Frances reads five letters, written in 1909 by Edmund, Annie May, Avice, Aldwyn and Enid.Edmund takes far too long to write his Budget letter and reckons his siblings are going to miss him out of the next round.Annie May begs the siblings - Please don't put Edmund on the black list - I think she was lonely and really needed the family contact.Avice describes the wealthy Brooks family some more as well as her life as a govvie, and she hopes Mother, recuperating in Folkestone, is enjoying the splendid weather.Aldwyn has been to visit Neville in Pretoria, and is now on a steam ship traveling back to Nyasaland. He posts his letter back to England in the mailbag of a steamer, on the mighty Zambezi, which is going downstream , whilst Aldwyn's steamer is going upstream.  Close your eyes and just imagine the scene.And Enid provides all the news about Mother being ill, having an operation, most of the family getting influenza, then Hazel getting measles whilst Mother goes to Folkestone for the sea air and Enid and her family then go to North Wales to take the sea air there.May says baby Leslie cries all the time, Edmund says he is an ugly baby, but Enid says baby Leslie (my grandfather) is a fine specimen. Thank goodness for kind aunties.And the Navy at Plymouth already know that a war with Germany is coming. Machell Cox Budget letters is on Twitter - @CoxLetters.  Or email me if you have found this podcast interesting, [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Edmund's letter, 25th April 1909 : 2:46May's letter, 29th April: 8:20Avice's letter, 7th May: 11:27Aldwyn's letter, 12th March: 17:09Notes on Aldwyn's letter: 28:02Enid's letter, 9th May: 35:39Notes on Enid's letter: 41:58

Frances reads four letters, written by Bernard, Cuthbert, Arthur and Vera in March and April of 1909.Bernard again apologies for the Budget being lost in the post.Bernard and Enid are going to be the godparents of baby Leslie.Arthur and Bernard go on a long coastal walk. They get the train from Plymouth to Padstow, in North Cornwall, and walk along the coast to Rock, Polzeath, Port Quin, Port Isaac, Tintagel, Boscastle, and then Crackington, they then walk to Otterham, only just catching their train, to return to Plymouth. Cuthbert says Berkhamsted School is again having an epidemic, but the teachers are getting a pay rise, and the school is starting work on some new buildings. Arthur adds his point of view on their Cornish walk. And we get the first report that Mother is not well; Arthur won’t post the Budget on, until he hears that Mother is out of danger. Many individual letters and telegrams circulated between the siblings whilst Mother was ill, none of which have survived. Arthur tells more entertaining stories about the servants and schoolboys and we hear about Mount House school, on Hartley Road, for the first time. Arthur soon buys the school and he moves for the start of the new school year, September 1909, taking a good number of Garfield House boys with him.Vera writes a short note, she is exhausted as everyone is ill. Vera doesn’t even have the energy to read through the Budget again, to find something to contradict. Machell Cox Budget letters is on Twitter - @CoxLetters.  Or email me if you have found this podcast interesting, [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Bernard's letter, 12th March 1909 : 02:56Notes on Ber's letter: 17:36Cuthbert's letter, 22nd March: 33:49Arthur's letter, 23rd March: 40:59Notes on Arthur's letter: 56:50Vera's letter, 7th April: 1:03:22

Frances reads poems, written by Edmund, Arthur, Aldwyn, Bernard and Cuthbert, originally published by Bernard for the family to read in the 1908 Christmas Budget. At some point the 1908 Christmas Budget was lost. In 1930 the teenage David Machell Cox, son of Arthur, was writing up his favourite family poems into a new book - 'An Anthology of Cox Frivolities, 1893-1930'. The second edition of this family compilation is safely preserved in the Bodleian Library, although its bindings have disintegrated. In this compilation I disovered these 1908 family poems, which don't appear to exist elsewhere in the Machell Cox archive.We hear about hockey, the various remedies Mother uses when her many small children were ill, and Cuthbert writes about a peculiar boy who drinks fountain pen ink.The two hockey poems describe the second match Vera played as a member of the All England Ladies' Hockey team. This match took place at Richmond in London on Wednesday 18th March 1908 and England were playing Scotland. I am still keen to see the photos of Vera which I know exist in magazines called 'Black and White' and 'Ladies' Field' - if you know of surviving editions, please get in touch.You can contact me -  [email protected] via Twitter - @CoxLetters.  All content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro - 00:00'To the Editor' by Edmund - 09:04'Teardrops' by Bernard (theme suggested by Arthur) - 10:56'A Paean' by Arthur - 13:14'A Missionary's Meanderings in Many Metres' by Aldwyn - 23:52'Of Veronica - and Hockey' by Bernard (with the help of Macaulay, Browning and M.Arnold) - 36:08Notes on Bernard's hockey poem - 43:28'The Advantages of a Proper Education - a Poem' by Cuthbert - 52:14

