Full of Hope and Fear

Subtitled 'the Great War Letters of an Oxford Family', these letters were found in a trunk and convey a vivid impression of the impact of the War on an unusual family based in Oxford. The father, Gilbert Slater, was a radical who had worked at Toynbee Hall in London and became Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford in 1909 but had to emigrate to Madras when the college closed in 1915 and he became Professor of Indian Economics at £1000 a year - letters were the only real form of communication between family members. Gilbert's wife, Violet, was an artist and pacifist who deplored the effects of the War. The title comes from a letter from Gilbert to his son Owen (named after the social reformer Robert Owen) as he set out for his training: 'our hearts go with you, always a little bit anxious, full of hope and fear, for your being well, and doing well, and living a good life.' There are nearly 400 letters between family members, but also from friends of Owen – as the letters were never intended for publication, they reflect the everyday concerns of a family engaged in the life of the time, as James Munson amply explains in his informative introduction. Most of the letters date from 1918-19 and convey a vivid impression of the life of military training and subsequently at the front and just after the War.