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Letter, Sally Nicholls to MERL, 25 October 2011 – 'Dear Curator // The Women's Land Army in Berkshire // I am writing to you at the suggestion of the Department of Collections at the Imperial War Museum. // Attached is an inventory of personal memorabilia left by Miss Alice Walpole, who died in 1994, relating to the time she spent in the Women's Land Army in Berkshire, during and after the Second World War. In her retirement, she lived in Stanford Dingley, near Reading. These items are now in the possession of my friend, Miss Pat Connor, who lives in Guildford; and we would be interested to know whether, in your view, any or all of the items listed might have an appropriate place with your museum. We both feel it would be a great pity if such a valuable record became dissipated with the passage of the years. // I hope I may look forward to hearing from you. [...] // Yours sincerely // Sall Nicholls (Ms) // copy to Miss Pat Connor // Women's Land Army: personal memorabilia // Miss Alice Walpole 1907-1944 (joined the Land Army 1940, reg. no. 34031) // 1. Forty to forty-five editions of The Landgirl, the Land Army magazine 1942-1946. // 2. Two books - "Poems of the Land Army" with a foreword by Vita Sackville West; and "Miss Baxter and I" by Isobel Mount // 3. A number of photos: // - official photos of presentations by Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Mother) to Land Army personnel // - photos of Miss Walpole hand-milking // photos of Miss Walpole in retirement // 4. Women's Land Army certificates: // - Award for proficiency, including for poultry work 1944 // - Second personal message awarded in appreciation of loyal devoted service June 1940-November 1950, signed by Elizabeth R. // - Third message of appreciation, awarded and signed by the Chief Administrative Officer, for 10 years good service. // 5. - Three WLA arm bands, embroidered with crowns // - WLA green tie // Ornate metal clasp engraved 10years Land Army Service // - Second metal Land Army clasp // Note: Long after the Land Army ended, Miss Walpole continued to attend WLA reunions in Reading, and carried on her work in farming.', Letter, MERL to Sally Nicholls, 10 November 2011 – 'Dear Ms Nicholls, // I would be grateful if you could copy this response to your friend, Miss Pat Connor, as I do not appear to have her address to hand. // I have just looked through the list that you sent through. Although the Museum (MERL) already has much material relating to the WLA, this is considered an important area of the collection; one to which staff have, in recent years, added a considerable amount. I think it highly likely that MERL would be keen to acquire many of the items that relate to the WLA career of the late Miss Alice Walpole, which you detailed in your letter. // MERL already holds both of the books you mention and, sadly, I suspect there is little justification in acquiring additional copies of these. It may be worth looking at them to see if there is anything unusual or peculiar about the editions in question. The Museum also already appears to hold a full run of The Landgirl but may be interested in acquiring a duplicate set. Runs of this periodical are often in poor condition and I suspect it may be subject to becoming quite heavily worn by research use. I will liaise with the librarian about these items. // The MERL archive will be keen to acquire the photographic prints you mention, which sound extremely interesting. The certificates would also be of interest to the archive. Subject to their condition and their format (whether they are framed or not), it may be more appropriate to acquire the latter as part of the object collection rather than the archive. Either way, I think they would be of interest. // MERL may already hold examples of some of the objects listed (we certainly have a number of identical WLA ties as I was looking at them with a visiting researcher just the other day!). However, it is nice to have the opportunity to acquire examples with a good contextual history. Furthermore, we are in the process of exploring the formal acquisition of duplicate items into the collection with a view to being able to use the less-well-documented examples in more hands-on ways (i.e. in schools-based learning, reminiscence, etc). // I wonder if I might prevail upon you to write, telephone, or email me to indicate whether or not you would be keen to proceed with donating the items to the MERL collection. I would be glad to discuss the arrangements and meaning of such a deposit in greater detail and would be more than happy to talk through the specific conditions etc surrounding such a gift. // Furthermore, if you are indeed keen to proceed, it would be useful to arrange a mutually convenient time for you or your friend Pat to deliver the collection to the Museum, or for a member of staff to come and collect the items from Guildford. // Yours, // Dr Oliver Douglas // Assistant Curator', Pat Connor also donated five books of her own, as follows: Reynolds, Clifton. 1944. Glory Hill Farm [3rd Year]. London : John Lane The Bodley Head Limited. // Wightman, Ralph. 1952. Days on the Farm. London : Hutchinson & Co. // Steward, B. A. 1946. Farm Down The Lane. London : Claud Morris Books Limited. // Scott Watson, J. A. 1938. The Farming Year. London : Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd. // Thomas, J. O. 1947. Grassland. London : National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs., History of Tootal (taken from http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Tootal_Broadhurst_Lee_Co, accessed by MERL on 18/10/13) - 'Tootal Broadhurst Lee Co // of Radcliffe, Lancs, (now Greater Manchester) // of Manchester and Bolton, cotton manufacturers, later textile spinners and manufacturers. // of 56 Oxford Street, Manchester. Telephone: Manchester, Central 3244. Cables: "Tootal, Manchester". London Address: 21 Cavendish Place, Cavendish Square, London, W1. (1947) // 1888-1972 (37 boxes) // 1799 The company was founded in Manchester, by Robert Gardner, a textile merchant. // 1842 Tootal family involvement began. // 1860s Sunnyside Mills, Bolton and Newton Heath Mills, Manchester, were acquired. // 1888 After several name changes, the firm became Tootal Broadhurst Lee Co Ltd. The company was registered on 17 January, to take over the business of spinners and manufacturers, carried on at Manchester, London and elsewhere, under the firms of Tootal-Broadhurst, Lee and Co and the Lee Spinning Co. [1] // 1891 Directory (Radcliffe): Listed as Cotton spinners and manufacturers. More details [2] // 1891 Directory (Manchester and Salford): Listed as Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers. More details. [3] // 1891 Directory (Bolton): Listed as Cotton spinners and manufacturers. More details. [4] // 1918 A research department was established, which carried out early work on creating crease resistant fabric. The company was notable for its early use of brand names and was a leader in the field of selling direct to retailers. // By 1939, the firm had spinning, weaving and yarn dyeing factories in Bolton and factories in Newton Heath, Manchester, weaving silk and wool and producing handkerchiefs and ties. There were branches in Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds, London and Glasgow and overseas in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, and New Zealand. The company had agencies throughout the world. Subsidiaries’ activities included dress manufacture, bleaching, dyeing and crease resistant finishing. // 1947 A new factory was opened in St. Helens, Lancs. (now Merseyside). // 1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of Tobralco, Lystav, Robia and other Tootal Dress and Furnishing Fabrics; of Pyramid Handkerchiefs, Tootal Ties and other Tootal Products. (Earls Court, Ground Floor, Stand No 123) [5] // 1952 A new factory was opened in Devonport, Tasmania. // The company became a subsidiary of the holding company Tootal Ltd, which joined English Sewing Cotton Co in 1963. // 1968 This in turn merged with the Calico Printers Association, becoming English Calico Ltd. // 1973 This became Tootal Ltd. // 1985 It became Tootal Group PLC // 1991 Tootal Group plc was acquired by Coats Viyella plc[6] which subsequently disposed of several subsidiaries of Tootal.'
