Chiswick Artist Publishes Book Of Her Mother's Wartime Letters
Anthea Craigmyle's family lived in the Vicarage of St. Nicholas' Church
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Well-known Chiswick artist Anthea Craigmyle has published a book of her mother's wartime letters to a Jewish refugee.
'A Vicarage In The Blitz' is a story of the friendship between her mother Molly Rich, and a young Austrian refugee Otto, who stayed with the family at the Vicarage in St. Nicholas' in 1939.
Otto had escaped from Vienna, helped by the Society of Friends relief agency and he stayed with the family from March 1939 for fourteen months until he was arrested and interned as an alien. He was taken first to Surrey and then transferred to a camp in Liverpool before being transported to Australia on board the HMS Dunera, travelling the two-month journey with 2,800 German, Austrian and Italian internees in appalling conditions.
The 600 letters exchanged between them over the next four years, with Molly cheerfully telling him of the latest ups and downs of family life in Chiswick were a source of comfort to the young Austrian. He later told Anthea that her mother's letters had " kept him alive" during the war years. His parents in Vienna were both dead.
Anthea, (Lady Craiggmyle) said Otto was like " the perfect son" to her mother who was trying to cope with a household that overflowed with children, refugees both from abroad and from London's East End, lodgers, neighbours and a menagerie of cats, dogs rabbits and chickens.
" He had a great sense of humour, we all adored him. He had curly hair and was very nice looking but very shy."
Molly kept the extended family clothed and fed while digging her allotment and volunteering as a firewatcher while her husband was often busy with his work as a vicar. Her story is one of bravery, and selflessness and not only a fascinating glimpse into the private life of the family but a valuable insight into the social history of the time. She talks of bomb raids on London, the cold weather, the difficulty of feeding up to twenty people on rations and the comings and goings of her four children who were sent to the country to school. She signed them " with love from Aunt Molly"
Anthea at work in her studio in Chiswick
Molly kept the extended family clothed and fed while digging her allotment and volunteering as a firewatcher while her husband was often busy with his work as a vicar. Her story is one of bravery, and selflessness and not only a fascinating glimpse into the private life of the family but a valuable insight into the social history of the time. She talks of bomb raids on London, the cold weather, the difficulty of feeding up to twenty people on rations and the comings and goings of her four children who were sent to the country to school. She signed them " with love from Aunt Molly"
After he was released Otto enlisted in the British Army and saw service in England, France and Germany. While he was based in france the family relocated to Peterborough. Otto stayed in the Army until Noveber 1946, took a degree at Birkbeck College in London and taught history at various colleges. He married happily and had two daughters.
After her mother's death in 1974, Anthea met Otto for lunch (he is still living in the UK ) and he gave her the letters from Molly. " There were six shoe boxes of them, and it was very difficult to transcribe but I did have help from my friend Cynthia Penney and others," says Anthea.
Why did she publish the book? " I wanted people to know what it was like for people living during the war- it was a very intense time for people in London and I wanted to show the human side of it. It was a very hard time for my mother- she was really an artist but having to live life as a drudge- but there were many other wonderful women like her too."
A Vicarage In The Blitz , with illustrations by Anthea Craigmyle is available on Amazon or by emailing Barbara@lintondesign.com
July 1, 2013
