Dec 1, 2025
Dear mother: letters, loss and motherly love during World War I
1915, Paddington, London. Your 20-year-old son Dudley is serving on the Western Front in World War I. Most days he has written you a letter, requesting items and letting you know how he is going. But it’s been a few days since his last letter, which came with the alarming news that he was moving closer to the firing line.
Experience a day in the life of Katherine Stewart-Smith, as she manages her emotions, family-life and life in late Edwardian Britain during the First World War.
Episode Highlights & Timestamps:
- 00:00 – Introduction to Katherine and the morning routine
- 03:30 – Revisiting Paddington Station, where Katherine last saw Dudley
- 05:04 – House and home: Katherine’s domestic life, Dudley’s most recent letters and keeping up appearances
- 10:30 – A trip into town
- 11:08 – News from the Western Front
- 11:49 – Living in the present, with the children at your side
- 13:49 – Dinner and evening routine
References & Further Reading:
Credits:
- With thanks to James Stewart-Smith, grandson of Dudley Cauley Stewart-Smith for providing the transcribed letters between Dudley and his mother and his diary as a Prisoner of War to aide research for this story.
- Opening and closing music: 'Esmerelda's Waltz' from Dusan Bogdanovic's Book of Unknown Standards, played by Daniel McKay, used with permission of the performer.
- Other copyright and royalty-free music and sound effects self-created, or from: freesound_community, Alexander Jauk, Universfield, Scottish Guy sourced from Pixabay; other music: 'His eye is on the sparrow'; 'Schubert Moment Musical', 'Old Photo' sourced from ClipChamp.
Contact & Feedback:
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Version: 20241125
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