ELIZABETH

Asquith is known for her ghost stories and diaries. She also wrote novels, edited a number of anthologies, wrote for children and covered the British Royal family. She wrote The Family Life of Queen Elizabeth in 1937.TRANSCRIPTIONS1. 17 Bruton Street W. 28th December 1926. 1st 2 sides 8vo., of an incomplete letter.My dear Lady Cynthia, I found your letter awaiting me here on my return from Sandringham today, and I hasten to answer as I am afraid you may have been waiting my reply for some days. You know, if a Biography of myself is to be written there is nobody I would,like to do it more than you. I should feel quite happy about it, but this is what I think...2. Glamis Castle, Glamis. Last 2 sides 8vo., of an incomplete letter.Scotland, and it is almost impossible to believe that we have been away for more than two months. Isn't it fun having another wedding? What with one last year, & one this year & with the Jubilee in between and a lovely vista of many babies in the future, the British Public is getting its money's worth. Again, a thousand congratulations on the lovely P.E. books and I do hope that we shall meet soon, your affectionately, Elizabeth. faded and fragile3. Glamis Castle, Glamis, 2 sides 8vo., centre part of an incomplete letter.I think the Princess Elizabeth. It really is a triumph, and it is marvellous of you to have collected so many enchanting stories and poems. I am so glad to hear of its success as the whole thing is so charming that it deserves a riotous one. I shall be very pleased to let Lilibet sign a copy for the publishers - this could be done when e come South, which will be, oh dear, very soon now. It has been heavenly in..., very frail and frayed at the edges but still legible.4. Pitchroy, Blacksboat, Scotland. 5th September 1927, 4 sides 8vo.My dear Lady Cynthia, In great haste I send you back your typescript, and I do hope that you will not mind the few 'scratchings out' & little corrections with which I have defaced your papers. My husband has read it through, and he had suggested a few. Could you cut out Flea House & any mention... (how can one be serious) and do you not think there is a somewhat excessive asking for food? Do be kind and omit one or two mentions of FOOD. I have scribbled on your..., continued with 2nd page papers in a rude way. I think you have written it most charmingly & it must be terribly difficult, and I do hope you won't mind just making those very small alterations. I feel a brute, but families are stern, & you will understand. The only bit that my husband rather questioned was an account in Part 8 of your typescript.... If you think it fits in, do leave it, but is it true? I am making difficulties, how horrible of me. I do hope that you are less tried now. I have also been feeling so tired, the effects of Australia I suppose, but at last am reviving on my native health, which is far too social and incidentally I loathe heather - cannot walk in it & it gives me a headache. But I love Scotch people, don't you? I will quickly send this letter to you. Elizabeth, rather discoloured and faded with loss of a couple of words.5. 10 sides 8vo., of recollections written in the third person, numbered at the head of each page.1. At St Pauls Walden during Spring & Summer. From about 1902 to 1911 or 1912, most of her recollections are of playing out of doors with her brother David, and the Sun always seems to have been shining in those days. At the bottom of the garden was The Wood (in capitals with Avenues & ponds and statues, and it was obviously crammed with fairies). There were often nursery picnics in the Wood, and there always seemed to be carpet of primroses & anemones to sit on. They usually had tea either in the shadow of the statue of Diana or near a... favourite statue called the... who was Kathy disk thrower... statues lived in cut out grassy place & there were wild strawberries & orchids later on in the summer. If a dead bird was ever found it was immediately given a decent burial in a little box buried with rose leaves or anything soft & good smelling. David & Elizabeth were usually accompanied by a small Shetland pony called Bobs, who E brought into the house occasionally. He could walk up and down quite long flights of stone steps, and went around with them like a dog. Then there was haymaking which means getting very hot in a delicious smell. 2. They used to get up very early, 6am to feed their chickens, and just have a look round to see that everything was alright after the perils of the night. The hens insisted on laying their eggs in a place called the Flea House, so when D & Elizabeth came in to breakfast, the nurse usually had to undress them & catch the elusive ones. They also kept bantams, (a bantam's egg for tea) pigeons, tortoises, lots of Persian cats, & spent a good deal of time in the Harness room in the stables. This all happened during the Spring & Summer at St Pauls Walden mingled with lessons done at home with a daily governess. In 1912 when David went to school, Elizabeth had a German governess, who left just before the War, & then she had an English one for about two years - 1914-1916. After that a French one. Always there was a French one during the holidays from a very early age. 3. In 1908 she went to Italy for the first time, to stay with her grandmother (in the) Easter holidays, she went altogether 4 times before the War, and on two occasions they went to Florence (she & David with their Mother). When the War broke out on her 14th