cat scrap
The Lost World...
Scrapbook Letters From the
India of the British Raj
 dog scrap
I found the following letters at a car boot sale in about 1986, stuck firmly to a couple of pages of an old scrapbook - the two loose pages of which were purchased for the princely sum of two pounds. Much work was necessary before the letters were readable, as they required careful removal from the pages to enable both sides of the letter to be seen.
Although there are only half a dozen letters, simply and naively illustrated, they are enough to give a touching insight into the life of a wife in India in the first decade of the last century - a mother who had sent her two sons to be educated elsewhere - probably back to England, while she continued to accompany her husband on his tour of duty, working out of Rawalpindi (Now in Pakistan) in 1906 & 7.
The discovery of these letters has prompted me to research their origins further, so if anyone reading them has any knowledge of any of the names or places mentioned, I would be very pleased to hear from them. Maybe then I can build a better picture of the Coode family in Rawal Pindi and tell a little more of their story.

August 2001 - found at last & my Five Minutes of Fame!

A chance glimpse of a tiny advertisement in an antiques magazine in the early part of this year set in motion a chain of events which were to lead to the final discovery of the story of Ruth, John and Jimmy Coode, and a glimpse into their lives in both India and England.

The advertisement was an enquiry from the makers of a new series of television programmes which were due to be broadcast in the spring of 2001 here in the United Kingdom. The series was entitled "Revealing Secrets", and the producers were looking for people who had "mystery items in the attic" - unusual artifacts with some unknown story to them. The programmes aimed to investigate the items with a team of researchers, and try to give a fuller picture of their history and origins.

This seemed to be an ideal way to find out more about the Letters from India, so I contacted the production team, who thought that the letters would make an interesting feature. A date was set up for them to visit Autumn Cottage and record the story. Although I have done one or two brief interviews in the past, it was the first time that I had ever been involved in any recording of any length for television, & I found the whole procedure fascinating.

After visiting me, the team then went off, with copies of all the letters in hand, to record a sequence with a member of the Coode family which the programme reserchers had tracked down, living in the South of England. He was able to provide many details of his grandmother, Ruth, and his two uncles - John and Jimmy. It was wonderful to finally see a portrait of Ruth, and the two little boys two whom she had written those letters nearly 100 years ago. I discovered that Ruth's father, one William Pendlebury, had been something of a VIP, having been employed as Agent to the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Members of the family now each have copies of all the letters, and I have some very satisfying answers to the questions that I had pondered since the letters were found. Any more information would still, however, be most gratefully received.