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| Description | Most of the entries in this diary include Fry's commentary on the progression of the second world war. This has not always been included in the description below.
'Church Farm, Buckland'.
June 30 "What a world to be writing in!" Fry talks of the death of Lew [Lewis], the loss of Libya, criticism of Churchill, and a summary of other war based events; talks of Nurse Weaver who must go to hospital; gardens are dry, there is a lot of fruit, but not enough sugar to use it; Fry saw Josephine Mason for an hour; met Joan.
Jul 1 Fry took Nurse to hospital, she is very ill; letter from Con mending their relationship; comments on the Egyptian battle.
Jul 2 Sebastopol has fallen to the Nazis; comments on Churchill's reaction; letter from R Sedyn; Mary visited Nurse who was happy.
Jul 3 Fry requests the Simmonds leave around the August Bank Holiday.
Jul 4 Kathleen Nelson took Fry to Aylesbury to see Nurse in hospital; no rain all day; reports on German losses at Sebastopol
Jul 5 reports on weather; news on war; Georges arrived to dig, finding pottery, teeth and bone; Miss Ralph visited; talks of a poem on the cat having kittens; Betty Dugdale visited, she wants to return after the war
Jul 6 worries about lack of rain; discusses Auchinleck and El Alamin; letter from Con regarding Lew[is]'s memorial; phone call from Roland Liem regarding the situation in China; Mary visited the doctor hoping to receive news of her condition, but must wait.
Jul 7 Nurse is too ill to have another operation, so must work on mitigating the attacks; El Alamein still holds, China holds heroically, Russia is retreating bravely; plenty of rain.
Jul 9 Mary visited Nurse, who is happy to come home; talks about cow and calf, thistle cutting.
Jul 10 long letter from Hetty Malinowski to Audrey Richards telling of "Bronio's" sudden death;.
Jul 11 Fry describes her day, fruit picking, milking, lessons, trip to hospital, visit from Mr Almon; Cherry Morris for tea; Mrs Milton called in late.
Jul 12 Cherry stayed for the day, helped with weeding, knitted; Fry is concerned about Libya; went to Mrs Milton's to see Miss Svendsen and Icelandic friend who talked about Norwegian fight against Nazis; read argument against pacifism by Huh Hsih.
Jul 13 talks about Sherington's 'Man on his Nature'.
Jul 14 Nurse returned from hospital.
Jul 15 letter from M[argery] who is lonely and unhappy about the war; went to Mrs Fellowes' for Nurse's Fund Collectors garden party.
Jul 16 Nurse returned..
Jul 17 sad letter from SMF [Margery] who is facing giving dinner to a Mormon judge and some isolationists.
Jul 18 Fry talks of Lewis, and Paddy Finucane.
Jul 19 Goeorges Fournier arrived and Grace Beale who is working in an electrical apparatus shop largely on Government work.
Jul 20 talks of picking currants, Fry says they must stop even though there are many more as they have no sugar to make jam due to rationing.
Jul 21 Georges' thoughts on the nature of the atom and the human mind.
Jul 22 Fry in trouble for being impolite yesterday's visitor; another visitor from the hospital; talks about Timoshenko and Siberia.
Jul 23 had Ida Rohtert and her char woman to pick remaining berries, Ida shocked at tone of Annabel and Betty's letters.
Jul 25 Avice arrived, ad Roland Liem shortly after, they discuss the movements of the war in depth.
Jul 26 Roland Liem talks of his past; Avice mentions a group of "girl wood cutters" who are the happiest of her hostel girls.
Jul 27 Avice left, Fry comments that her life is a "sealed book"; Fry mentions that 29 planes were lost over Hamburg.
Jul 28 picking currants with children and other garden work; Mrs Harding visited to tell Fry of the treatment she has received for having light showing in her house, Fry describes her in an interesting way; Birmingham suffered from bomb damage.
Jul 29 Andre Philip is visiting, he has been lecturing in Lyon on improving agriculture.
Jul 30 Mrs Leach from Dancer's End to tea; Mr Davies visited in the evening, he is working with Aclands Forward March Movement.
Jul 31 Jens came to take Fry to tea; Jens happy as news of Cecil has been heard through Swiss friends; Fry and Jens disagree on the need to educate young men on the post-war changes to the country, Fry is in favour
Aug 1 Fry talks about the war; letter from SMF; Miss Aline Dawson to visit for weekend, joined by Peggy Marks anb Bob Piercy for supper, Piercy proud of his RAF trainees and tells stories about them.
Aug 2 Gerry and Benn[sic] did not visit, but Georges did.
