Edwin Foulds, a gardener and seedsman 
lived in the cottage on the right. His neighbour William Smith, who he went rabbiting with, was a grocer and lived in the house next door. 
His friend Mr Herrick, who he seems to have offended at some point was also a grocer living in the house on the left
The letters were written to his daughter Edith Foulds in 1884 and 1885. Edith had moved from Mountsorrel to Birmingham to work as a maidservant to a Mrs Green. The last letter, in 1887 is to his son in which he refers to the death of his wife, Mary, and says that Edith is very good to the baby. The baby must be Florence who was born in 1887. It appears Edith had returned to Mountsorrel to look after her father, Florence and the other children following the death of her mother.
In his letters he also writes about hard times in the village with 40 families discharged from work at the quarry and the blacksmith with only 3 days work per week
Letters donated by Margaret Manning, great grand daughter of Edwin Foulds
Mountsorrel 29th October 1884
My Dear Darling,
As you requested me to give you an early reply I have done so thinking that it would be you who wanted cheering up as you have so recently left home & those who are near & dear to you – – we were very pleased to hear that you arrived safe & that the house is a nice one & will be comfortable when you get it clean & all the furniture put in its proper place.
You must expect it will be hard work for you for two or three weeks but be cheerful in your work & once the house is in order you will find your work to be much easier; was pleased to hear that Mrs Green is kind to yo,u let her see that you intend to do your duty & then you will have nothing to fear but that she will be kind to you – even for my sake. It will be quite a new start in life for you going so far from home, but place yourself in the hands of the Lord & ask him to guide you & you will find that he will be a light unto your path & a lamp unto your feet. We have not heard from Albert, he is rather negligent I suppose when the shop is clos’d he & the rest of the young men are off to enjoy themselves for youth will have its day even if friends are forgotten. Mr & Mrs Herrick seems to be about the only enquirers after you, Beatrice excepted. She came in on Sunday evening & had a little chat with the old man paraded her down Home was quite well sends her love & hopes you are suited, Baby as become about straight, her tongue goes like a Magpie; your brothers are all well, likewise myself & Mother. Hoping this will find you Mrs Green & Miss Scurrak the same with dearest love
From your Loving Father & Mother
E O Foulds.
Mountsorrel 20th November 1884
My Dear Edith
I feel it a great pleasure to give you a reply to your letter & feel pleas’d to hear you are Comfortable You say that Mrs Green (& Miss Currak (deleted)) gave you an outing & Shew’d you round the Capital of the Midlands a very large town is Birmingham much more so now than it were when I lived down there it must be like a little London from what I learn from your letter you are gardener as well as maidservant 1 hope all the plants I sent are Healthy & growing. If you have not planted all the bulbs do so at once as it is time they were in to make root before the severity of the winter sets in weather keeps beautiful & open for the time of the year but winds have been very cold this last week but without rains or storms I hope you have put your House in good order & got all the furniture properly fixed so that your duties will only be lighter but your work may become a pleasure to you had a letter from Albert last week to tell us that he intends Coming Home at Xmas If only for two days so that it will be an impossibility for him to see you but you have our congratulations & good wishes for your future Happiness & welfare I dont Know whether Fred will come or not as I have left that to Albert to send him an invitation If he chooses to Have his society I am pleas’d that your Brother is doing well but Geo H’y I cannot tell you How he will shape it as there is some talk of the Company discharging a good many of the workmen & the others will have to come under a Heavy reduction as they Cannot sell the stone depend upon it will be serious for Mtsorrel Hoping you are quite well & comfortable as we are all the same at presant with dearest Love from your Loving Father & Mother
E O Foulds
Mountsorrel 17th December 1884
My Darling Love
we received your letter on Sunday morning & were very pleas’d to hear that you were well & were Comfortable Rebecca Neale brought back the 5/- safely & told us all about you we found it very useful for it came at a very opportune time for we Happened to be very short that week & as the weather was so winterly I could do but very little work it is now much better so that I keep dragging on but days are so short I can only see 8 hours per day so that makes a great diminution to my weekly wages but I must be content with my lot as there are scores in Mtsorrel worse off than I am here are some 40(?) families discharged from the work & all others have their wages reduced which makes something like 3/- to 4/- difference to their wages weekly I wrote to Aunt Mary Ann about a month back but have not had a reply but Uncle Ward had a letter from her last Sunday morning stating that she is a very poor Creature hardly knows how to write as her head is so bad she feels completely dazed at times does not know what she is doing expect a letter from her before Xmas we have heard no News from Albert since the letter I sent you I suppose he is waiting to send us precise news of how he will come & what time he will get as I wish A to ask his master for Saturday & Sunday in addition Xmas & Boxing Day will send you particulars as soon as I hear from him told Ethel that you would bring her a doll & Carriage it as set her tongue a wagging that we have hardly heard the last of it all are quite well Hoping you are the same with dearest Love from your Loving Father & Mother
