Wesley House, Bury St E.

April 11^th 1914

Nz Pxo (own) Bohfm (Angel),

Nz (My) Txffu (sweet) mjuumf (little) Dadie,

Arrived here safely at about 9pm- found that Percy had been on my train from Combs. Grace met us. Gordon & Jack are here- & Bertha from Bps Stortford- Have announced my firm decision to be back at Baldock by 8.10pm Monday. I do wish you were here my Dearie: I should be satisfied then. It is just striking midnight. This bridge is very old, part of the monastery. It is nice to be home again, but I am lonely. Goodnight Dearest. Ifbqt & Ifbqt (lots & lots) of mpwf (love) & hjttft (kisses) from your own Rothwell.

and then two sent seperately to join together:

 

Baldock April 6th 1914

10.40pm

Nz Pxo (own) Ebsmjoh (Darling) Bohfm (Angel),

Efbsftu (Dearest) Hilda,

You will rec. these two P.C’s tomorrow evening: Take care of them as they are two of your 60. How excited you will be now Dearie!!! I have been down at Masons’ from 6.30- 9. o/c  

this evening- so am pleased have not had the chance of brooding on the slowness of time: the remaining 2 days…

next postcard

… will pass very quickly now, my love. I will meet you as arranged 9.19pm; am longing for that hour to arrive. Mind you get a mhbd (nice) gzs (hat), one that I shall like.

Dearest, please do be dbsfgvm (careful) jo (in) London- both of the traffic, and of people! I am always worrying the whole ujmf (time) xijmtu (whilst) you are usbwfmmjoh (travelling) alone and am always glad to see you safe home.

Efbsftu (Dearest) of Bohfmt (Angels), I am terribly excited. Good night, Darling- Heaps & heaps of love & kisses

From Your own Rothwell.

I hope Hilda got a very nice chapeau for this much anticipated meeting!

March 1914

Baldock Mar 10th ‘14

My Efbsftu, (Darling)

It has since occurred to me that I should much prefer blue, to match your scarf, but please yourself of course. I should like you to get a blue one though, Dadie. Am going to Westell’s nature lecture at P.O at Letchworth tomorrow. Bailey’s have taken a box for it.

Mpwf & ljttft (love & kisses) from Your own Rothwell

No pressure for the blue Hilda...

I realised I missed the one below so have included it before we get to far into 1914!

Baldock Dec 16th 1913

Lx Cdzqcrs (My Dearest) ‘Hildear’,

Am very sorry that I shall be unable to meet you on Friday (if you are returning then) So you ask Auntie to send down for you; you must not walk unless you are obliged to Ebejf (Dadie).

Will cycle up on Friday as soon as I can. Your P.C is awaited. Be a good girl; you will be very excited now I know. Goodbye Ifbqt & Ifbqt of hjttft (heaps & heaps of kisses) & love from Votre (your) Rothwell

I love that Rothwell is so certain that Hilda is barely able to contain herself at the thought of his arrival. What a confident 19 year old he was!

February 25th 1914

Now their code gets trickier- they swap some letters about so that Efbsftu and Cdzqdrs both spell ‘Dearest’ which can best be seen if you lay two alphabets together and offset them by a letter. At this point in time, they are just having fun with the code because there are clearly no state secrets hiding there (or naughtiness!)

Baldock: Feb 25^th 1914

Ma bien aimée : (my good love) I am afraid I shall not be able to get a letter off until Friday: I have not had a chance to start yet, but am going to tonight. Udqx nboz sgzmjr gps (very many thanks for) yours of Thursday last- Saturday. It was such a sweet one Dadie!!! You never told me you are on duty this week- Good Luck Dearest!!! You need not post me a letter on Sat. as I shall be away- so that you will have more time on Sunday & I am sure you have not much time this week. I should write to Trumans now, I think so that you can get their form filled in & send it back to them by next week. Good-bye, Heaps of kisses & usual love from Yr. Rothwell

Baldock March 2 1914 11.50pm

Cdzqdrs ne Bohfmt, (Dearest of -1 dozen- angels) ma bien aimée, (my good love) Dadie,

Thank you very much for your very nice letter of yesterday. I promised I would start writing you tonight, but I have not been able to get going. I ibwf tfou gps zpvs (have sent for your Easter present) this evening, Dadie, my Darling. I know you will like it. Our Inspector cleared on Saturday. I enjoyed the weekend immensely & I think I have a lot of news for you. Le sera demain le trios (will it be three tomorrow) in 3 week’s time- how lovely!!! Am quite impatient. I shall be disappointed if I am moved before Easter- Will write a soon as I possibly can. Mpwf & Ljtt gspn (love & kiss from) Your own Rothwell.

wow...his three grandsons could do with using 'Dearest of 1 dozen angels' from time to time (just speaking on behalf of the wives here...). I'm wondering if I will find a message in code tucked under my coffee cup;  epou gpshfu up qvu uif opnqptu pvu my love...