birthday, life became very real. Four brothers joined the Army during the first few days, and there were hurried visits to chemists for outfits of every sort of medicine, to gunsmiths to buy revolvers and all the things that people thought they wanted for a War, & then found they didn't. A week later Elizabeth went up to Glamis, a hospital was started there, & the autumn was busy making sheep skin coats for the 5th Black Watch (the local Battalion). In between lessons the occupations during those first few months were crumpling up tissue paper until it was so soft it 4. no longer crackled, to put into the linings of sleeping bags, knitting and making shirts, & then in Dec. the first patients arrived, & the Hospital was full until 1919. The Xmas of 1914 was the first we spent at Glamis, & it was delicious. In September 1915 her brother Fergus was killed at the Battle of Loos, and in 1917 brother Michael was taken prisoner. The War made a good deal of difference to E, as it did to most girls of that age who lived in it and saw their dear grown up friends being killed every day, but when she came out in 1919 the blighted feeling (not personal at all) gradually disappeared, & then 4 marvellous years of dancing & talking and talking & talking, until she got engaged in 1923 - January. Before the War the Spring & Summer was usually spent at St P.W, with perhaps a month or two at 20 St James' Square (sold in 1921 alas) 5. then Glamis for Aug, Sept & Oct & then Streatlam in Durham until just before Xmas, which was always spent in Hertfordshire. Streatlam was sold after the War. The Australian newspaper said the other day that E had 'very rebellious blood' in her veins!! as her father is descended in straight line from ardent Jacobites, & her mother from the Bentincks who were rebels in Holland. PTO. The other day I found in an old copy book the beginning of an essay entitled 'The Sea' starting 'Some governesses are nice and some are not and that was all. I expect there was a row - anyway it was never written!, stained and faded but only missing a very few words.6. Glamis Castle, 8th October 1927, 2 side 8vo., final part of an incomplete letter.Here they are, & I'm so sorry to have made such a mess of Kenya. I scribbled in one or two sentences in case you would care to use them. But please use your own words, as I am so bad at writing down things. I shall miss the fat envelope arriving with my breakfast. Are you not very please that all is over. Now for the agony of reading it over again - for you I mean. But you have done marvellously, & have been too nice about myself. I would have crossed out many dewdrops but the better these females are the easier for me - where does good bye for this letter. E. than to think it would be better to say more about the Mothercraft than the other things., soiled and frayed at edges7. Glamis Castle, Glamis, 9th October 1927, 2 sides 8vo.My dear Lady Cynthia, I am so sorry that I forgot to send Australia & the End yesterday. I have only altered a few words in Australia, & do change them if you. don't like them. I return to London at the end of this week which I hate doing. Here, it is deliciously warm with a blazing sun, marvellous sunsets, and heavenly peaceful. The peace for me was rudely dispelled last night by Clara Butt singing Negro spirituals over heavy accompaniment in a 16th [century] room. We retaliated afterwards, by playing ancient records of 'You made me love you' and... 'Land of Hope and Glory'. She was so nice about it that we felt very mortified. Every yours truly, Elizabeth, stained and faded8. 145 Piccadilly. 4th February 1932, 4 sides 8vo.Dear Lady Cynthia, Thank you so much for sending me Lady Elieen Orde's letter. I will certainly so & see the room that she has painted, & I will write direct to her too. It must be ghastly for her being paralysed and she must have got great courage to go on with her painting. I enjoyed your visit so very much the other day, & hope that you will come again soon. You were quite right when you told me that somebody had written a book about my husband & myself... continuing and I discovered quite by accident that Hutchinsons are producing a revolting concoction by a woman called Mrs Lascelles. An intimate peep into the daily lives of the Duke & Duchess of York by one who is really in the know etc. I shudder don't you? It is a little hard not to be asked anything, permission by either author or publisher & only pray that it does not make me have breakfast... wearing pink satin pyjamas. I am delighted that you are thinking of writing a further instalment - do make it nice and middle aged, & all good wishes, Elizabeth, stained and faded9. Birkhall, Ballater, 24th October 1932, 4 sides 8vo., of an incomplete letterDear Lady Cynthia, I am so sorry to have been such a long time in answering your letter & questionnaire but indeed you have set me a difficult task because some of the questions are unanswerable! I think that it would be much better to cut out the more intimate details, & have two or three articles on rather broad lines - because, inevitably there must be a certain amount of re-hashing, as the last book came out so few years ago. My life has been most uneventful since you last wrote about me, and you wrote it so kindly & deliciously, that you must not write very much more, that sounds rather rude, but it is not meant to be. I really mean that there is not very much to find that is new, except the children. I have scribbled a few answers but do bring the paper with you & come & see me next week in London & I will enlarge upon them. It is so perfect up here, & I dread the thought of plunging into London life again. The country is looking so lovely it is terrible to have to leave all this beauty behind. There is a great hill of birch trees in front of m e, & they are pure gold, and the hills are black & blue; I am certain that you know how..., faded.10. 