More letters between Muriel in Worcester and Harold in Malaya.

7 Lansdown Crescent, Worcester
June 10th, 1905

Dear Harold,

Good news. Mark has been accepted at Cambourne. He is very thrilled.

When you next write perhaps you can tell me more about why the Chinese are involved in Malaya.

I think your quote was from Thoreau, am I right?

Here’s another: Wagner’s music is better than it sounds. Do you like classical music?

We had a wonderful trip to Warwick and then to Stratford, leaving home on the 8th and then touring around Warwick and Coventry until the 10th. We managed to go to 2 plays when we were in Stratford, Othello on May 11th and The Taming of the Shrew on the 13th.

Frank Benson whom I’m sure you’ve heard of, directed and acted in them both, and Constance Benson, his wife, played Desemona in Othello, while he played Othello. She also played Katerina in the Taming of the Shrew and he played Petroucio. They were both very good, as you would expect them to be.

Many of the others in the play were names not familiar to me. I will list the names in case you recognize any of them. George Buchanan played Lodovico; Hannan Clark played a Sailor; Clarence Derwent played Gratiano; Cyril Keightley played Cassio; H. Nicholson played the Duke of Venice; Percy Owen was Roderigo; B. Pittar was Brasantio; Philip Sanders was Montano; Emilia was played by Gertrude Scott, and Iago by Arthur Whitby. Those two were both excellent in their roles. Henry Willis played a Senator.

In The Taming of the Shrew, Elinor Aickin played Curtis; Leo Briggs was Walter; George Buchanan played Hortenio, Hannan Clark played the Pedant (he was also in the other one), Reginald Davis played Nathaniel, Clarence David played Tranio; Leah Hanman played Sugar Sop, Cyril Keightley (he too was in the other play) played Lucentio, able Moore played Bianca, H. Nicholson played Gremio, Percy Owen (snap) played Germio,  and Baptista (busy man), B. Pittar (also snap) played Vincentio, Philip Sanders played the Cook, Cissise Saumarez the widow, George Wier played Grumio and Arthur Whitby was Biondello.

I read in the programme, ‘Frank Benson born 1858, actor – manager. ‘He is the Shakespearian actor who makes his company a nursery for the English stage.’ I wonder what they mean by that.

Have you ever seen a play at Stratford? The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre is a Victorian Gothic building. It opened in 1879 with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing.

We stayed at an inn that had been recommended to us, The Falcon, and the landlady told us that the indentation in the window seat was where Shakespeare had rested his bottom when he was drinking beer there. It was a wonderful place, built in 1615, and with dark smoky beams which still seemed to have the spider webs of centuries ago.

We went to visit Shakespeare’s house in Henley Street which is preserved intact and also Anne Hathaway’s cottage. At the age of 18 he married Anne, who was seven years his senior and three months pregnant. She was of yeoman stock, and according to the leaflets, her family owned a farm one mile west of Stratford in Shottery. Shakespeare ‘endured her until he could stand it no longer’ and fled to London to become an actor. He then became actor-manager and part-owner in the Blackfriars and afterwards the Globe Theatres.

On our day off from seeing a play, we walked the River Avon. From the East side of the river we could see Holy Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare is buried, a beautiful view with weeping willows.

From the bandstand we took a footpath alongside the river and on our right was the tramway bridge. There were many boats being rowed on the river. After a couple of hundred yards we saw the pedestrian chain ferry.

We also saw some attractive weirs and canal boat locks and went on until we came to the Mill Bridge. We crossed the bridge, keep to the right, walked up Mill Lane and came to the entrance to Holy Trinity where we entered the church yard and the church. Afterward we turned right again to Avon Bank Gardens and then crossed back on to the Chain Ferry once more. Once past the ferry we came to the Memorial Theatre Gardens where we walked along the river bank, until we were so tired we needed to stop for a coffee and a rest. It was a wonderful walk.

Our visit to Coventry went well too, but they aren't having the Lady Godiva festival at the moment. When John overheard May mentioning it, he said he would have positively forbad us to go anyway. Not that we would have told him about it or asked his permission.

Since you have told me so much of the history of Perek, I can now educate you in the history of Coventry, which we learned when we visited it. In ancient times the land covered by Warwickshire was made up of two sections, Arden and Feldon with the River Avon forming the boundary. In the eastern part of the Ardern bit, there was a settlement that came to be known as Coventry. The Feldon part was rich open countryside, but Arden was full of dense clay, so couldn’t grow crops, but oak trees for some reason grew well and the forests were thick. So the settlements grew up in the clearings. There was one very good resource in Arden, water – the Sherbourne River and a lake filling much of the land on the northern edge. So there were plenty of fish and enough drinking water and the land was easily defended. Instead of farming, the settlers raised cattle and sheep, so much of Coventry’s wealth came from the wool industry.

I will also tell you about Leofric and Godiva. Her given name was Godgifu meaning God’s gift and she was never officially a lady although some call her a countess. Even before she married Leofric she was a woman of high status and owned much land. So when they married they became an extremely wealthy couple who endowed many religious houses with riches, and the monastery in Coventry was described by John of Worcester as being, ‘so rich in various ornaments that no monastery in England might be found the abundance of gold, silver gems and precious stones that was at the time in its possession.’ I don’t know who the John of Worcester is – presumably not King John who is buried in our Cathedral. I will look him up and let you know. Leofric reported directly to the king, who was Cnut, who appointed him Earl in 1016 and Leonfric’s influence and power grew until he died in 1057. Godgifu died ten years later – then the most powerful lady landowner in England.