Aug 3 Aline Dawson left; thunderstorms; War "menace" is increasing for India and eastern Russia.
Aug 4 Fry recalls Aug 4 1914, and discusses the insanity of the war which she sees as a "continuation of the same lunacy"; Tory visited; Nurse had party of cousins visit for day, Mrs Fondini, and Mrs West.
Aug 5 Vernon Bartlett echoes Fry's feelings on the war; Gerry and Ben visited in a pony cart.
Aug 6 tea at Mrs Beardon Grundy's, who has a brother in the Netherlands, met a Mrs MacBane there who talked about her sons who are in the army.
Added for Aug 5 Miss Bennett was struck by Miriam and David's singing.
Aug 7 Mrs MacBane visited to bring back "Swastika night" [book]; visited K Nelson who was also feeling desperate about the war
Aug 9 Georges visited; Fry talks a lot about the war.
Aug 12 an alert at 2.45am [possibly air raid], concerns about Nurse being able to move quickly enough; spent day bottling cherries.
Aug 13 shopping in Aylesbury; Supper with K Nelson.
Aug 14 children left for holidays; Fry preparing herbs to send to "our prisoners"; letter from J Lepetit.
Aug 15 received letter from Marie Mauron requesting help.
Aug 16, the Bridge Hotel, Whatley, Fry describes her journey by bus; she is holidaying with "T.O." mentions that HG Wells is at the hotel "a drinking senile old man", Fry talks about his companion, Countess Budberg
Aug 17 spoke with H Wells at breakfast; went to Oxford, saw Warburg photograph series in the Ashmolean, met Nurse, saw Helen Barlow, passed through Bath and Bristol which showed signs of raids
Aug 18 Brent Knoll, Agnes had 15 women from the WI for the afternoon
Aug 19 big raid in France is reported; talks abou the account of the Malta convoy by Com. Kimmins; funeral of Mr Justice Langton, suspicions re. whether he committed suicide
Aug 20 Fry mentions the Dieppe raid, and situation in Russia; Mrs Goodman visited; went to Axbridge
Aug 21 Agnes had "some terribly dull people to be kind to in the pm"
Aug 22 Brazil has declared war on "the Axis"
Aug 23 visited Berrow
Aug 24 Fry discusses return on Churchill; Lady Fox and Mrs Arthur to tea; talk about Bath raid
Aug 25 Germany have entered the Caucus; milk is to be rationed to three pints a week; tea with Lady Fox and Mrs Arthur
Aug 26 problems with kidney pain; composed letter commending Chinese friendship movement to be on show at Rotary Club Conference, but felt unqualified; talks about situation in Russia; Fry talks about hearing bombs, and rwatching Arthur Koestler talking about the rate of deaths occurring under German rule being one person per minute
Aug 27 some nice school children to tea, Fry felt "the public school colour" throughout; Russia news the same
Aug 28 Fry describes an air raid in Bristol. Having seen a friend off on the bus the sirens sounded. Called on Mrs Sanday
Aug 29 disagreeable day, bad weather; Agnes taught ungracious class of girls embroidery; talks about the developments in Russia
Au 31 Agnes met a girl whose fiancee had been through the Libyan campaign, apparently one of around five who survived out of 8000 men; Fry is feeling homesick
Sep 1 Burcote Brook goodbye to Agness, both are sad as it will be "a long farewell", describes a portress [woman porter] helping her change trains; met Nurse at Worcester, then to see Con who is sad over Lewis's death
Sep 2 news on the Germans' attacak on Stalingrad;
Sep 3 marks the fourth year of the start of the war; Fry discusses with Constance the possibility of funding a scholarship in music at Balloil college in memory of Lewis
Sep 5 Fry journeys to London to Clarendon Road; supper with George Fournier and Anton Logorsci [illegible], they talk of news from Liege tin Pris that he had seen Jewish children being spearated form their parents to be sent to different destination; Albanians have been told to hide their crops
Sep 5 went to Liberal Assembly [conference] at Caxton Hall much discussion is on post war planning; a siren sounds during the conference; went to see show of "underground activities ag[ainst] Nazis. Some actual secretly circulated papers on show"
Sep 6 lunch with Rauf Bey, Fry talks about Rauf's views, and his experiences as a child growing up with adopted brothers and sisters who were adopted children of slaves freed by the Turkish in Tripoli; Endre came to tea, would like to take up factory welfare work after the war
Sep 7 Fry is back at Buckland; lunched with Joan
Sep 8 talks about Churchill's response to the latest developments; went to Aylesbury to meet Mme Goldmann to collect Jenny Chapman for a holiday of three weeks