E O Foulds
Mountsorrel 30th December 1884
My Darling pet
Just a line in reply to your loving letter in fact two the one you enclos’d in Mr Herricks box we did not recieve untill Xmas morning as Mr Herrick were so busy on Tuesday he had no time to open it or perhaps he prefer’d to leave it untill Christmas morning so that it should be a surprise to his children I can assure you there was a surprise awaiting me when I open’d your letter in the shape of 5/- worth of stamps & pair of socks for the pet of which I can assure you she is quite proud I must tell you she has never had such a good pair on her legs you wished me to tell you what we had for dinner not a Goose but a couple of Juicy Cockerels which I bought with the stamps you sent me a good piece of Beef a Jolly good plum pudding & other necessaries that were requisite to complete a good Christmas dinner which I can assure you we had & right well did we all enjoy ourselves but there was one thing lacking & that was yourself to fill up the vacant place & join in the merry Glee of which I can assure you we had plenty we kept our own party on Xmas day but on boxing day we had a few outsiders Amos & his lass Hep-bah & one or two others which made up the sum total of about a dozen I am sorry to tell you it was impossible for Beatie to come as Mrs Brown had Company but she ran up Just for a few minutes a time or two so that Albert had a few words with her each time he was very gauch(?) about her as he made no observations he looks much better this time & is doing well as put £6-0-0 in the bank & had nearly £2-0-0 in his pocket to go back with & his weeks premiums to draw when he got back so you will see he is in quite a Comfortable position I have advis’d him to ask for a rise of £5-0-0 more to his Salary as soon as his 12 months expires which he says he shall do Mr & Mrs Amery are very Courteous & Kind they are very fond of Him you will see that all things are well in his favour so that there will be no fear but what he will get what he asks for his wages & premiums will be as good as £40-0-0 a year to him so that you may be sure he will soon begin to feel proud of his position boys are all well and little Mag (Mary?) Keeps blazing away with her tongue so that the House is scarcly ever still trusting your are well as we are the same with dearest Love from your Loving Father & Mother
E O Foulds
Mountsorrel 12th January 1885
My Dear Pet
recieved your letter yesterday morning I can assure you it gives us Great Gratification to hear from you at any & all times especialy to hear that you are doing well & that you are comfortable was pleas’d to hear you pass’d examination successfully as you say they intend putting you & your class into harder subjects endeavour to do your best in the competition it will be a great credit to you & make Mrs Green proud of you to know that she posesses such an intelligent servant it will be the means of Mrs Green to shew every encouragement which will likewise be for your interest & welfare weather is very much against me Just now while I am writing snow keeps falling & frosts rather severe but I will be contented for God knows what is best for us I went over to Ulverscoft one frosty day last week with neighbour Smith & had a few hours rabbiting Caught three so we had a very nice one for dinner yesterday Providence will always provide for our wants if we will but trust him & lay our case before him in prayer believing in him in faith for all things shall be done unto us whatsoever we shall ask the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ & in his own good time for he can see best when to distribute his mercies unto us Walter Came down from Sileby & spent a hour or two with us last night he is quite well Beatie came in at the (night?) they had quite a bit of chaff together she is quite well have had no letter as yet from Albert only post Card to say that he arriv’d safely Ethels socks fit her beautifully & they are of such good quality that Mother wishes me to ask you at your leisure to make her another pair as she is so Comfortable in them she is such a chatterbox & so industrious in her way writing on the slate & spinning buttons on the table &c it is quite amusing she drives a many weary hour
(Incomplete)
Mountsorrel 28th January 1885
My Dear Pet
we recieved your letter on Sunday morning & I can assure you we had been anxiously looking forward for one we thought you had quite forgotten that you had a Dad at Mt sorrel However it were very welcome when it did come better late than never it appears to me that Albert has not much thought for home or Friends has he as not sent us a letter since he returned to town