This is the first time in the correspondance that Rothwell has called Hilda 'Dadie'. The cards seem to be an in-between-letter arrangement to let her know a longer epistle is on it's way, though he is full of apologies at his tardiness. Quite like sending a text to say a longer e-mail is coming...

Wesley House, Bury St Edmunds 2/2/14

My pxo (own) Dadie, Efbsftu (Dearest), in all le monde,-etc,etc- Have had a most enjoyable, tho’ quiet week end. I wonder how you are getting on, Dadie: it seems ages since I heard and ages since I wrote. Expect there is one waiting at Baldock. I’m leaving in an hour’s time.

Mpuf & ljttft (love & kisses) in abundance yr own R

Baldock Feb 15th 1914

My Efbsftu (Dearest) Dadie,

Very many thanks for yours recd today. I will just drop P.C to say I have the matter of answering it in hand. It is 6.20pm. Must get to church. Ifbqt of ljttft (heaps of kisses) & the greatest share of love from : Votre bien aimé – Rothwell

Sept- Nov 1913

Here are the first of the cards written in code. I have worked out the following: Efbsftu is Dearest and Ebsmjoh is Darling. Those code crackers amongst you can probably get cracking! I will put them up on the 'Lover's Code' page. If you'd like to decipher any of the messages, leave a comment with your translations.

Sept 16^th 1913: 30 High St;

My Dearest,

J. tfou ufmfhsbn this evening. Hope it is to hand.

Efbsftu, J bn ufssjcmz mpofmz apx, Cvu xf tibm hfu pwfs ju.

Diffs vq Ebsmjoh. J tbx uif cbdl pg zpo hpjoh gopn the cpupn of Pesthouse have up uif Tubuijpo. Rang my bell hard but xnt heard nothing. Love& kisses, Yr own Rothwell

Nov 24^th  1613: Baldock (in great haste)

My Efbsftu,

Many thanks for letter recd today. You may expect letter rather late, Edbs this week as I am going to full dress rehearsal at Hitchin tonight & one or two other events, so am full up with no time to write. I hope you are better, My Ebsmjoh, mpwd & ljttft, your own Rothwell

July 1913

Baldock July 25^th 1913

My Dearest,

I really cannot make up any news. Everything goes on much the same as ever, except that the days insist on going infernally slowly. I hope that everything is going on favourably Darling, with you. I saw Doris R. just now. I suppose she came back today. Thank you very much, love, for your letter with the somewhat strange beginning. On Tuesday evening, come & meet me at about 6.30 at the junction of the Chalk Pit Rd and the path over the fields. I shall walk by the latter. Be patient my angel: it is not long now. Love and kisses from

Your very own – Rothwell-

I wonder what the strange beginning was? Then he must have got snarled at a wee bit ....

Baldock 30^th July 1913

Sunday 11.15pm

My own Darling,

V. Many thanks for your really glorious letter rec’d this morning. Please note my change of address after Saturday next (July 5^th) to – 30 High St (Fred Farr’s). I will write & give particulars sometime Darling. I hope you get on very well this week. Please don’t get the pip, Sweetheart, this time. I have just come from Baileys. I have been to supper, and have had a very nice time. We are getting on very well as regards “Balance” and are more forward than we have ever been before, but Dearest, you can understand that I am too busy to write really, but will send PC’s and will write longest possible letter end of week. Good night my sweet angel. Love and Kisses from Yr own loving Rothwell.

Baldock: September 22nd 1913

My Dearest,

You will find here some rather indistinct views of Bury: I have been out to have a much needed shave. It took ½ hour to find a hairdressers. Of course they did not return until 8.15 last night after I had rushed to finish your letter. I wonder what you are doing now dear (12.35 noon). Cannot say much here as I am not using code but can send you much love & kisses I think.

From your own Rothwell.

Hairdressers- always had to get an appointment when you most need it! This is the first time he mentions 'the code'...more will follow.