145 Piccadilly, 12th November 1932, 3 sides 8vo.,Dear Lady Cynthia, It was so kind of you to write me such a delicious letter about your tea with Lilibet. I am so glad that you enjoyed it, and it really was nice of you to say such heart warming things about her. I sometimes wish that I did not lover her so much. I cannot tell you how sorry I am to hear that your husband is so ill. There is NOTHING worse than illness and it has a devastating effect on one's life. I do hope that he will soon..., continuing be feeling better and able to enjoy the success of his new novel. I, for on, enjoyed his last one enormously. All the people in it were real, & I can remember them so well. I am looking forward to the new one so much. I hope to see you soon, yours ever, Elizabeth, faded but legible.11. Sandringham, Norfolk, 8th January 1936, 4 sides 8vo.Dear Mr Asquith, It was so kind of you to think of sending me a copy of your new book, and I cannot describe to you how much I have enjoyed reading it. I thought it a most enchanting story, and am so grateful to you, for not only thinking of me, but also for the charming inscription at the beginning of the book. I do hope that you are better now, as I fear you have had a very bad time lately. Please tell Cynthia that I am returning to the first three Chapters. I think that she is quite wonderful, I cannot imagine anything more difficult to write about and she has... a good combination. I am going to write to her tomorrow. With again my grateful thanks for sending me you delightful book, yours very sincerely, Elizabeth, damp stained and faded with some loss of words.12. 145 Piccadilly, 25th November 1934, 3 sides 8vo.My dear Cynthia, I cannot tell you. how much I have enjoyed, & am enjoying & shall enjoy your charming anthology. It is quite enchanting, & full of the loveliest things. Thank you so very much for sending it to me. How nice to think what beautiful words our sex inspired people to write in day gone by, & how sad it is that modern woman does not seem to have the same effect on our poets - or are the poets fewer? You have found some delicious things, and your..., continuing book will always be a joy to have near one. I would so love to see you again. I will telephone & suggest a meeting if I may. With again a thousand thanks & my love, yours affec, Elizabeth, faded13. 145 Piccadilly, 9th June 1936, 2 sides 8vo.My dear Cynthia, Thank you so much for your letter, and I write to say that we shall look forward to coming to tea with you on Monday June 29th. It will be something nice to have in front of us, and it will be delicious to see Sir James & Simon again. It was delightful seeing you at Greenlands - did you read the horror that I pressed into your hands? yours affec Elizabeth., stained14. Windsor Castle, 16th June 1937, 2 sides 8vo.My dear Cynthia, Here are the and a note for Sir James, if he is well enough to be bored by letters. I have felt so much for you these last weeks. You seem to have had troubles beyond endurance, but i know that you have what Stevenson prayed for, courage and gaiety and a quiet mind, and that must help you. I do sympathise from my heart. Yours affec. Elizabeth R, faded.15. Balmoral Castle, 14th September no year, 6 sides 8vo.My dear Lady Cynthia, [lacking first sentence] War Hospital and Fire - What unsuitable headings for a young girl's sheltered life's story. You will not mind if I say that the Hospital one seems a little less... and deal in No 14 which I am certain you will not miss - I recognize the Poignant..., continuing touch... they were far too unrefined to mention. Please forgive me but I could not bear it with the others... it is all too recent to go too much into detail, which of course must..., continuing be a great drawback to... we have not got it here but will telegraph it to you from Glamis, tho' that event also is too recent to refer... not calling it a 'biography', a 'childhood & girlhood' is more to the point. How you will thank God when it is finished. Yours sincerely, Elizabeth, the whole letter very faded with loss of most of the text16. Buckingham Palace, 25th May 1950, 2 sides 8vo.My dear Cynthia, It is so kind of you to send me a copy of your book, & I look forward immensely to reading it, for I have just started the first chapter, and am already plunged into what I like best of al, the story of a house one loves. I am sure that I shall love your book, and thank you a thousand times for giving it to me. Yours affect, Elizabeth R, stained.Streatlam Castle was a Baroque stately home located near the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, England, that was demolished in 1959. Owned by the Bowes-Lyon family, Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the house was one of the family's three principal seats, alongside Glamis Castle in Forfarshire, Scotland, and Gibside, near Gateshead.Lady Eileen ORDE (née Wellesley, 1887-1952) was am Artist. She was the wife of Cuthbert Julian Orde and daughter of 4th Duke of Wellington.Cynthia Asquith was married to Herbert Dixon ASQUITH (1881-1947) who was a poet, novelist, and lawyer.