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Loughton Papers Turnor, Bertha
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Letters from Bertha Turnor.

  • IE OCL P131/2/2/2/8
  • File
  • 27 April 1896-21 May 1904
  • Part of Loughton Papers

Letters from Bertha Turnor to Benjmin Bloomfield Trench. The letters were written after the death of Dora Trench, Reflecting this the letters are full of concern and advice for Benjamin as he comes to terms with his grief.

In a letter dated 23 Match 1904 Bertha writes:
'Dearest Bennie,
I am very glad to hear from Edie that Sir D Powell gives a good account of you and Edie herself thought you (sic) looking ever so much stronger than when she saw you last.
I very much dislike the idea of leaving you alone at 41 this summer.
If the children went to Loughton now for two months they could return to 41 at the end of may and we would all remain there quietly for the rest of the summer. It would not do either the children or me any harm whatsoever to be there in August and September after having had two years of country air. If the coming summer should be like the two last we should not even find it warm. Edie quite approved of this scheme. We need not hurry Haddie back the children would be perfectly happy at Loughton alone with Miss Fischer & the household would get on quite smoothly; then after you had spent a month at Hanhorron or Hachpole you might join them there for may. By that time Haddie would probably be ready to go there to keep you company and you could return to London the beginning of June...'

Turnor, Bertha

Bertha Turnor's time in Australia.

  • IE OCL P131/2/2/3/3/2
  • File
  • 20 March 1890-10 May 1891
  • Part of Loughton Papers

Letters sent by Bertha Turnor to Dora Trench regarding her life in Bolingbroke and Branscombe, Australia.
She discusses topics such as educating children, making Kangaroo soup, the guests who pass through her home, white ants eating the school books, moving in with the Davidson family, her trips to the sugar field with Mr. Davidson and the extreme weather.

Turnor, Bertha

Bertha's trip to North America and Cuba.

During 1894 and 1895 Bertha visited North America and Cuba, this file contains the letters she sent to her sister Dora Trench during this time.

In a letter dated 4 November 1894 she writes about Niagra falls,' Friday was a glorious day day, warm & bright. I spent all of it sitting in the sun, looking at the Falls from various points of view. I was not disappointed in them. They are grand in spite of everything having been done to spoil the place. There are great factories close by, worked by the water, the banks are linded with lifts & railways of all sorts to pull you up & down. You are pursued by guides & drivers & men selling shell boxes, photos & mugs with "Niagara" on there, as mementos & a huge advertisement of "Carters little Liver pills" is just above one fall!..'

She also writes of her disappointment with Cuba, ' ... I am much disappointed in Havana. There is nothing to remind one, one is in the tropics except the heat. It is just like Marseilles are one of the Sout European towns the same narrow ill paved streets, & the same street houses with the plaster peeling of & muels with bells and tassels, only there are no beautiful mountains & no interesting buildings & hardly any trees, which most tropical towns have...'

Turnor, Bertha

Bertha's trip to Mexico.

  • IE OCL P131/2/2/3/3/4
  • File
  • 4 February 1895-22 March 1895
  • Part of Loughton Papers

File of letters from Bertha Turnor to Dora Trench. The letters are written from Mexico and the United States.
In the letters Bertha discusses her travels around Mexico to places such as Puebla and Merida. She states her delight at visiting a place free from tourists yet also expresses her disappointment with the poverty and sub-par facilities she encountered.

Turnor, Bertha

Letters from Bertha from Stockholm 1897.

Letters sent to Dora Trench by Bertha Turnor during Bertha's time in Stockholm Sweden.

In one letter of note Bertha writes about a visit to the Swedish palace, '....A servant footman there showed us into a room where a lot of ladies, all in black with white sleeves were standing about & talking. Tea was being handed around but as Mrs P did not take any, I thought I had better not. I did not see anyone I know except for [Countess] Wachtmeister the Mistress of the Robes, who we had called on at the Palace. She shook hands, & then asked us to follow her into a little room next door. That is where the diplomats are received. There were only 9 of us there. The German minister's wife with a daughter & friend- Mrs P. niece & Sue the American [?] wife Mrs O'Neill with 2 daughters. We stood in a row on one side . After a few minutes waiting the doors were thrown open & the Queen came in followed by a [?] & 2 or 3 gentlemen. She was dressed in a high purple velvet gown with a headdress of feathers & lace & diamonds about. We all curtsied. She first talked for sometime in German to the 3 Germans. Then in excellent English to Mrs P. She asked if she had got into her flat yet & about the weather, skating, [?], including miss P & I. I made a remark about the skating but Mrs P did most of it..'

Turnor, Bertha

Villa St. Martin

  • IE OCL P131/2/2/3/3/6
  • File
  • 14 April 1898-17 April 1898
  • Part of Loughton Papers

Two letters from Bertha Turnor to Dora Trench.

In the letters she expresses concern about Dora , 'it was a great relief to hear you were better at this new place & i do trust it will continue. i have regretted much that i did not go with you, however by this new plan of Bennie's you will be well taken care of & not left alone at all'

Turnor, Bertha