Liverpool.
Edmund is a poor Anglican curate in Derbyshire, soon to marry May, my g-g-grandmother.
Arthur, married to Dorothy, is Headmaster of Garfield House prep school in Plymouth.
Neville works for the railways in Pretoria, South Africa.
Wilfred lives in British Columbia, Canada. He has been a schoolmaster, but is currently building roads and grubbing stumps.
Bernard is a London stockbroker, living at home, in Sydenham.
Aldwyn is an Anglican priest in Nyasaland (now Malawi).
Cuthbert is a schoolmaster at Berkhamsted School.
Avice is housekeeper at Arthur’s school in Plymouth.
And Vera, when not playing hockey, assists her father in writing and editing his books, and looks after the aging parents, at home, in Sydenham, south London.

Cuthbert is grumpy – Berkhamsted school has an influenza epidemic, everyone is ill, a Schools Inspection is underway and he is annoyed at Enid criticising his spelling.

Arthur describes the search for new servants at Garfield House, as well as expressing his dismay that his favourite newspaper, The Tribune, has closed.

Vera explains how wearing long skirts prevents good stickwork in Ladies’ hockey and Vera and Bernard go to watch the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.

Enid goes to Aintree to watch the Grand National, and they sit in a stand of seats on a barge on the canal. And Enid and Cyril have a telephone installed in their house, for the first time.

And Avice, Bernard and Cuthbert go to Branscombe in Devon for a few days to check out a boarding house and the landlady, to see if it would do for the whole family for their upcoming August summer holidays. Of course, there are no photos or online reviews to help you choose your holiday accommodation in 1908.

Intro - 00:00
Cuthbert's letter, 30 March - 2:40
Notes on Cuthbert's letter - 8:20
Arthur's letter, 8 March - 11:08
Notes on Arthur's letter - 23:18
Vera's letter, 2 April - 27:52
Avice's letter, 26 April - 35:50
Enid's letter, 30 April - 41:10

You can contact Frances by email - machellcoxletters@gmail.com
or X/Twitter - @CoxLetters
or Blue Sky - @Coxletters.bsky.social

All content is subject to copyright and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library.