Christmas 1916

A post card Christmas card sent to my grandfather, Horace Nevard. Sent from his mother's house at Lexden, Colchester, Essex, U.K. to somewhere in France.

Long Letter From Lexden 1911

An edited version of a long news letter from Emily Nevard to her sister in law, Mary Nevard, in Canada

                                                                                                    36 Straight Road
                                                                                                    Lexden, Essex

The 3 Nevard brothers had been in Canada over 7 years at the time this letter was written to Ernest's wife, Mary , by his sister, Emily , still back in Lexden, Essex, England.

Dear Mary: We were very pleased to hear you received the parcel alright. I don't mind the trouble of making things and sending them off if you get them. We had rather a business to get it off as we are always so busy.
We always have plenty of work , you see there are 12 of them in family at Hill House. Mr. and Mrs. Husnard, 4 children and 6 servants (2 nurses, housekeeper, cook, housemaid and parlourmaid). Then they are often having visitors so we have plenty to do. Then there are 5 of us to wash and cook for .
Mother is very pleased to hear you spent Xmas day altogether. You were really a jollier party than we were only we were more fortunate than you as we were able to go to Church.
The Parish tea was held on Friday the sixth of January. Cecil and I went. The entertainment was very good. I sat at Miss Colvin's table. She packed me a bonbon box full of things to bring home for Horrie. Ham sandwiches, jam pastries, sausage rolls, currant cake and bonbons.
It was a very wet day so I rode down in the tram car but it cleared off nice in time for us to come home. There were plenty of people.
I don't know if I told you that Mrs. and the Misses Colvins live next door to Mr. Griffin in the Warren Lane at the house where Captain Daniell formerly lived. Lance Stonehouse drive them in his brougham when they are out at night. Also to Lexden Church and back on Sundays. In the summer they drive in their pony trap.
Mrs. O'Grady did not have a table at the Parish tea so she decided to have a party on her own account and invited all the Mothers she knew. Mother, Mrs. Clayden and Aunt Annie and Aunt Vera received invitations and they enjoyed themselves very much.
Uncle Fred has been ill in bed for some time since before Xmas and he doesn't get better. Cecil is doing his work at the hall in the meantime. The Rector has invited the choir and Sunday school teachers to supper and a musical evening Thursday.
Uncle Jim is married but he is not at all well. Charlie died of consumption. A fortnight before he died the disease went to his brain. He was at his father's for 3 weeks. He told Aunt Annie he didn't wonder at people committing suicide if they suffered as he did. He said it felt as if the top of his head was being lifted off. He couldn't get any rest night or day until his father got a bottle of medicine from the Chemist to send him to sleep.
Fred Mann's son, young Jack, who has been in the army was out asked last Sunday and is to be married. They are going to live in the Colne Road.

Thursday Evening: Dear Mary, Cecil has been out to see Uncle Fred this afternoon. He found him very ill in bed. The doctor says he has had influenza and kept about at his work. Now it has settled in his leg. His leg is very much swollen and very painful so he can not get much rest. Cecil says he looks very thin and remind him so much of Father. They live just opposite Stanway Hall now
I have been thinking of paying Louie a weekend visit for some time but I don't know when I shall be able to go as it is hard work for me to get away. Mother get so tired by the time we have finished up the work.
We were very pleased to see the photo of the threshing outfit but we would like to have a clearer view where we could see who they are. I hope one day they will be rich enough to have a real good photo taken.

Grandmother is always very pleased to hear all the letters read. She always tell me to send our very best love to all. Isn't it wonderful how she live so long. It is very dull for her to sit by herself all day, especially washing days but we generally finish on Tuesday night. Horrie amuses her a good bit. It is quite amusing to hear him talk to her. He talk to her so old sometimes. Now I must leave off as I am going to start ironing. Thank Ernie very much for his letter. Now I must say goodbye with love to you all from us all.
From your loving sister, Emily Nevard.

