Notes from 1924

Val Baillie

I am not sure exactly when Herbert and Phemie became acquainted, but the earliest dated notes and letters in the collection are from July 1924, so we can probably assume that it was before this.

According to my aunty Val, (pictured left as a girl), Phemie was selling tickets to a dance and asked a friend of hers, Mr D'Amant (I'll have to get his first name) to ask his friend, Herbert to buy a ticket.

Herbert said he would, on condition that she'd be his dance partner! I suppose we can conclude that there was already a mutual attraction!

Interesting, my parents, Don and Stella Baillie are friends with John and Jane D'Amant. John is the son of the Mr D'Amant that was in Heilbron. The D'Amants now live here in my hometown of Hermanus (2012).

Back to Grandpa's letters:

Many of these notes are not dated, but as you will see, they are short notes written on scraps of paper that must have been delivered by hand - the equivalent of our modern sms's, emails or quick Skype or Facebook messages to each other!

One of them refers to the engagement ring! (Where is it now? Can anyone provide a picture of it?)

There also seems to be some kind of secret code in some notes - references to doves and arks etc. I suppose when you are relying on couriers to deliver unsealed love letters by hand, you have to find inventive ways to be discreet!

Since I have no idea in what order they should be filed, I have scanned all the undated notes into groups together. The others are listed by date.

Undated to Miss Kinnell - the outside of this note is addressed to "Miss Kinnell".

Undated notes 1

Undated notes 2

10 July 1924

16 August 1924

9 November 1924


Please add any comments, anecdotes, corrections or additional information you may have below.