Frances reads three letters, written by Avice, Enid and Wilfred in February and March 1909, the last three letters of Budget 18.In Avice’s letter, the safe arrival of baby Leslie is announced, born to Edmund and Annie May. Leslie was my grandfather, and in the 1980s he and his cousins were still writing the Cousins’ Budget. Long Live the Budget! - writes Avice. In Aldwyn’s next letter, after visiting Neville in South Africa, Aldwyn says the same thing in Latin - “Floreat Budgettum”  (I think the rough Latin translation is – Long may the Budget flourish)Avice delightedly congratulates Vera on once again being selected to play in the England Ladies' hockey team – the family are all clearly very proud.  Avice has got a new job, governess to a very wealthy family, the Honourable Florence and Marshall Jones Brooks, who live in Tarporley in Cheshire, and she provides a fascinating insight into the life of the gentry in 1909.Enid says she has little to say, and comments on the family, her life in Liverpool and she has read very many books.Wilfred is still in Hope, British Columbia in February 1909, and it looks like he has not found any work; presumably he had saved enough money to live on through the long Canadian winter. His siblings have sent him Christmas presents of books to read, although sadly one parcel of books was lost in the post.I would especially love to hear from you if you know anything about the magazine Ladies' Field, or women's hockey in the early 1900s as I am trying to find out more. Or just email me if you have enjoyed this podcast, and tell me your family history story? [email protected] Machell Cox Budget letters is on Twitter - @CoxLetters.  All content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Avice's letter, 27th February 1909 : 2:48Notes on Avice's letter: 16:34Enid's letter, 5th March: 21:36Notes on Enid's letter: 28:48Extra contribution - Wilfred's letter, 5th February: 31:05Notes on Wilfred's letter: 36:03

Frances reads four letters, written by Arthur, Aldwyn, Vera and Edmund in January and February 1909.Arthur has been to Rame Head for sketching and bird watching; this time he has lost some brand-new paintbrushes there.Arthur has a new boy at Garfield House School, Watson major, who is very loquacious. The personality of interesting schoolboys never fails to entertain the members of the Budget.Aldwyn writes one more letter, before returning by ship to Africa. He looks forward to re-joining the Budget in his next holiday, which should be in 1913, and he hopes the Budget will still be thriving. He describes the many gifts he is taking back to Nyasaland.Vera describes the siblings accompanying Aldwyn to Southampton to see him off on the SS Norman and she also describes how she and Avice are mad on roller skating.Edmund writes about his dog called Satan and The Church Lads' Brigade, who are forming a black-face minstrel troop;  Annie May has solved Cuthbert’s riddle about what can go up and down the chimney. And Edmund fails to mention their baby, who will be born in just a few days.Machell Cox Budget letters is on Twitter - @CoxLetters.  Or email me if you have enjoyed this podcast, and tell me your family history story – [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Correspondence: 2:32Arthur's letter, 26th January 1909 : 16:02Notes on Arthur's letter: 26:40Aldwyn's letter, 4th February: 32:03Notes on Aldwyn's letter: 39:15Vera's letter, 11th February and notes: 44:17Edmund's letter, 19th February and notes: 50:54

Frances reads two letters, written by Bernard and Cuthbert.Bernard writes in great detail about all the headings on the front page of the Daily Chronicle, a halfpenny newspaper which doesn't impress him; it is far too sensational. He also thoroughly reviews The Testing of Diana Mallory, a novel in which every character regularly flushes, blushes and reddens. Bernard is amused and starts to make a list...  Then tragedy strikes, the Budget is lost in the post, and Cuthbert mournfully starts the Budget on its rounds once more. Cuthbert's letter includes a lot of family detail; he describes a snowball fight in the garden where the siblings are observed by a policeman and some streetboys, and they break a pane of glass in Dr Cox's conservatory.Machell Cox Budget letters is on Twitter - @CoxLetters.  Or email me if you have enjoyed this podcast – [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Bernard's letter, 21st November 1908 : 08:30Notes on Bernard's letter: 24:20Cuthbert's letter, 25th January 1909: 36:20Notes on Cuthbert's letter: 41:27

Frances reads three letters, written by Edmund, Avice and Enid in November 1908. Edmund is sibling number 2 and is the curate in charge of St Bartholomew’s, Hallam Fields in Derbyshire. Edmund's wife is about to have a baby,  but he doesn't mention that. Instead he talks about the Church Lads' Brigade and shooting sparrows. Avice is sibling number 9  and in this letter she talks about rugby and the Australian Walloughbys,  playing hockey at Great Comp with Mrs Heron-Maxwell and Vera and going on scouting expeditions with Arthur and the schoolboys of Garfield House School. Enid is the eldest sibling, born in 1868, who lives in Liverpool with her family.  In her letter she talks about books, concerts, lectures, the Mauretania and the Lusitania and going to the Lake District.Why not check out - @CoxLetters - on Twitter.  Or email me if you have enjoyed this podcast – [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Intro: 00:00Edmund's letter, November 3rd 1908: 02:00Notes on Edmund's letter: 07:38Avice's letter, November 11th: 12:31Notes on Avice's letter: 24:00More notes on Avice's letter: 40:00Enid's letter, November 14th: 45:28Notes on Enid's letter: 58:43

