For over a hundred years, members of the Sladden family lived at Seward House, High Street, Badsey, and played a prominent part in village life. The young Mr & Mrs Julius Sladden arrived in Badsey with their baby son, Jack, in 1879. The last Sladden to occupy Seward House was Miss Juliet Sladden, the baby of the family, born in 1897, who died there in 1984.
During this period, the Sladdens wrote numerous letters, many of which still exist and may be found either at The Hive in Worcester or at the Imperial War Museum. They provide a fascinating insight of the activities of an important Badsey family and provide many illuminating descriptions of village life.
Thanks to a dedicated team of transcribers and photographers from The Badsey Society, this treasure trove of letters has been made available digitally.
The letters fall into five main categories:
- Those written by Julius and Eugénie Sladden and their eight children: Jack, May, Kathleen, Ethel, Arthur, George, Cyril and Juliet.
- Those written by other members of the Sladden family, including the New Zealand branch of the family.
- Those written by Mela Brown Constable (Cyril’s fiancée) and other members of her family.
- Those written by Eugénie Sladden’s Mourilyan relatives.
- An assortment of other letters, including those from Juliet’s schoolfriends, and from prisoners of war and a Belgian refugees.
Please click on the links above or to the left to access the letters. Please note that, within the letters, there are links to people and places mentioned. This information is still being updated, so please bear with us.