Letters of the Chamberlain family of South Yardley

Letters mostly from Dorothy Walker to her fiance, Stanley (Stan) Chamberlain, 1938-44, but also including letters from Mabel, Stanley's sister to Stan, 1939-46; together with other personal, work and official correspondence to Stan, 1938-45, draft letters written by him and other miscellaneous items. Many of the original envelopes containing letters to Stan have survived and these have been retained because the postmarks have provided valuable evidence of the dates when the letters were written.

Dorothy's letters provide detailed information about her work as a Birmingham school teacher and head teacher of St Peter's Infant School, Harborne, during the Second World War, and include accounts of the school's evacuation to Worcester in 1939, references to her fire watching duties at the school and about her pupils. She also writes about how her family coped with the air raids as well as the shortages of food and fuel throughout the war years. Her letters give an insight into her personal interests including netball, film, theatre, music, ballet and her horoscopes. Despite the war she always managed to have summer holidays away either in Cornwall or Littledean, Gloucestershire and always continued her correspondence with Stan during her holidays.

Mabel's letters to Stan, at Stockfield Road, largely concern domestic arrangements and the care of their mother. Most of Mabel's letters are written from Hilcot, Tolladine Road, Worcester where she and her mother lodged after the school, where she and Dorothy worked, was evacuated from Birmingham in 1939. They stayed there for the duration of the war, only returning to the family home at weekends to see Stan.

Stanley H. Chamberlain lived, at the outbreak of the Second World War, with his mother and sister, Mabel, at 323 Stockfield Rd, South Yardley, Birmingham. When Mabel and her school were evacuated to Worcester in 1939 their mother moved with her only returning to the family home and Stan at the weekends. In 1938 he was employed by the Dunlop Rim and Wheel Co. Ltd in Coventry but later that year he started work at the BSA factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. He was also an Air Raid Precautions Warden during the war and on duty most nights. In September 1944 he married Dorothy Walker and the couple moved to 94 Harts Green Road, Harborne.

Dorothy Walker, the daughter of Byron Walker lived at 2 Ethel Road, Harborne, Birmingham, with her parents and two sisters, Mary and Gussie, until her marriage to Stanley Chamberlain. She worked as a primary school teacher at Oakley Road School, Small Heath, until 1939 when she was appointed to the headship of St Peter's Infant School in Harborne and reportedly became the youngest head teacher in Birmingham. In 1938 Dorothy's interests included playing netball for the local team and she was a member of the local amateur theatricals group, the Thespians and although the war and her professional duties curtailed her activities she continued to enjoy music, the theatre and sports whenever possible.

During the period covered by the letters we learn that her sister, Gussie went to teach in North Wales where she met her future husband, Kenneth Bell. After their marriage in October they moved to Reading where Kenneth was drafted into the Army Pay Corps. Her sister Mary started work as a Red Cross nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Mabel Chamberlain, Stan's sister and friend of Dorothy, also worked as a teacher at Oakley Road School and from 1939 at Gorse Hill School, Tolladine, Worcestershire. Mabel and her mother took lodgings in Worcestershire for the duration of the war returning to the family home in Birmingham at weekends and holidays.

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Purchased at auction, 2 March 2010.