For some time I had been aware that Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of William, had been quite a prolific writer. Not of poetry, like her brother, but as a diarist. In fact it would seem that she partly kept a diary in order to assist William in his work. They both walked a great deal on a daily basis, and Dorothy wrote of the things they saw on their walks and the people they met, and not infrequently it would appear that William later used phrases in his poetry which had first appeared in Dorothy’s journal.
I was pleased to find a volume of extracts from Dorothy’s journal in our college library and thought it would be interesting holiday reading*. I already knew of their association with Grasmere and have visited that area on a number of occasions. I was rather more surprised to read of their travels through Yorkshire in 1802, visiting some of the places we went to during our recent summer holiday. It was an unexpected connection.
Of their visit to Rievaulx Abbey Dorothy writes: “I went down to look at the ruins. Thrushes were singing, cattle feeding among green-grown hillocks about the ruins. These hillocks were scattered over with grovelets of wild roses and other shrubs, and covered with wild flowers. I could have stayed in this solemn quiet spot till evening”. She refers to other places we visited or saw signs to: Helmsley, Kirby, Pickering, Sinnington, Wykeham. They even went to Scarborough. I was somewhat surprised that, after the Yorkshire tour, the Wordsworths continued south to London and then Dover and across to Calais. It was only when I looked up the biographical details of the family that I discovered that some years earlier William had had a relationship with a woman called Annette in France and together they had a child, Caroline. However William had returned to England when war broke out between the two countries in 1793. It seems this sudden trip across the channel was to see them before he married Mary Hutchinson from Yorkshire.
So much for the family history of the Wordsworths. Dorothy’s journals speak extensively of her walks, the weather, food, neighbours, baking, gardening, illnesses, visitors and much letter-writing. Not unlike my Granny’s diaries, really, around 150 years later (though hers are less poetic!). I’ve been working on the 1958 diary while I’ve been away. Granny, now 70, continued to walk a lot, but unlike Dorothy this was for reasons such as trips to the butcher, to Church, to pay for the papers, to visit her brother. The weather was crucial for getting the washing dry and buying food for the next couple of days was constant. Granny never did own a fridge. It’s hard to imagine now. Granny’s neighbours and acquaintances (eg through WI or church) are invariably referred to as Mrs or Mr. Only very good friends and family are referred to by their first name. I wonder when that changed? I suppose as a child I only knew neighbours as Mr Hailstone, Mrs Needham, Mr Leadbetter, Mrs Stevens etc.
Dorothy Wordsworth’s gardening seemed to largely consist of digging up wild flowers on her walks and planting them in their own garden at Grasmere. From Granny’s diaries I learn of her particular love of chrysanths, the planting of spring bulbs, the fact that they grew roses and the mention of various vegetables being grown. I never cease to be amazed at the number of letters that Granny wrote. However, I suppose if I added up the number of WhatsApp messages I send to family and friends in any given week I would find that I, too, write quite a bit. Plus phone calls, of course. Granny never had a phone and she only reluctantly used a phone box if a doctor’s appointment was needed, for example.
What would Dorothy and Granny have made of WhatsApp? (Grandad struggled with the concept of a car radio!). Though traditional letter-writing seems to have had its day, at least ‘journalling’ (usually with only one ‘l’ unfortunately – don’t get me started on that one!) is still popular, which means that hopefully the thoughts and everyday happenings of folk today might still be around to read in 200 years’ time!
* ‘Home at Grasmere’ – Extracts from the journal of Dorothy Wordsworth, published by Penguin, 1983.
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