大象传媒

鈥淭he diary of Cordelia Leigh - My intention is to write a short record of this time of war thinking it may possibly be of interest to members of my family at some future time.鈥�

Set in the heart of Warwickshire is Stoneleigh Abbey, a beautiful country house worthy of any period drama. It was the home of Mary Cordelia Emily Leigh, the daughter of Lord William Henry Leigh who owned 15,000 acres of Warwickshire land.

Cordelia is important because she kept a diary and scrapbook throughout the war and it is from this that we get a great snapshot into local life, the local soldiers at the front, those who stayed at home, life on the land and glimpses into what was happening in and around Coventry and Warwickshire.

When war broke out Cordelia was 48 and lived at Stoneleigh Abbey with her sister and her brother. She wrote to many of the local soldiers whilst they were serving on the front line. She rallied locals to knit jumpers and socks and sent them along with chocolate and cigarettes to the troops in the trenches. She also organised events for them if they returned home injured.

Cordelia and the village of Stoneleigh were keen to extend their hospitality to the many Belgian refugees. There are one or two occasions when she talks about Belgians coming to tea here. There are accounts of her taking them to Leamington to get kitted out. And for at least one Belgian family she became their new daughter鈥檚 Godmother.

Cordelia was a busy woman; she crops up in many stories across Coventry and Warwickshire from visits to the factories, recruiting local men to fight for the King, the women for the land army and the support for village folk of Stoneleigh.

Location: Stoneleigh Abbey. Warwickshire CV8 2LF
Photograph of Cordelia Leigh courtesy of Stoneleigh Abbey Preservation Trust, and photograph of Stoneleigh Abbey courtesy of Sheila Woolf.
Presented by Siobh谩n Harrison

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