Louisa's Wedding 1905

Ernest Nevard along with brother, Arthur, had been in Canada two years when he received this letter from his sister, Louisa Nevard back in their old home of Lexden, Essex, U.K.

November 2, 1905

36 Straight Road, Lexden, Essex

Dear Ernie

I have just been writing to Arthur, now I want to write you just a few lines to tell you when I am to be married. We have fixed it for the 20th of this month at 12:30. If its later I will let you know. The Canon will be away and he would like us to wait until he comes back but Mr. Briggs says he will do it if I like so I no doubt he will.

I have been to the Chrysanthemum show this evening. I have always wanted to go and never have been able and tonight I ought to have been at home doing my dress but mother said she should go if she was in my place as I may never have such a good chance. I enjoyed myself very much. The band was simply lovely.

I have had several presents and have some more to come yet. They are as follows: Misses C..... Queen Ann tea set, plated. Nurse Winstanley, sideboard cloth. Mrs. Clayden , glass cake stand. Nellie CLayden, china jam dish. Nurse B....., glass cheese dish. Aunt Annie and Uncle, bread knife and trencher. Winnie, a tea cozy. Annie is going to give us a cruet, Alice a tablecloth. Mrs. Hall, the cake and a pair of blankets. Then I have some more coming. Mary has given me the tea set which I like very much. Mother has given me a nice white quilt and Emily, a colored one.

Willie would have liked to have gone to London but I don't suppose we shall go as I have so many things to pack up afterwards. I like the house where I shall live very much. They are large rooms 18 feet wide and 19 1/2 long upstairs and down.

Mr. Wooltorton? gave Willie a nice present, a red glass sugar basin with silver edging and handle and sugar tongs. I expect we shall muster up a good few altogether but I must let you know afterwards. Grandfather has given me 5 shillings too which is wonderful isn't it. I am sending you a pattern like my dress. Emily's is a blue with a hat to match and Alice's too. I have a white chiffon hat. I will save you and Arthur a lump of cake if I can for Mary to bring out so I should like you to have a taste. I will write again later on when I am Mrs. Hall but I have heaps to do.

With love from your ever-loving sister, Louie.

Letter From Sister Emily 1905

Another Christmas letter , this one to Ernest Nevard from his sister, Emily. Ernest and brother Arthur had been in Canada since April of 1903 working and trying to raise enough money to go farming in what would eventually become Saskatchewan. The young Ernie mentioned here was Ernest's son, (Bill) born in February of 1902 so it is doubtful if he would even remember his father who had left for Canada in April of 1903. The family would be re-united in May of 1906 when Mary and Bill came to Canada.
36 Straight Road
Lexden, Essex, England
Dec. 26, 1905
My Dear Brother
I was very pleased to receive a letter from you, yesterday, Christmas day, just in time to wish us all a happy Xmas. Thank you very much for all your good wishes but I am so sorry you won't have one letter from home soon enough to wish you a happy Christmas although you know we all hope you are well and happy.
Mary couldn't write soon enough as she was expecting a letter from you to say you was going up country. Louie sent to me for your address as she wanted to write to you for xmas but we told her she had better wait until your next letter came when we found you were still at Winnipeg. I sent her word. I expect you will soon have it now.
Thank you very much for the sending of the order. Mother says you didn't want to send it. She hope you haven't wronged yourself as we should manage alright. Mother sends her love to you and hope you will send more news about yourself. You never say if you are ill or well, in work or out. Of course we know you have done some work or else you wouldn't have any money.
We are very anxious to know about you. Your son is standing looking at me writing to you. He say, send my love to my dear dada, tell him how I used to go and call Aunt Louie in to dinner. We have been having fine fun with him this Xmas. We told him on Saturday Grandfather Xmas come with nice presents for good little children at Xmas time. And if he was a good little boy and go to sleep perhaps Grandfather Xmas would come. He had only just gone off to sleep when the postman brought a nice large book from Mary's cousins at Leiston, Mary and Daisy. It is a nice book all about birds and animals, illustrated. A very nice book for him to read when he gets a bit more advanced in his education. Mary took it upstairs and put it on the bed so when he woke up Sunday morning he said, "did grandfather Xmas come?" Mother said yes he came. When he undone the parcel he said I wonder if that is from my dear dada. When he saw what it was he said "Oh its a book, a beautiful book, " Mary had hard work to dress him. He wanted it on the table during breakfast. We were having bacon for breakfast of which he is very fond but when Mary told him he couldn't have it on the table as it would get greasy he said, "give me something else to eat then, I don't want the bacon.". We told him on Sunday night if he was good and went to bed grandfather Xmas would come and fill up his stocking. So Cecil got one of his socks and put some sugar mice and other sweets, biscuits, nuts, apple, orange , etc he bought at the shop and a bonbon sticking out at the top of course.
We were all at Church on Xmas morning as Mary and Cecil went at 7 o'clock and Horace and I went at 8. So Ernie and Mother were all alone so when he woke up he said "grandmother, wake up, get up, did grandfather Xmas come?" So when they got up he found the sock. When Mary got home he was just discovering the treasures. He was so delighted so he had to have another one this morning, only on a much smaller scale as grandfather Xmas had exhausted nearly all his store.
Mrs. Lester has given him a mechanical toy. It is a fireman going up a fire escape. She told Mary it was for him to take to Canada but I doubt if much of it would go............

