Summer Saunterers Part 3
The continuing story of a trip to Europe in 1906 taken by Bessie Goldsmith and Helen and Myra Bodwell.
This week we rejoin Bessie Goldsmith and her friends Helen and Myra Bodwell on their trip. If you have missed my previous posts on Bessie’s adventures part one can be found here, and part two here.
We join the girls in July of 1906 on their way to London by rail, and of the British railway stations Bessie notes, “there is one innovation which I think ought to be adopted in America, nowhere in the stations do pedestrians cross the tracks at grade but always either by a bridge or tunnel.”
On the way stops are made at Peterborough and Ely, visiting the cathedrals in both cities, of which Bessie remarks, “the fifth inside of three days I’m sure I can’t tell one from the other.”
Another stop is Cambridge, “I have had my first ride on top of a tram-car drawn by a horse - expense one penny. Let us have top seats put on the Reading line!” They tour several of the colleges and “I picked a leaf from Spencer’s mulberry tree.” Both the tram ticket and the mulberry leaf are preserved by Bessie in her scrapbook.
On arrival in London their first priority is to collect their mail: “the first thing we did was to order two hansoms and drive to 5 & 6 Haymarket where we got our first mail. To be sure we had our mail sent to Edinburgh, but not knowing enough to look for it at a bank instead of the post office it is still there but will probably be back in a few days.” After a few days their mail from Edinburgh makes its way to London, including a copy of the Andover Townsman, “a minimally interesting number, which we read from beginning to end, from the end to the beginning and then began in the middle and read both ways.”
Much of Bessie’s letter is taken up with the different transport options in London.
“Isn’t it fun to ride in a hansom? I am just infant enough to be amused by riding in hansoms and living in hotels. I never in my life saw so many carriages for hire lining the streets everywhere, beside those scurrying round full of people. I shouldn’t think anyone walked.”
“The streets were full of busses, most of them appeared to be going to “nestles Food” and Hudson’s Soup,” though a few favored “grape nuts.”
“We took what is called the “tup-penny chube” to Shepherd’s Bush. It is nice and white like our subway; and the cars are rather better, being upholstered in leather with arms to the seats so there can’t be any crowding. The tunnel is a tight fit for the train and I at once saw the appropriateness of the name “tube” which had puzzled me before.”
However, the lack of train journeys whilst in London affects Bessie’s letter writing. She complains, “it gets harder and harder to find a minute in which to write since there are no journeys by train” and “how can I ever find time to finish this letter before we start for Holland tomorrow night. I will scratch a few lines while we sit in Kew Gardens.” Yet this letter is long, nine pages front and back, arriving in Andover with a “due 10 cents” stamp on it due to the weight.
On their second day the girls begin sightseeing.
“After lunch we took a carriage - the driver had on skin tight white trousers, top boots and a tall hat with a cockade - sounds rather expensive doesn’t it? By this means we saw a good deal with very little trouble to ourselves. I’ll give you a full list together with some of the streets we drove through; the Strand, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Pall Mall, Buckingham Palace, American Ambassador’s house, Park Lane, Marble Arch, Hyde Park, Rotten Row, (there were not as many horsebackers as I had hoped), Albert Memorial, Imperial Institute, Piccadilly Royal Academy, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Cleopatra’s needle, Royal Mint, Tower, over Tower Bridge and back by London Bridge, Bow Church and High Holburn.”
Later, a bus ride takes the trio to Green Park “to hear a concert by His Majesty’s Horse Guards. They were very gorgeous - between thirty and forty of them in dark uniforms with red bands and white belts. Around the bandstand were circles of little seats which we paid tuppence for sitting in - the fun of watching the Sunday night couples thrown in at the same price.” Bessie sent the program to her mother, preserved with the letter.
Visits to various landmarks fill up the girl’s days: Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Madame Tussauds, The National Gallery and Regents Park Zoo. They travel outside the city to Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace. The Tower of London appears to have been a favorite of Bessie’s as she gives a lengthy description in her letter.
“We were taken in charge by a charming ‘beef-eater” who conducted us by the Traitors’ Gate and under the Bloody Tower and so on to the dungeons under the White Tower where Guy Fawkes was tortured, the cell where he was confined, and Sir Walter Raleigh’s cell where he wrote the “History of the World.” There was another dungeon which I think he called “Little Ease,” dark as a pocket where scores were confined at once, and water supposed to stand on the floor. Though several windows have been recently cut in the walls, it was so dark that we had to creep along very cautiously feeling our way, and when he rattled “the original old bolts and bars” were glad we weren’t going to stay but a few minutes. We saw the spot where the unfortunates were beheaded and then where many of them are buried in the Chapel of St Peter. We crawled under the rope before the altar to read the names of Sir Thomas Moore and Anne Boleyn and many others – eighteen in all; seventeen with their heads off and one with his head on.”
They also viewed the crown jewels- “the regalia is gorgeous. Queen Victoria’s crown being the most splendid” and “we flattened our noses against the cage as long as the press of the crowd would allow.”
However, the following day the party has a break from sightseeing for a little shopping.
“Tuesday those wealthy Bodwell children wanted to go shopping all day, and as you said not to go out alone I felt obliged to accompany them. To tell the truth I am not much impressed with London shops and as Kate P. says there is nothing which you couldn’t buy just as well at home - with the exception of gloves perhaps of which I bought eight pairs - about half as many as the others. The salesman and women are very attentive and it is next to impossible to get away without buying something.”
“Right after lunch we started out for Liberty’s and Peter Robinson’s. I watched the other people spend their money and succumbed to only one Liberty scarf. Hel bought four, a silk dress, a rain coat and various other articles.”
The girls prepare to leave London, traveling next to Holland. “Wednesday morning we had a siege at the American Express office and Cooks. Our tickets for the next two weeks are bought and paid for and we have had our first introduction to Dutch Money.”
And the cost to Bessie for her hotel stay in London, one pound, thirteen shillings and sixpence.
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Cheers!
Bessie is such a lively writer. Loved the comments re Aida.
Absolutely loved this post. Really helps you to know more about Bessie- a local character.