An archive of career spanning and revealing letters written by Lieutenant, later Captain, Ralph Campbell Musbury Duckworth (1907–1983), the majority addressed to his ‘darling sister’ Sylvia who married into the Fawkes family of Farnley in Yorkshire. A lively correspondent with an eye for detail his earliest letters are written to his ‘darling Mama’ aged 10 from school in Winchester. Following passing out in 1924 eleven letters are penned on HMS Frobisher headed paper and 3 written while aboard HMS Waterhen while serving as part of the Mediterranean Fleet during 1925 -26.
Letters postmarked Malta, Majorca, Tarragona, San Remo, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania convey a sense of frustration and disappointment at any lack of engagement ‘we are all longing to shoot at somebody’. A single 4 sided letter dated 1934 written entirely in German to ‘Liebling Valerie’ describes Hitler speaking in front of a crowd of 180,000 and criticises the British press for propaganda regarding the treatment of Jewish people.
By 1940, Duckworth, now Lieutenant Commander on board HMS Illustrious writes, ‘It is almost impossible to write any letter without giving away some information so my remarks about weather should be respected as confidential’. 1941 letters are sent from Navy House, Ismalia, Egypt, ‘I have been specially selected for a new job here alas I can't tell you what I am doing but I can assure you that as usual I have fallen on my feet into a whole pile of excitement’. Time is spent ‘swearing in Arabic and arguing in French all day’. In between skirmishes Duckworth, now Commander in Chief Mediterranean and Levant always finds time for dancing and fun while at all times keeping his sister up to speed, ‘my present GF here is tall and dark and handsome, wife of an RAF officer, intelligent and amusing but inclined to be a Gimme Gimme girl’. A final letter in the archive dated 1954 from HMS Checkers sees Commander in Chief Duckworth at the pinnacle of his career, accompanying Lord Mountbatten in a four-ship escort as he takes the Queen, on board the Royal Yacht to Gibraltar, ‘the children are pets and full of fun and Princess Anne chased all around the polo ponies’. Included in the archive are:
8 handwritten letters ‘to my darling Mama’ penned between May 1917 and May 1918 from Ralph while away at school. Addressed from, ‘W Downs Winchester’.
Letters dated 1924 – 27
11 letters on HMS Frobisher headed paper dated between Oct 1924 – Oct 1925. All written to his sister, ‘Darling Sylvia’ - Sylvia Horton. Mrs G Horton The Birches, Farnborough Park, Hampshire. Letter dated May 1925. Valletta, Malta: ‘The Delhi chaser…..has been sent to fight the tribes… we are all longing to shoot at somebody.. however our time will come ‘. Days spent engaging in tactical and strategical exercises or idling while waiting for orders to move on. Several skirmishes en route reveal themselves in letters sent from Malta, Majorca and Tarragona. July 1925, San Remo: ‘the first civilised place we have been to since leaving England…Lots of opportunities for fun …on Wednesday a certain Mrs Brody Italian wife of a Scottish millionaire gave a large dance at her huge and lovely villa. Everything flowed well from music to champagne.’ ‘We gave a children's party on board in the afternoon, some 17 English children came we gave them tea, cinema, treasure hunt, X-ray exhibition and showed them round the ship’. Semi-official rumours of a stint to [Constantinople], Dardanelles and Black Sea emerge in August and September 1925 in a letter sent from San Remo and are welcomed, ‘there is always the chance of a noise and a little shooting if one gets near Soviet Russia’. By September 12th 1925 Duckworth writes, ‘I have been to Portugal Spain France Italy Malta Greece Bulgaria and Romania in the course of the year. Currently writing from Bucharest. The king Boris who recently escaped assassination in the Sofia cathedral affair came to lunch with the Admiral. The poor man is only allowed £3000 a year as the country has no money or rich men having been ruined by the war’. March 18th 1926: ‘we joined up with the Atlantic fleet and made a fleet of the ‘hood’ 12 battleships, 14 cruisers, 56 destroyers, 2 flotillas of submarines and one flotilla of minesweepers besides innumerable armouries. We left Malta on February the 24th 1926 and after fighting a frightful battle in the course of which the whole of the 1st cruiser squadron were sunk. We THEN got blown up or rather torpedoed by ten aeroplanes who suddenly appeared through a smoke screen’.
3 letters written while on board HMS Waterhen in mid-1926. ‘only six officers besides Marshall and I, the captain is a Lieutenant Commander named James young a Scots man with plenty of cash who gives flashy dinner parties and amuses all the girls in Malta’. A visit to the Doge’s Palace on shore leave allows time to appreciate the Tintorettos. ‘The German nations are so much more pleasant than the sleek and sly Italians’. Not impressed with his present posting Duckworth writes, ‘just think of living on tinned milk and frozen meat for 2 1/2 years without tasting one drop of fish don't you think you're lucky.’
Letters 1934 - 1954
Handwritten 4-sided letter written in German from Munich dated 2 Mai 1934.
Letter to to Sylvia from Hambleton Manor, Droitwich, Worcestershire dated June 1939 and another from the Lake District dated 20.2.39 ‘Vickers is a first class firm to deal with, I am thrilled by my new ship’.
Letter dated 30th of Jan 1940 written on HMS Illustrious headed paper ‘we've been doing a lot of slogging around the ocean’.
A couple of letters to Papa and Mama dated July 1940 from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious to Mrs AC Duckworth Orchard Leigh, Frome, Somerset.
8 letters and airmail letter cards to Sylvia (now Mrs G G Horton Fawkes, Farnley Hall, Otley) from Alexandria posting dated 1940 – 1942. ‘I wear khaki and altogether no one would think I was but a few weeks ago torpedo officer of HMS latest aircraft carrier…... it is indeed odd finding myself going up and down the Suez Canal. I never thought to find myself in any way responsible for its blue waters winding their narrow way through the desert but here I am’. ‘Oh dear me I'm so tired of bombs and mines and things that go bump in the night no one seems to achieve much thereby anyway.’
Letter dated 1954 sent from HMS Checkers