I cannot make him out but perhaps he may have been waiting untill his 12 months were up so as to give us all the news & what sort of a beginning he means to make of his second year as the old year clos’d upon him on Jan’y 21 we are very anxious to know & it is very wrong of him to keep us in such suspense we treated him well when down he had everything least could wish for & to treat us like this is very ungracious of him. Of course we cannot tell how he is situated but anyhow there cannot be any excuse for him not sending us a letter I cannot exactly tell you how Geo. H’y & Beatie are shaping it they seem to be rather estrang’d towards each other I think her sister Mrs Lovett has something to do with it but as things work out I will send you the news from time to time so that you shall be acquainted with them: abstain from writing to her untill I send you further news I am sorry to tell you Trade is fearfully bad in Mtsorrel Just now & there is no prospect of its being any better at present the Quarry men are in a very poor way & the Blacksmiths only make about 3 days a week so you may judge what Trade there is in Mtsorrel if there is no money to spend You may be sure the trades people will suffer greatly hoping you are well as we are the same with Dearest Love from your Loving Father & Mother
E O Foulds
Mountsorrel 18th February 1885
My Darling Love
I Know you will be pleas’d to have a letter from home & as I have had so much time on hand this week I thought I could not do better than send you one a day or two earlier I went to Mr Fowkes at Rothley Grange on Monday Morning for about 3 Hours & it came on to rain so Fast I were obliged to leave off in fact it drizzled when I started but I were anxious to earn a shilling but it rain’d all day & all night & has been a drizzling murky day today Tuesday so that I have not been able to go to work we have a very heavy flood it is coming quite up peoples gardens on the lower side of the Street ground is becoming in a fearfully puddled state so that so that I cannot get on it with any amount of pleasure
I wrote to Albert to remind him that it was Ethels 3rd Birhtday on the 7th Inst & hoped he would not forget her with a birthday presant so this morning we reciev’d a parcel by post containing a very nice piece of French Merino which will make her a beautiful Frock it is of Dark Red Colour of a very good quality Ethel says she shall Kiss him for it when he comes Send us word how you are all getting on in Your next & whether you are Happy Sc comfortable the School Inspector came to examine the schools last week but we have not heard as yet who have pass’d but will acquaint you in my next anyhow Bertie is plac’d in Standard IV & Arthur is going into the big school on Monday Next so you see they keep getting on stage by stage Herbert I shall look out for something for him to do as Halftimer If I can get him on at the Quarries when the weather gets a little warmer trusting you are well as we are all
Mountsorrel 11th March 1885
My Dear Love
I Know you will be anxious to know how we are getting on we had a long letter from Mrs G on Sunday morning to tell me she had heard from Mr Herrick about what I had said & giving me some good advice & hop’d I would go over to Mr Herrick & Humiliate myself & tell him I were sorry for what I had said Never it seems to me to be a gross price of meddling with other peoples affairs & I only went to him to vindicate my own Character & I would to the best man in the land although I am very sorry that I should have had an occasion to do such a thing as I were a good Customer to him & we were such old Friends but However I shall say no more about it & shall not utter a syllable to anyone so that it shall do no Harm to him but to take away my Character they may as well away my life Mrs G told us in her letter you manag’d very well but were rather sluggish in getting up in a morning but thought you would get the better of that as the mornings got lighter I just wish to give you a word of Caution be careful what you say & dont let Mrs G Know any thing about Home affairs for depend upon it all news passes to & fro reciev’d parcel on Sunday morning Containing socks which fit admirably Ethel is fine & pleas’d with them would have them on dont hear from Albert had one letter from him since he were here has quite forgotten he has a Father & Mother who studies his welfare but fails to acknowledge it in the shape of a letter all are well trusting you are the same Believe us to remain
Your Loving Father & Mother xxxxxxx From Ethel
E O Foulds
Mountsorrel 16th September 1887
My Dear Son Your letter to Hand this morning & were glad to hear you were well I am Happy to tell——- — very much troubled in mind & spirit but I must bear up but the loss of your Dear Mother so Great that I scarcely know how to contain myself at times especially when I am working by myself from morning until night it is then that I feel it most for she is always on my mind & for ever visible before my eyes which causes me a Great deal of trouble I am Happy to tell you that Baby is doing wonderfully well thrives amazingly & Edith is very good to her poor little thing it is her that gives me so much pain as she is such a tie upon our Hands but I will not complain for it is the will of a Divine providence that such has happened for he knows what is most fit for us Leonard Drake has been to see his Brother in Frinton(?) for a week & Earnest came down with him to spend his holiday for a fortnight he had not time or else he would have popped down to have seen you Bertie has gone away to Donington as School Master so that Mt Sorrel (?) will have to manage without a Master will send you a lot of Flowers shortly Dahlias are very slow in coming out but Asters grand all writing with dearest
Love from Your Dear Loving Father E O Foulds