For this month’s Handwriting theme, we take a look at some wonderfully tricky examples in Wolverhampton City Archives.
At first glance, this letter looks impossible to read. The writing criss-crosses the page in both directions, the handwriting itself is quite scrawly, and the whole thing just looks an indecipherable mess. However, if you stare at it for long enough (as long as your eyes don’t go funny), shapes begin to emerge. An address and date appear at the top right, and, on the left, the opening words: “My Dear Elizabeth”. Once you train your eye to follow one line at a time, the letter slowly starts to make sense.
The story inside the letter
This particular letter was written in 1832 by the Reverend James Badger, from Asheldham Vicarage in Essex, to a Miss Elizabeth Wood, who was living in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton. It is one of several letters Badger wrote to Elizabeth between 1831 and 1847, now preserved at Wolverhampton City Archives as part of the Ryton collection (reference DW-88). Among the religious reflections and Bible quotations, these letters are, fundamentally, love letters.
Badger writes movingly of his feelings:
“You have but a very faint idea how much you engross my thoughts, and what a very strong desire I have to see you. I cannot conceal from you that I feel the very strongest affection for you & the deepest attachment”
He explains that while he once saw Elizabeth in a way a brother sees a sister, he now finds “another feeling is rising & has taken possession & that is steady affection”. Elizabeth did write back to him, and he admits that “every letter I receive from you strengthens this feeling and growing attachment.”
A complex structure
The reason this letter appears so overwhelming, in addition to being an outpouring of feelings over every inch of available page space, is that it is written in cross-hatched, or cross-written, style. This was a common practice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly in personal correspondence.
Paper was expensive, and people often calculated postage costs by the number of sheets rather than weight. To save money, writers would fill a page as normal, then turn it through 90 degrees and continue writing across the original text. The result is a dense grid of overlapping lines that can be extraordinarily difficult for modern readers to follow.
Fortunately, thanks to volunteers from the Friends of Wolverhampton Archives, we have a helpful guide showing how to navigate around this particular letter and make sense of Reverend Badger’s rather elaborate system.
The real love story
Reverend James Badger was born in Bristol around 1800, while Elizabeth Wood was born in Wolverhampton in 1813. Exactly how they first came to know one another is unclear, but there appears to have been a family connection. James’s mother, Ann, was already corresponding with members of Elizabeth’s family in the late 18th century.
Sadly, despite his overly affectionate letters, this story does not have a happy ending. In March 1832, just two months after this letter was written, Elizabeth married Thomas Raeth Andrews at St Michael and All Angels Church in Tettenhall. As we only have the incoming correspondence, we do not know whether or not she replied, so we can only hope that she let him down gently. In both the 1841 and 1851 censuses James was still resident at Asheldham Vicarage with his unmarried sisters, Ann and Matilda Badger. He died in 1870 and he does not appear to have ever married.
Nevertheless, the tale does not end there, as life goes on. We have a final letter to Elizabeth (now Mrs Andrew), dated 1 April 1847. This time, there is no cross-hatching (although the handwriting is still pretty scrawly). Badger sends his condolences on the death of Elizabeth’s uncle, and shares news that he now has two Curacies, proudly noting that since his appointment “the Church is even crowded to excess I may say an overflowing”). Whilst he makes no reference to his earlier declarations of love, he appears fairly sanguine about his life: “The Lord Knows what is best for me & He will order as it pleases Him”.
Further information
Written by Heidi McIntosh, Senior Archivist at Wolverhampton City Archives
Edited by Alex Cattermole, Blog Coordinator for Explore Your Archives
Find out more here: Wolverhampton City Archives – Wolverhampton Arts & Culture