A Christmas Card For Ernie

Bill Nevard was known as "young Ernie" to some in the family. It was a long way from his original home in Lexden, Essex, U.K. to his new home in Saskatchewan, or as it was known then, "district of Assiniboia". It must have been exciting to receive letters and cards from their family still in England. Like this one from Aunt Louie (Louisa Nevard/Hall).

Dear Ernie
I thought perhaps you would like to have a card from Aunt Louie. I hope you will get this in time for Xmas and I hope you will all spend a happy one. I wish I could send you something else but it costs too much by post so we shall have to tell the postal folks they must make it cheaper. I must write and tell you about little Horrie anther time. He is a funny little boy and makes me think of you when you were his age. Uncle Cecil is coming to see us for Xmas if he can. I hope poor mother's cough is better. We had a nice letter from her Sunday morning.
Wishing you all a Happy Xmas and a bright and prosperous new year.

From your ever-loving Aunt Louie

No doubt a familiar view of Bill's old home town of Straight Road, Lexden, Essex.

News Of The War

My grandfather, Horace Nevard, was kept well informed of the goings on back in his old home of Lexden, Essex, U.K. by his sister Emily. World War I was in full swing at the time of this letter and no doubt quite a concern to all British subjects.
36 Straight Road
Lexden, Essex
June 8, 1915
My Dear Horrie
We were very pleased to receive your letter on the 2nd. Curiously enough I had one from Daisy. They were both posted 18th May and arrived June 2nd. I'd just posted one to you the day before asking if you were still alive.
I am thankful to say we are all alive and well up to the present. The German Zeppelins have been very lively just lately. They passed over London on the night of the 31st. We don't know full particulars of the damage as the government won't allow a full account to be published. They were seen to pass over Colchester on Friday night and on Sunday night they passed over England and killed several people but they won't let the press publish the locality. So they are pretty daring just now. One of our airmen brought down one Zeppelin as they were near the enemy lines. A British monoplane circled above the Zeppelin and dropped a bomb into it. It broke up the Zeppelin and blew the 25 men that were in it all to pieces. The force of the Zeppelin turned the monoplane over and over as it came to the ground but the airman got up the power in his engine and got away.
You said in your letter you had rain on the day you were writing. We do hope you will have plenty of water and a bountiful harvest and a bumper lot of potatos. .
The warmer weather we have had has brought things on fine. The peas are in bloom and Horrie's wheat is in the ear. It is strong and high. Its a fancy of his to plant some wheat each year. As we do not keep fowls in the lower garden he has dug some of it up and have a nice lot of onions and potatos, a few runner beans near the wire netting.
Annie Lusted is going to be married this month. It was the second time of asking on Sunday. I expect they are doing a very good trade now as her young man has left his job as chauffeur and is going to live there and carry on the business. They have five National Reserve men in the room in the back where they used to hold club suppers, etc. (well just for lodging or sleeping I should say).
They get 9d per night.5/3 per week. That means 26/3 per week. A good many are doing fairly well out of the soldiers. The men are having a good time here, better than the poor fellows at the front. They only have to go on guard every 4th night. So they have 3 nights clear and when they are going on guard at night they don't go for a march that day.
Arthur Clayden's wife presented him with a son on Monday morning. I mean Arthur C. whose mother live next to our garden. Harold is still in Philadelphia. Uncle Robert's Walter had the stand off at R. Beaumont's so he is working on the new huts at Reed Hall. He is color man and has to mix all the paints.. The only trouble, he don't get enough work to do. He don't know what to make of it as he was used to being hustled (at R.B.). He gets either 8 or 9d per hour.