Sep 9 Adcock children returned, dirty and untidy
Sep 11 Yvonne has arrived; took children gleaning
Sep 12 talks about going gleaning again, lovely description of this
Sep 13 Kathleen Nelson to tea
Sep 14 Adcock children have been "kidnapped" by an aunt who appeared as Fry was out gleaning with them
Sep 15 Nurse is unwell
Sep 18 Nurse went to town with Adcock children's belongings, there are difficulties within the family; news form Stalingrad is a little worse
Sep 19 Fry talks about the general outlook regarding the war as being "black"; she says that "private troubles & tragedies are mounting"; a gosling died
Sep 20 K Ratcliffe to dinner, who is "by no means a true Pacifist"; went to the Nelson's to tea
Sep 21 letter from SMF telling of her arrival at the McDonalds residence in Ottawa; letters from K Calderon about Lew[is], and from Champion Russell; much time spent "threshing out" the gleaning; Kathleen and Jean Nelson to tea
Sep 22 Fry finds out that she is acting treasurer for the Princess Tshai memorial fund
Sep 23 went to Champney's with Nurse for Nurse to see the Osteopath, Stanley Leif
Sep 25 Milly King visited; Fry talks about the developments at Stalingrad
Sep 26 Fry talks about what she is reading
Sep 27 Fry is visited by Sylvia Pankhurst and her son Richard to discuss the Princess T'Shai memorial fund; Fry gains a new cow
Sep 29 Fry is still bedridden
Sep 30 talks of a bomb destroying a boy's school; called N Barlow to discuss her son's "success in destroying a U-boat and found she felt entirely divided btw [between] civilised horror and brutal satisfaction"
Oct 2 Mrs Goldman brought Jenny Chapman over; there is much discussion of what is happening in Stalingrad
Oct 3 discussion on situation in Stalingrad; Edward Ashcroft brought his son William to visit, Edward is manging the work of Italian prisoners
Oct 4 Fry is very concerned about Nurse, complains about quacks; Nelson's visited
Oct 5 Nurse must rest; Mrs Walker came to see Fry regarding acquiring some"shed" in St Leonards Wood; Fry describes the general feeling/moral of the country and says that news is depressing regarding Hitler
Oct 6 Jens visited
Oct 9 mentions the deportation of the Channel Islanders
Oct 10 Jenny Chapman arrived
Oct 11 Cherry visited for the day, they discuss the chaining of German prisoners and conclude that is not right
Oct 13 to Aylesbury to lunch with Hilda Harrison; Hilda is concerned about a new chief at the Ministry of Information (where she works) who is hiring advertisers who are being told to "go ahead regardless of truth", Fry is worried too; CM sent a letter from Lewis' Major, she describes what he wrote providing an interesting insight into the life of a soldier
Oct 14 N Laycock asked if Fry will let her make the Farm House School into a company, Fry is not happy but feels she cannot say no;
Oct 17 Avice arrived, she is having difficulty with some Irish girls who have come over to work in the munitions factory
Oct 18 more on Avice; Fry is overwhelmed by the "completeness and horror of Hitler's control of Europe. the inhumanities consistently practised by the Nazis in every corner of the conquered lands are unspeakable
Oct 19 Joan is very unwell; K Nelson drove Fry to St Leonards
Oct 22 Fry receives an account of Lew[is] from Con
Oct 25 Fry receives visit from Mr Chapman and Jenny. Mr Chapman would like Jenny to live with Fry as then she would be brought up "ladylike", Fry does not take kindly to this
Oct 29 Fry receives word on Halide Edib and Adnan
Oct 30 Ladybird gave birth to a bull calf; Jean Nelson visited, she has found it impossible to buy stockings; letter from a boy in the RAF who has lost his family in a bombing raid on Romford might visit for his leave;; Mrs Gomez is worried about her brother in law, Robert Lim, a Chinese physiologist
Oct 31 news of a bad day raid on Canterbury; the calf is unwell
Nov 11 Fry comments on it being Armistice day, and talks about Churchill's speech
Nov 13 visited 10 Wimpole Street with Helen Barlow
Nov 14 cable from Margery saying flying home is impossible, and she has been strongly advised not to sail
Nov 25 letter from Judith Tollinton who had met Margery at the Ellery Sedgewicks; Fry talks about Hitler's treatment of the Jews as "ghastly"
Nov 27 sold some geese; received photograph of Lew[is]
Nov 29 Miss Robinson reports that the Women's Home Defence group she started in Aylesbury is going well
Nov 30 Hannah Schiff left
Dec 1 Anna Shurey[illegible] came to see Fry; Mrs Gunney called; letter from SMF |