Frances reads four letters written in October 1908.  Bernard  (London stockbroker) and Cuthbert (teacher at Berkhamsted School) both write from the family home, St Alban's, Longton Avenue in Sydenham, south London. Arthur writes from Garfield House School in Plymouth (he is owner and Headmaster); Vera also writes from Longton Avenue in Sydenham. (Hockey player, companion to aged parents)Avice (housekeeper at Garfield House School) and Enid (Edwardian matron - the wife of a Schools Inspector in Liverpool) are at home as well, as Aldwyn (African missionary) has just arrived by ship, from Africa; their letters will be in the next podcast.Vera writes: "It is horrid that four of the Budget members are now at home. It leaves you nothing to say." But the siblings do have plenty to say, describing everything they have been up to.Mrs Wimbush is Arthur's mother-in-law, paying a visit to Plymouth, from Terrington in Yorkshire. She is an eccentric old lady who believes that if you are feeling unwell you should open the window and throw your chest out.Why not check out - @CoxLetters - on Twitter.  Or email me – [email protected] content is subject to copyright, and belongs to Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library. Bernard's letter, 2nd October 1908: 4:39Notes on Ber's letter: 11:41Cuthbert's letter, 10th October: 18:21Notes on Cuthbert's letter: 22:39Arthur's letter, 14th October: 27:49Notes on Arthur's letter: 38:22Vera's letter, 25th October: 43:51Notes on Vera's letter: 49:57

If you are new subscriber, you might want to scroll back to S1E1, which explains what the Machell Cox Family Budget is. Today Frances reads three letters written by Neville and Wilfred in 1908; they talk about the Nickel Plate Gold Mine in British Columbia and the Premier Diamond Mine in Pretoria.Neville is playing tennis with friends on the lawn at Hatherley in Pretoria, and he also writes about a bike ride where both their motor car and one of the bicycles fall apart.Wilfred walks from O'Kanagan Falls to Hope in British Columbia, over the mountains, where he meets a bear. Wilfred says it was about 140 miles (225 km). He was tough, walking for days through the mountains, without even a torch;  just a pack full of grub and a blanket to stop him freezing at night.Did you know that in the early 1900s there were two Winston Churchills? One was a best selling American author, and Winston S. Churchill  was the British up-and-coming politican who would eventually become Prime Minister. It gets confusing when the siblings talk about two men named Winston Churchill.Did you you enjoy this podcast? You can email Frances  - [email protected] you wish, you can also buy Frances a coffee - ko-fi.com/francesthompson100 Years of Cox is on Twitter - @CoxLetters, pics of British Columbia will go up this week.All content is subject to copyright, and belongs to both Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library.Intro: 00:00Neville's letter, 22nd October 1908: 1:57Notes on Neville's letter: 13:52Wilfred's first letter, 22nd September: 21:58Notes: 29:22Wilfred's second letter, 30th October: 34:03Notes: 39:21

Frances reads Aldwyn's long 1908 letter from Africa, the first instalment of his journey from Kota Kota on the shores of Lake Nyasa, back to England. Kota Kota is now called Nkhotakota, the lake is called Lake Malawi and the country formerly known as Nyasaland is now Malawi.Aldwyn steams south across the lake on the SS Chauncy Maples; he then travels by several other forms of transport to the coast at Chinde, which is at the mouth of the Zambezi River, in Mozambique. Then he boards a ship, the SS Herzog, ending up in the Mission hospital in Zanzibar, in Tanzania.He started his journey on 31st July 1908; and the Archdeacon said the Itinerarium before they left. Aldwyn doesn't get to London until October 5th.If you have never heard of a machila before, and would like to know what one looks like, some photos will go up on Twitter - @CoxLettersIf you enjoyed this podcast or have any questions, you can email Frances  - [email protected] you have heard of the Itinerarium before, and know more, please email Frances!100 Years of Cox is also on Twitter - @CoxLettersAll content is subject to copyright, and belongs to both Frances Thompson and the Bodleian Library.Intro: 00:00Aldwyn's letter, 2nd August 1908 - 2:44On the River Shire - 6:50The Zambezi River - 9:12The SS Herzog - 11:02Notes on Aldwyn's letter - 12:54Notes part 2 - 19:30