I Remain your Loving Wife Lizzie: Letters in a Skip 1917-1919 transcribed & edited by Roger Jefferies

Regular readers may recall Roger Jefferies’ article in the December 2015 issue of Family Tree, about a collection of more than 100 letters, photographs and family papers rescued from a skip in Broadstairs, Kent. Full of an ongoing dialogue of life during the First World War, Roger determined that they had been belonged to a couple called Lizzie and Tom Green, who were married in July 1913 in Southwark register office, London. The letters were penned by Lizzie to Tom after he was conscripted and their careful transcription and editing by Roger reveals an ordinary woman’s war, full of stories of daily life and struggles on the Home Front; bringing up their small son Tommy, arguing with the Post Office over a damaged parcel sent by Tom from India, getting dental work done, taking in lodgers, and more. But always missing and loving her husband, willing his return and for the war to be over.

Lizzie’s simple loving letters are engrossing even in recording the mundanity of daily life. Piecing together this family’s long-forgotten story from the letters Tom received (only two letters survive from Tom in return) is a poignant reminder of what life was like for so many women left fighting their own personal, grinding war.