91Èȱ¬

Margaret Bonfiglioli's grandmother, Violet, lived in Park Town, North Oxford. Margaret and her friend, historian James Munson, discuss letters posted to and from Park Town to India, France and friends in England, which form a fascinating insight into how the war impinged on daily life in Oxford.

Violet's husband, Gilbert Slater, was principal of Ruskin College at the start of the war but university life in Oxford contracted and it became difficult for him to support his family. So he took a job in India as a professor of economics at the University of Madras.

One of their three sons, Owen (Margaret's father), turned 18 during the war and served in the trenches.

Margaret and James have edited the letters into a new book called ‘Full of Hope and Fear, the Great War: Letters of an Oxford Family’.

Location: Park Town, Oxford OX2 6SN
Image shows Violet Slater with her three sons
Photograph courtesy of Margaret Bonfiglioli
Reporting for the 91Èȱ¬: Jane Markham, Podcats Productions

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