Letters from Cyril Edgar Sladden (1890-1974), seventh child of Julius and Eugénie Sladden

Cyril Edgar Sladden (1890-1974) was the seventh child of Julius and Eugénie Sladden.  He was born on 9^th May 1890 at Seward House, Badsey.  The Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service at The Hive in Worcester contains 185 of his letters written between 1894 and 1957; the Imperial War Museum contains 110 of his letters.

There are 39 letters from the pre World War I period; these have not been transcribed but may be viewed at Worcester.  These letters were mainly written from Bancroft’s School, Essex and then Christ College, Brecon, where he was a pupil, and then from Oxford University.  Sixty-six years after the event, Cyril wrote a report of a Public Schools Brigade Camp in 1905 which he attended when at Brecon. Subsequent letters were written from 12 Charleville Circus, Sydenham, where he lived with his siblings Jack, Kathleen and George.

On the outbreak of war, Cyril joined the 9^th Worcestershire Regiment.  His first letters of the war were sent from an Officer Training Corps camp at Churn, then Bhurtpore Barracks at Tidworth, then from Blackdown, Farnborough.  He sailed from England in June 1915 and was not to return until March 1919.  There are 252 letters from the WW1 period, all of which have been transcribed.  They were written from Egypt, the Greek island of Lemnos, Malta, India and Mesopotamia.

There are also four letters written after the First World War; these have not been transcribed but may be viewed at Worcester.