Description:Between 1915 and 1918 Elizabeth Cadbury wrote a weekly family journal that was circulated amongst family members and close friends. These journals provide an insight into the Cadbury’s family life during World War One. Elizabeth wrote the majority of the letters from the Manor House, Northfield (the Cadbury family home since 1894), although a few were written from Winds Point, Malvern and Goathland, Yorkshire.
The 1915 journals were a diary of family events and activities, primarily the activities of her three eldest children, Laurence, Egbert and Marion, all of whom were in their early twenties at the outbreak of World War One. The journals also reveal Elizabeth’s involvement in the Peace Committee, and International Sub-committee, as well as the <a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1767">Belgian Refugee Allocation Committee</a> in Birmingham.
Laurence, Elizabeth’s eldest son, was stationed in Belgium and France during the War, serving as a member of the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) that was associated with the coordination of ambulance convoys. Laurence wrote many letters to his parents during the war, providing detailed descriptions of his experiences on the Western Front (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1883">letter from Laurence to his parents, 1916</a>). Egbert was the only Cadbury child to enlist in military service. At the outbreak of war, Bertie, as he was known, volunteered to serve on a minesweeper in the Navy and in 1915 he joined the Royal Naval Air Service.<small><sup>1</sup></small> Marian, or Mollie, as she was often known, was Elizabeth’s eldest daughter. She began working at Queen’s Hospital in Birmingham as a nurse in January 1915, prior to enrolling with the British Red Cross in April of the same year<small><sup>2</sup></small> (<a href="http://www.search.suburbanbirmingham.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?resource=1814">letter from Mollie Cadbury to parents</a>).
Elizabeth writes fondly of all her children, frequently expressing her anxieties for their safety and welfare, especially that of her daughter. As an influential Quaker family the Cadbury’s were afforded direct updates on news from the Western Front, information that was unlikely to have been available to the average family. The following family journal extract, dated 4 May 1915, refers to Mollie and the British Red Cross:
‘The shelling of Dunkirk and Poperinghe and the apparently very serious position all along the Western Line, make us feel very anxious. The Secretary of Vere Street is very kind in sending postcards each morning with news, and we hear again today that up till Monday all were safe’.<small><sup>3</sup></small>
<font color="#666633"><small><sup>1</sup> Bournville Works and the War: 1914-1919, 1920 [BA&H: LP 66.53 CAD]
<sup>2</sup> Family Journal, Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury, Monday 4 January 1915; Tuesday 9 March 1915
[BA&H: MS 466/433]
<sup>3</sup> Family Journal, Tuesday 4 May 1915 [BA&H: MS 466/433]</small></font>