Will is still at Mr. Hutton's. He has not enlisted yet but he expects he will have to. Ernie Gooch says he hd enough of the army when he was in it. He is not going to join any more. Fred Denton is still serving butter and bacon at London Road stores. They do a big trade there now. I overheard him say he cut up between 3 and 4 hundred pounds of cheese in a week and he told me he cut up 11 sides of bacon in a week.
You see all London Road and Stanway, Colne Road, Nelson Road, Straight Road, etc., soldiers are billeted. Of course those in the new huts are supplied by the government and some of them billeted out have their rations sent but not the yeomanry. There was a fine account of them at the front in the E.C. Standard a fortnight ago. A lot of poor fellows will never return. Joe Hemmings has been at the base since last August. Just lately he moved into the firing line and he got wounded in one leg. He is in the veterinary corps. and look after wounded and sick horses. Miss Corse Scott was married..............

Unfortunately the rest of the letter is missing.

A Wedding And A Fight On Straight Road

Much excitement on Straight Road, Lexden when Emily Nevard wrote this letter to her brother , Horace, in Canada in 1915,
36 Straight Road
Lexden, Essex
June 26, 1915
Dear Horrie
I thought of sending your letter off quick and here it is now. I do hope you are not getting very dry weather like we are. We have had cold, drying Northeast winds for the past 7 weeks or more. Today it is due West. It will be 7 weeks come Tuesday since we had any rain. Until last evening. We had just a little. Not enough to lay the dust.
I should like for you to see our gardens and the houses. Every flower is dusty. The tiles look as if someone has shaken a lot of white pepper over them.
I had a letter from Louie on Monday. Poor Louie was taking on terribly about the weather. She says it will be pounds out of their pocket. Just for the want of rain. Will says it is enough to break the bank. The cold winds has done more damage than if it had been hot and dry. There are a lot of trying times to put up with when you have to get your living on the land. You know that don't you.
Annie Lusted was married on Wednesday. It was quite a smart affair. Mother and I watched the proceedings from the bedroom window. They had two motors trimmed up with red and white rosette. There were between 20 and 30 of the guests went down to the Church from the house. A number of men from the National Reserve also. They took a large cart rope with them and when the newly married left the Church they fixed the rope to the motor and dragged them home. Each man wearing a cream rose in his cap. They cut them off Mr. Lusted's tree on the shed in the garden. There were nearly 30 men. When they reached home the wedding party had their photos taken sitting back to the palings near the orchard facing the house. The men of the National Reserve stood lining the road on their right. Next the men were taken with the bride and bridegroom in the centre front and the Colonel and Captain, Sgts. etc. on either side.
Afterwards the Colonel presented Mrs. Moore with a green marble timepiece and a picture from the men. Annie was dressed in a white satin (walking length) veil and orange blossoms and carried a sheaf of white lillies. The two bridesmaids were in pale blue with blue mob caps and had bouquets of pink carnations. 2 little boys were in blue tunics and knickers, hats and carried walking sticks tied with blue ribbon. Mr. Daniells sent a barrel of beer and Mr. Lusted gave another so you can guess the men were alright. We heard plenty of their singing. We do get plenty of noise now there are so many men about.
Since I started this letter I heard that Fred Denton is going to be married. Charley Bibby, Frank Bibby's father, is to be married to his housekeeper next Tuesday.
Wednesday..
Dear Horrie
They finished up the week of the wedding by having a free fight on Saturday night in the front yard. It started between a National Reserve and a soldier (invalided from the front for the second time). He has a very bad leg and didn't know how to stand so his brother took his part, then they knocked him about and their father also who was with them. It was disgraceful. They are to blame for serving them with so much beer. They get mad drunk and don't know what they are about. There were 3 rows last week but only one fight. It is not at all unusual to hear them fighting now. We don't like it I can tell you. Nor do our neighbours.
The rest of this letter is missing. Written by Emily Nevard (sister to Horace

