William Jackson correspondence

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0347 D162
Held at	: Wandsworth Heritage Service   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/homepage/215/local_history_and_heritage ›
Full title	: William Jackson correspondence
Date(s)	: 1891-1895
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 106 letters and 1 certificate
Name of creator(s)	: Please contact the Archive for further information
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

William Tarlton Rayment Jackson was born in 1856, the son of a chemist, and married Mary Emily Bruton on 15 September 1888, in the parish church of St Andrew, Holborn. Their son Hugh was born in 1890 and their daughter Mary Marguerite - sometimes referred to as Daisy - in 1893. William, known to his wife as Jack, was a commercial traveller for the firm of Blundell, Spence and Co, who manufactured paint. Jackson also had a sister, Louise, to whom he occasionally wrote and also refers to his wife's younger sister Rose. The family seemed to suffer from financial worries, as this is a regular theme within the letters and Jackson makes clear that he has undertaken his long business trips abroad to try and get the family out of these difficulties. Mary Emily was known as Emily, or affectionately by Jackson as "wifie", and was born in Derbyshire in 1856. From the 1881 census she appears to have been a school teacher prior to her marriage.

Blundell, Spence and Co were a Hull firm, who had offices at Anchor Wharf, 9 Upper Thames Street, London. Jackson refers to other employees of the firm, including Bob Cooke and Richmond.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Letters written from Australia, New Zealand and South America from Jackson, a commercial traveller, to his wife Emily, who was living in Wandsworth. Between November 1891 and August 1892 Jackson travelled to Australia and New Zealand, and wrote home to his wife with his impressions of Melbourne, Ballarat, Launceston, Sydney, Christchurch and Dunedin, as well as details of his journeys and everyday activities. In 1893 he went to Brazil and Argentina and was in Rio de Janeiro during a revolution, being forced to leave the city before travelling on to Buenos Aires, including having to spend time in quarantine on the Isla de Flores. His third trip was between October 1894 and September 1895 and was also to South America, visting Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Mendoza, Valparaiso and Iquique. The letters for this trip include a description of crossing the Andes by road and the effects of the altitude. Many of Jackson's letters refer to how much he misses his wife and children and to his daily routine, although he also regularly refers to concerns over his health and occasionally specifically refers to missing his physical relationship with Emily.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Chronological

Conditions governing access:

This material is only available in the Wandsworth Heritage Service search room at Battersea Library. Please contact Heritage Service staff for more information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Creator was a distant relative of the depositor. The letters had been in the possession of the creator's daughter, Mary Marguerite Attewell (nee Jackson), who presumably passed them on to Mr Davies.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Please contact the Archive for further information

Allied Materials

Related material:

Records of Blundell, Spence and Co are held by Hull City Archives, ref: DBBS.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Finding aid created by export from CALM v8.0.2.40 Archives Hub EAD2002. Entry amended by Barbara Ball

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
April 2011