She of course is mostly remembered for her naked ride through the town on horseback, allegedly in an attempt to persuade her husband to lower the taxes that were crippling the poor citizens of Coventry. He had apparently rashly said he would not do so unless she would ride naked through the town, so she did - although I think her hair was so long that nobody saw much. In fact in one of the books it said that Leofric forbad anyone to watch her do it. It was written about 120 years later in a book called Flores Historiarum by Roger of Wendover from St. Albans.

I am disappointed that we didn’t get to see the actual ride, but much enjoyed our time in Coventry, and the Cathedral was worth a trip for its own sake.

Coventry's earliest cathedral, dedicated to St. Mary, was supposedly founded as a Benedictine community by Leofric and Godiva in 1043. It was built on the site of a former convent and is very big and shows signs of huge wealth. It is now almost a ruin due to the dissolution of the churches in 1539 and will take much money and effort to rebuild but I understand that there are plans for doing that. Of course we see some evidence of those problems in our Cathedral in Worcester too. Poor King John had his nose chopped off.

Warwick School is very pleasant. The main building dates from the 1870s and contains classrooms, offices and the Headmaster's residence and boarders (about a quarter of the pupils) live on the top floor. The school is situated on the Myton Road, running between Warwick and Leamington Spa to the south of and parallel with the River Avon.

The 'Quad' (not strictly a Quad because it's not square, and not surrounded by buildings) and the Fives court (I didn’t know what this is but John tells me that Fives is a strenuous game for two involving hitting a tennis ball against the far wall with a gloved hand). Behind the Fives Court are the staff common room and music practice rooms. Behind that, is the assembly room with a large stage which is used for plays and concerts.

We saw the swimming pool with the Gym. According to John, the raised seating in front of the Gym was known as 'The Altar' and was for the older boys only.
John says there is great emphasis on games (which you might appreciate more than he does) a certain academic rigidity, and an inflexibility in dealing with boys who don’t quite fit the expected mold. I think John approves of these things, but they make me feel rather uncomfortable. I would like to feel that children who are somewhat different should not suffer for it.

There is apparently a concert at the end of every term, with orchestral pieces, choral items (at Easter and Christmas usually bits of an appropriate oratorio) and solo or group items. I’m sure May will come into her own as both an accompanist and a soloist on these occasions.

Apparently, when May comes to be a Master’s wife, she will be expected to help with the plays – make costumes, that sort of thing. She was very excited to see what will be her new home in just over a year’s time. Quite a different new home as to what mine will be I think.

I expect you will know my quote for this time.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.

Much love,

Muriel

*****

Lahat, Perek
July 31st 1905

Dearest Muriel,

I find it hard to believe that it was a year ago when I received confirmation that I was to work here in Malaya. The time has gone very quickly and although I have been lonely at times, and of course miss you very much, I have also learned such a lot. And I have accumulated quite a good salary so that we should be confident of a good standard of living after we are married – wherever we may live.

You asked why we have mainly Chinese workers here. It is really because it was they who first found the tin in this area and set up the whole industry.

I hope this won’t sound too much like a lecture, as I am copying some of it from a book that I have found on the subject.

The initial work of opening up new land is generally undertaken by Chinese, who are stronger and more fitted physically for heavy work. Rich alluvial deposits of tin had been worked here from early times and, a long time before the arrival of the English, Chinese came down from their own country to search for it.

Most of the land which is now being worked by big European companies (in some cases by underground shafts, in others on the surface by means of hydraulic monitors or of the dredge) has already been partly worked by the pioneer Chinaman with his pick and shovel.

Practically all the labour employed on tin mines is Chinese, and many of the largest and most valuable mines are owned by Chinamen. They are an extremely hardworking and enterprising people, and many of the richest towkays (leading Chinamen) of to-day came to the country in the first place as unskilled coolies.

The natives of the country, the Malays, do little wage-earning work, as they have their own little plots of land, the produce from which provides them with a livelihood without much effort. We benefit from their agricultural products – and the rainfall, sunshine and rich soil mean that farming is very successful.

The Malays were the earliest miners in Kinta. Then came the Chinese (Siamese and Mandailings) who brought with them more intensive methods. However, it was the Chinese migrants, including those from the gold-fields of California and Australia, who turned Malaya into a world tin producer. The Europeans revolutionized tin-mining in Malaya with Western capital and technology.

Most of the towns in this area were established in the late 19th century and have character and charm and are flourishing, but most urban growth is concentrated in Ipoh.

In terms of numbers, I have read the following statistics. ‘The estimated aggregate area of the Federated Malay States is 28,000 sq. m., and the estimated population currently is 860,000, as against 678,595 in 1901, and increase of almost 200,000 in the last four years. Of these only about 230,000 are Malays. That means that most of the population, 630,000 are foreign workers, either Chinese, Indian or like me, English.

The principal sources of revenue are an export duty on tin, the rents paid for the revenue farms, the right to collect import duties on opium, wine and spirits, to keep licensed gambling-houses for the exclusive use of the Chinese population, railway receipts, land and forest revenue and postal revenue.

Perhaps this sort of information is not of much interest to you, but I find it fascinating. The Malay government, due to its clever financial dealings, does not owe money to anyone. They paid for the railways, the roads, the health service and benefits to their own people as well as the many work emigrants out of their profits. Most of the tin that is produced in the world comes from here – and I feel very privileged that a good share of it comes from my own little piece.

I think perhaps I have bored you enough for one letter. I do so look forward to hearing from you, but find that my thoughts and words tend these days to be almost entirely relating to work. Perhaps I should make more of an effort to get out more, so that I can make my letters to you more interesting.

It will soon be September and we will have been parted for a year. But it is my dearest wish that I will be with you, making you my wife in 10 months’ time. I will count every day until I see you again.

I think your quote was from Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I do like classical music, but not particularly Wagner. And I don’t know who the quote was by.

There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob. Who said that?

All my love,

Harold