Book tells of Sheffield woman Winifred Graville's unique war effort, writing for US newspaper

The wartime letters of a Sheffield woman that were published in a US newspaper have been turned into a book.
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US historian Richard MacAlpine came across the letters while researching the effect of the attack on Pearl Harbour that brought his country into the war in New York newspaper the Penn-Yan Chronicle Express.

He discovered that the editor agreed to publish the letters sent by Sheffielder Winifred Graville to her American cousin Jane Beaumont as a modest attempt to persuade public opinion over to joining the war by telling readers what conditions were like.

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Excerpts from Winifred’s beautifully-written letters, full of humour, pathos and quirky details of everyday life, became a regular feature in the paper until 1942.

Sheffield during the WarSheffield during the War
Sheffield during the War

A gardening expert and public speaker in her mid-50s, Winifred lived in Ringinglow Road with her maid Doris.

She wrote about the Women’s Voluntary Service and her other war work, air raids, blizzards, rationing, visiting London to get permission for a US lecture tour and gas masks.

Interestingly now masks are in the news, she complained about wearing one but how necessary it was. She also had a ‘gas mask’ container made for her canary.

Sheffield during the WarSheffield during the War
Sheffield during the War
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Winifred described the December 1940 Blitz. On January 15 she wrote: “Sheffield is rising nobly from the ashes of the Blitz. Such shops as are left are all boarded up and bear notices like ‘Open – more than usual’, ‘Blitz and Blast – still open’; ‘Hitler was our last customer, will you be our next?’ etc.”

She told her readers: “This England of ours was once the Home of the Free. It is still and always will be and every one of us is absolutely willing to do all that we can to ensure that ​​​​​​freedom. We grumble, of course we do, we shouldn’t be British if we didn’t… That does not mean we are not very anxious and worried, but it does mean we are not going to give in.”

Letters from the Blitz: Telling America the Truth about the British Experience of War by Richard MacAlpine is published by The History Press on August 3 (£14.99 paperback).

A message from the Editor:

Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI, visited Sheffield in the aftermath of the BlitzQueen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI, visited Sheffield in the aftermath of the Blitz
Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI, visited Sheffield in the aftermath of the Blitz

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