[35A School St., Andover, Mass.]
I'Frontiers of Criticism, The';a3 have a breathing space now, as I have finished re-writing my lecture for Minneapolis and have a chance to catch up on correspondence. ICheetham, Revd EricTSE's outgoing tribute and succession;h6 have sent you a copy of the ‘Church Times’ with'Fr Cheetham Retires from Gloucester Road';a1 my notice (I almost said obituary!) of Fr. Cheetham. It was the last thing I did before I took to my bed in January, but owing to the typographers’ strike (still going on) they could not print it till now. ASt. Stephen's Church, Gloucester Roadvestry goings-on;a2 Parish Council meeting this morning (in the absence of a vicar, I have to take the chair as senior warden) – we are waiting for the Guild of All Souls (who hold the advowson) to nominate a vicar – then we discuss it with them and the bishop who adjudicates in case of any dispute. NoClark, Sir Andrew Edmund James;a2 end of complicated business incidental – such as the ‘vicarage’ which has never been used as such but is let to people who haven’t paid the rent – and so on – we leave this largely in the hands of our barrister member, Sir Andrew Clark, who has been very active and useful, and I think enjoys straightening out such legal complications. NextBailiffscourt HotelTSE convalesces at;a1 weekend (Palm Sunday) I probably go to Littlehampton to walk up and down the beach as usual, according to doctor’s orders in convalescence.
AuntPerkins, Edith (EH's aunt);o4 Edith has just sent me your excellent memorial of Miss Anderson, a cutting from the Portland paper. I have written to her, by the way. I hope your Easter holidays will give you some rest and relief, and freedom. YouHale, Emilyweek in the Virgin Islands;t7 don’t say how long you are to be in the Virgin Islands (that used to be the Danish East Indies, didn’t it?) but I am very glad you are going there. (oh yes, you said a week – I wish it could be three weeks). I sometimes find it hard to read your last sentence or two, written across other writing: may I suggest that there are two flaps available for last words???1
1.EH was now using aerograms – lightweight foldable, self-sealing blue sheets, imprinted with the airmail postal stamp – to communicate with TSE. Her handwriting was challenging.
4.RevdCheetham, Revd Eric Eric Cheetham (1892–1957): vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Gloucester Road, London, 1929–56 – ‘a fine ecclesiastical showman’, as E. W. F. Tomlin dubbed him. TSE’s landlord and friend at presbytery-houses in S. Kensington, 1934–9. See Letters 7, 34–8.
2.SirClark, Sir Andrew Edmund James Andrew Edmund James Clark, MC, QC, 3rd Baronet (1898–1979).