Transcripts of Kenrick family letters and recollections of Cecily Debenham (nee Kenrick) made by John Kenrick from the originals prior to 1990, with a list of additional comment and correction to accompany the recollections dated 1996. Photocopy made in 1996
The Kenrick letters comprise correspondence between Cecily's brother, Byng and his future wife, Norah Beale just before their marriage on 24 July 1906 together with other letters to Norah immediately following their marriage, from her mother Alice Beale, her sister, Edie and friend, Clara Martineau. Letters to her brother, Wilfred Byng Kenrick, c 1892-1949, a few of which are to him and his wife, Nora, together with a single letter to Norah, 1950
Her recollections, written for her children in 1946-1947, contain reminiscences of her personal and family life up to her marriage in 1892. They include recollections of her parents, grandparents and siblings and also of members the wider Kenrick and Chamberlain families in Birmingham. There are descriptions of events including, for example, a holiday with Joseph Chamberlain and family to Egypt in 1899-1900. Other information recorded include details of her education and governesses, references to health, leisure and public activities, descriptions of the house to which her family moved in 1876, The Grove in Harborne, and the visitors the family had, and her courtship by Ernest Debenham