Posted on Nov 7, 2023
Lost French love letters from the 1750s reveal what life was like during wartime
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https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/ [login to see] /lost-french-love-letters-1750s-seven-years-war
Scores of French love letters from the mid-18th century have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written.
The letters – sent to French sailors by wives, siblings and parents – never made it to their intended recipients, but they offer rare insight into the lives of families affected by war.
"I could spend the night writing to you," wrote Marie Dubosc to her husband. "I am your forever faithful wife. Good night, my dear friend. It is midnight. I think it is time for me to rest."
Dubosc would not have known her husband had been captured by the British, and that he would never receive her message. She died the year after she sent the letter, and likely never saw him again.
Scores of French love letters from the mid-18th century have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written.
The letters – sent to French sailors by wives, siblings and parents – never made it to their intended recipients, but they offer rare insight into the lives of families affected by war.
"I could spend the night writing to you," wrote Marie Dubosc to her husband. "I am your forever faithful wife. Good night, my dear friend. It is midnight. I think it is time for me to rest."
Dubosc would not have known her husband had been captured by the British, and that he would never receive her message. She died the year after she sent the letter, and likely never saw him again.
Lost French love letters from the 1750s reveal what life was like during wartime
Posted from npr.org
Love
Military History
United Kingdom
France
Sailors
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...""I could spend the night writing to you," wrote Marie Dubosc to her husband. "I am your forever faithful wife. Good night, my dear friend. It is midnight. I think it is time for me to rest."
Dubosc would not have known her husband had been captured by the British, and that he would never receive her message. She died the year after she sent the letter, and likely never saw him again.
Sent between 1757-58 during the Seven Years War, the letters were mostly addressed to the crew of the Galatée warship, and the French postal administration forwarded them from port to port in hopes of reaching the sailors. But when Britain's Royal Navy captured the Galatée in April 1758, French authorities forwarded the batch of letters to England.
There they remained unopened for centuries, until the historian Renaud Morieux of the University of Cambridge discovered them in the digital inventory of Britain's National Archives. He checked out the box from the archives with no idea what he would find inside.
The box came with three packs of letters wrapped in white ribbon."...
...""I could spend the night writing to you," wrote Marie Dubosc to her husband. "I am your forever faithful wife. Good night, my dear friend. It is midnight. I think it is time for me to rest."
Dubosc would not have known her husband had been captured by the British, and that he would never receive her message. She died the year after she sent the letter, and likely never saw him again.
Sent between 1757-58 during the Seven Years War, the letters were mostly addressed to the crew of the Galatée warship, and the French postal administration forwarded them from port to port in hopes of reaching the sailors. But when Britain's Royal Navy captured the Galatée in April 1758, French authorities forwarded the batch of letters to England.
There they remained unopened for centuries, until the historian Renaud Morieux of the University of Cambridge discovered them in the digital inventory of Britain's National Archives. He checked out the box from the archives with no idea what he would find inside.
The box came with three packs of letters wrapped in white ribbon."...
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