100 Years of Cox

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads six letters, written in June and July of 1909 by Edmund, Enid, Avice, Bernard, Cuthbert and Avice. Edmund puts Vera on the black list for not sealing up the Budget envelope properly; it was open when the post arrived, although Edmund thinks all contents are safe.  Enid is surprised that diphtheria is spelled with 2 'h’s. And she thinks it odd that Arthur and Dor...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads letters written by Bernard, Cuthbert, Arthur and Vera, and also a letter written by Evelyn the bridesmaid, in 1867. These letters all came from Budget series 1, number 20, from 1909. Bernard says the Stock Exchange is busy with South African mining and rubber plantation shares;  Cuthbert describes the Cup Tie final at Crystal Palace and the unsportsmanlike behaviour...

Send us Fan Mail Frances provides a recap on the ten children born to Rev Dr John Charles Cox and Minnie Cox, for anyone who might be still muddling them up. "The older family" - Enid (born 1868) Edmund (1869) Arthur (1870) Neville (1871) and Wilfred (1873). Approximately 4 years off between children - How and Why? And Where was Dr Cox between 1873-1877? Possibly some of the time he was...

Send us Fan Mail 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 -  she was probably lonely and really needed the family contact. Avice further describes the...

Send us Fan Mail 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,...

Send us Fan Mail 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'....

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 amuse...

Send us Fan Mail 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 le...

Send us Fan Mail 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 a...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 o...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads Aldwyn's second long letter, describing the rest of his journey back to England. He starts the letter 3 days after the port of Mombasa, in Kenya and is now travelling on the SS Gertrud Woermann.  Aldwyn describes Zanzibar and Mombasa, then  Aden, the Red Sea and the heat, travelling through the Suez Canal, then Port Said and backsheesh; then the Mediterranean, N...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads letters from Budget No.15, August and September 1908; Cuthbert and Arthur describe the summer holiday in Branscombe; Vera writes from Plymouth about  tennis and the difficulties of employing servants.   Edmund returns to the Budget, belligerent; he is ill in bed, but manages to write a short letter. Avice writes from Sydenham and Enid writes from Liverpool, where she...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads five Budget letters, written in July and August 1908. Bernard writes a letter, pretending to be Vera;  it was included in the Budget, labelled "a forgery". Neville writes from Pretoria, including plenty about Transvaal politics.  Avice, Enid and Bernard write letters, describing their summer holidays in Branscombe and Charmouth - train journeys, bathing, go...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads two Budget letters, written in July 1908, immediately prior to Vera's Marathon letter. Cuthbert writes from Berkhamsted School - about school Arthur writes from Garfield House School - also about school. It is the end of term, and the end of the school year;  there are exams, both teachers are tired and it is raining. These letters were written 113 years ago, bu...

Send us Fan Mail Today Frances has a guest, her friend Dr Emma Cleobury, whose parents were both Olympic athletes - Sylvia Cheeseman and John Disley.  There is  plenty of chat about running, marathons, King's College Oxford, the Cutty Sark and Whitechapel Bell Foundry. John Disley and Chris Brasher founded the London Marathon in 1981, and Emma was there at the finish, as a volunteer, as a &ap...

Send us Fan Mail Frances and Emma nattered on for so long about marathons, that one podcast episode became two. Frances and Emma recorded a video chat between Australia and the UK; this is the audio from that recording, so apologies that the audio is not as good as usual. You can watch the video, on the Machell Cox Letters YouTube channel,  in 2 parts, at this link. https://www.youtube.com/channel...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads two letters, written by Matilda Machell, her third great-grandma. These letters are part of a huge archive of documents, written by Frances' family, now safely preserved in the Bodleian Library. The first letter was written from Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, on the East coast. The letter states Friday Aug 28th at the top, but was likely to have been wri...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads two letters written by her 3rd great grandmother, probably in 1823, sent to her favourite brother Christopher, back at home in Beverley, Yorkshire. Matilda is staying with Mrs Appleby in her house on East Parade in Leeds. She goes to a concert and hears Mr Sapio (tenor), Mrs Salmon (soprano), Mr Mori (violin) and Mr Lindley (cello) - Matilda is in ecstasy at the beau...

Send us Fan Mail Frances reads letters written by Edmund, Avice, Enid and Bernard in June 1908.  Edmund’s letter is mournful; he knows his siblings are going to miss him out of the next round of the Budget. As Bernard says, sixpenny fines don’t work.  Edmund draws a sketch, of himself, hanging on the gallows. “Let me be a warning to you all”, says Edmund's speech bubble. Check out his drawing...

Send us Fan Mail It is May 1908 and Frances reads letters written by Bernard, Wilfred, Cuthbert, Arthur, Vera and Aldwyn. The older family are: Enid, Edmund, Arthur, Neville and Wilfred. The 5 members of the younger family are: Bernard, Aldwyn, Cuthbert, Avice and Vera.  Enid, Bernard and Arthur travel to Hallam Fields in Derbyshire, for May and Edmund’s wedding celebrations. The women wear fabulo...

Send us Fan Mail The ten Machell Cox siblings continue writing Budget letters to each other, discussing a variety of subjects. Enid is married to Cyril, a Schools Inspector, and is a wealthy Edwardian matron, in Liverpool.  Edmund is a poor Anglican curate in Derbyshire, soon to marry May, my g-g-grandmother. Arthur, married to Dorothy, is Headmaster of Garfield House prep school in Plymouth.  Nev...

Send us Fan Mail Budget No.1 was written by the siblings in Sept. 1906. It is now February 1908 and they are up to  Budget No.11.   Arthur goes to a dinner party, and accidentally wears one brown and one black boot. A lapse of social etiquette;  Edmund is choosing new wallpaper for Hallam Fields Parsonage;  Avice is interviewing new servants for Garfield House School;  And Bernard describes Vera’s...