Some more beautiful snippets of Charlie’s letters to Gertrude, circa 1909
…This interesting snippet…👀
And this -
So further reading of these letters seems to flip my initial thoughts on their head!
It turns out CHARLIE is the one with money. Or rather, Charlie’s grandmother, who it seems owns several houses she visits in the summer etc. It would appear Charlie draws drafts for the family business, which seems to involve building (in one letter he had to actually ‘have a go at whitewashing’ himself, and was horrified by how messy he got!)
He has an older brother named Bernard, who he often goes for walks with and rides in motorcars, which Bernard appears to be passionate about.
He also has a cousin named Arthur, who in one letter is the source of great scandal; he was engaged to a girl, giving her an expensive ring and everything, only for her to break it off with him. Their grandmother says he’s well rid of her, accused her of being a golddigger essentially, and then said there’d 'be more than one in the family, soon!’, referring to Gertie, which upset Charlie enough to leave.
I *think* the reason Charlie struggles for money is because he appears to he working at a *different* company by 1910, on a fairly low wage, and saving all he can for marriage and a home with Gertie. Which might suggest he was either cut off or severed his ties with the family as they disapproved of Gertrude.
Also mentioned in his letters is an Uncle Harry who is against them courting, and an Uncle Joseph/Jo, Arthur’s father, who seems more sympathetic.
Gertie, meanwhile, seems to live in rooms somewhere, with a miserable married landlord who is constantly telling her to leave Charlie (Charlie wrote a drunk, very upset letter to her begging her not to take advice or pay any notice to him) - she doesn’t have much money and her family are apparently always angry with her. She works (not sure where yet) and works a LOT.
Also sad, Gertie seems to be very sickly. She constantly has the flu, headaches, fatigue, etc, to the point where Charlie wonders if 'she will ever be without those accursed headaches!’. Charlie meanwhile CLEARLY suffers chronic depression. He is constantly low, apologising for being so low, always tired, and gets headaches from excessive crying.
I so hope things get better for them by the time I finish these letters.
Don't give up. Unless you have to for a little while. Then don't panic. CONTAINS: Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, Critical Role, History, Current Affairs, Space, Cats, and Etc. Adult.