Emily (front left) and the rest of the Nevards at 36 Straight Road in 1903.

Birthday Greetings From Lexden

Emily Nevard wrote this letter to her brother, Horace, in Canada in 1909.
36 Straight Road
Lexden, Essex
My Dear Brother
I don't know if I owe you a letter or not but I am just writing to say we all wish you many happy returns of your birthday and hope you will have good health and good luck . I hope you are having good weather for the harvest. We have had very stormy, cold and unsettled weather for the last 3 weeks so it has been very bad for the harvest. We are in September now so I hope we shall have fine weather. We managed to have it fine all yesterday and this morning the sun is shining lovely.
Cecil picked the Greengages yesterday. We have more than a half bushel. They are not ripe. If we had left them on the trees we should have lost nearly all as the birds, wasps and flies won't leave them alone.
Mother has been down with Louie for a fortnight. She came home on Monday. I was glad to see her as we have a good lot of work. The stormy weather put me about so I had to work early and late so at the end of last week I felt quite done up. I was so busy I could not go to bed on Friday night. Mother wouldn't have went down only Cecil and I persuaded her to go. And she would have come home before only I wouldn't let her know how busy I was. Cecil was very good to help me all he could. He is going up to London to see Miss Cornish for the weekend tomorrow.
Mother didn't enjoy herself much down at Louie's as the children were troublesome. The boy was much more trouble than he is here. Mother make him mind her when he is with us only Mother didn't tell Louie but she would have been just as happy at home at her work. But don't you say anything about it.
Grandmother was 88 years yesterday. Mother cooked her a bit of fresh fish and I took it down for her dinner. She seemed quite nicely. She had managed to get the dinner ready and sat waiting for Grandfather to come downstairs. He was busy dusting the bedroom.
Laura Payne was married last Monday week just after 8 a:m. Percy and his wife went to Church with them. Percy and the bridegroom went round by Church Lane and Mrs. Payne and Laura went by the street. They furnished their house from Mrs. Bortell's Church Lane and they are living in one of the houses near the loop in Spring Lane where Mr. Ford used to live.
You tell Daisy Mr. Ford had to leave Colonel Corse Scott's in a hurry as he was so often drunk. So they are living in the town and they are still out of work. Harry Lusted is home this week for a holiday. His young lady is with him. Tell Daisy and Mary I will write to them next.
I am so sorry Earn have not been able to go out to work as I fear he will miss the money so much.
You don't know how much I think about you all every day. I do hope you will get enough to carry you through the winter. Tell Daisy I received her letter. Now I must leave off as Cecil is going.
So good bye dear Horrie with love from us all to you and all from your loving sister ...
Emily Nevard

Emily at the gate on 36 Straight Road, Lexden, Essex