Ida Bucknell: diary

Description

Photocopy of the diary of Ida Bucknell, born 1866, daughter of Benjamin J.Bucknell of Shottery, who married Gilbert Thwaite in 1891. Most of the entries date from her adolescent and early adult years, with only occasional entries after 1884 (but including her engagement, marriage and the death of her husband in 1916). Until 1874, the family had lived in Natal (where she was born) and the early entries show her continuing interest in events there and, later (1884), to the war in Sudan and the death of General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum. From May 1882 until July 1883 she and her sister, Ethel, were boarded at Avonbrook House School in Tewkesbury. The remaining entries concern her social life in Stratford and brief accounts of holidays, but references to political issues (the Fenians and household suffrage) occasionally occur.