Letters to Elsie: Echoes of War and Sea

Event description: Letters to Elsie: Echoes of War and Sea is a Portsmouth-based heritage project uncovering a remarkable family archive spanning nearly sixty years, from the 1880s to 1937. At its heart are over 200 letters sent to Elsie, many written in code by a sailor travelling on Royal Mail ships in the interwar years, alongside deeply personal wartime correspondence from her brothers, Frederick and Reginald Batchelor. Their letters—many addressed to their mother, Elizabeth—offer rare insight into family life during the First World War, including Frederick’s extraordinary and little-documented experiences in British East Africa, for which he was awarded the Military Cross, and Reginald’s service on the Western Front. Both brothers were lost during the war. The archive also reveals earlier and wider family stories, including letters from Elizabeth’s stepchildren, Victorian-era documents, and the impact of the Farrow’s Bank collapse in 1920. Working with Portsmouth History Centre, the project will digitise, transcribe, and begin to decode this unique collection, preserving and sharing an intimate story of love, loss, and resilience across generations. Speakers: Jackson Batchelor and Simon Berry are Portsmouth-based amateur historians with a shared passion for uncovering and preserving local heritage.