Machell Cox letters (Frances Thompson)

1/This is a forgery. Bernard wrote this #letter in July 1908, pretending to be Vera, his sister. He copies her #handwriting very well. others in the family think this letter was indeed written by Vera #100YearsofCox

We will soon be closing our registration for our 2025 summer school and so if you wish to register you can do so in the link below. This is a six week LIVE taught class via zoom with extensive materials and recordings. We can’t wait to see you there cheshirenovelprize.com/summer-school

If you’re thinking of entering this years prize there’s not long left! We accept the first 5000 words plus your synopsis pasted at the end and we accept all genres except children’s but we do accept YA. Every entrant gets feedback!

Aldwyn, on a steamship, in the Red Sea in 1911, and a fellow passenger puts his moustache in a case at night, to train it. My podcast - 100 Years of Cox. #100YearsofCox #machellcoxletters

My podcast is called - 100 Years of Cox buzzsprout.com/1155872 Sound bite for this pod describes Aldwyn on a steamship in the Red Sea in 1911. Africa to London by steamer took 3 months. buzzsprout.com/1155872/episod… #100YearsofCox #WhatAldwynWrote

@TheAttagirls Marvellous story thank you. I have a family letter describing the day Lady Astor was elected in Plymouth. Arthur, my relative, reckoned she was going to shake things up in Westminster

Woman of the Day feminist and Conservative MP Thelma Cazalet (1899-1989) of London, who ensured that the groundwork for equal pay for women teachers was laid in 1944 by the new Education Act, at political cost to her own party. Why today? Well, I was actually looking for someone else when I found that OTD in 1932, Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald introduced a Bill to consolidate and improve all existing child protection legislation for England and Wales in one neat Act. The Bill proposed to set the minimum age of employment to 14, raise the age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 8 years, ban the whipping of under-14s, and raise the minimum age for hanging to 18. Yes, you read that right. It was so startling by today’s standards that it led me to Hansard’s record of the HoC debate and I found this rather snippy exchange between Lady Astor, who opposed the Bill, and Thelma, MP for Islington East, who supported it despite also being a Conservative and therefore also on the opposition benches. Viscountess ASTOR: I wish hon. Members could have heard the speech of the late Mr. Fisher when he was bringing in his Bill in 1918— HON. MEMBERS: He is still alive. Viscountess ASTOR: I mean "late" to this House. When people leave this House they are dead for me. Miss CAZALET: What about Lord Astor? Viscountess ASTOR: That is perfectly true. He is practically dead most of the time. Thelma had been a feminist from an early age - Sylvia Pankhurst was a family friend - and when she married David Keir, she made it known that her preferred name was Mrs. Cazalet-Keir, partly for feminist reasons. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education in 1944, Thelma proposed an amendment to the Education Bill demanding equal pay for women teachers. The Prime Minister of the time, Winston Churchill, opposed it. In fact, he made it a matter of confidence and attended the House of Commons in person to ensure its defeat but Thelma had networked very effectively and had done her parliamentary homework well. Her amendment passed on 28 March 1944 by one vote. Although equal pay for women teachers was still in the future, the Education Act 1944 represented a hard won victory for women teachers. It laid the groundwork for future campaigns on equal pay, maternity leave and childcare; set a precedent by removing the marriage bar (which of course, only applied to women) and opened up educational opportunities for girls. Thelma’s victory did her own party no favours. It was one of the events that made Churchill and the Conservatives look resistant to social reform and contributed to their election defeat in 1945. In a good example of cross-party consensus, the Education Act 1944 was steered through Parliament by Conservative minister, RAB Butler, but was implemented by Labour’s first woman Education Minister, Ellen Wilkinson. Thelma was a keen supporter of the Women’s Engineering Society which collaborated with her in her equal pay campaign, and of the Fawcett Society of which she was President in 1964. She died in 1989 just short of her 90th birthday.

@AustAnglican @ABFreier @StPaulsCathMelb Think he was visiting with Bishop Anthony Poggo

@AustAnglican @ABFreier @StPaulsCathMelb Bishop Nigel Stock, UK

OK, brains trust - a task for you! If you can identify this bishop, I will give you a list of all 46 bishops who attended @ABFreier's farewell @StPaulsCathMelb on Sunday. I've got the other 45 names...

@LynnsWPics marvellous, thanks!

❤️A Valentine's week Blog❤️ This lovely #Wedding photo is another gem from an eBay seller I bought towards the end of last year. Was the marriage of this older couple their second marriage? #RoyalNavy #Plymouth #Devon #FamilyHistory #OldPhotos #Genealogy lynnswaffles.com/2025/02/11/geo…

@clara_ish Am reading, but finding heavy going.

@PostedInThePast @wendyloued @letterappsoc @Liz_Kentish @lbsg1976 Think so

@CoxLetters @wendyloued @letterappsoc @Liz_Kentish @lbsg1976 Have I found you there?

Something weird is happening. Usually #PostboxSaturday is trending well before now, but so far it hasn't appeared. Have so many left, or is it a Twitter/X thing? Anyway, here's a postbox from my recent stay near Christchurch 📮📮

@RedPencilScript Hi I'm Frances @coxletters.bsky.social

If you're on the 🦋app, tell me so I can follow!

@1_crimeAuth Hi I'm Frances #iamwriting

@rob_mcivor @prize_novel Always good to get mojo back

it's been a sh--ty couple of months personally, so thank you @prize_novel for the feedback on Almost One of the Family and for including it, as one of the top 100 entries, in the Agents Showcase. That was just the positive trigger that I need right now to get back to writing.

@AmyNielsen06 @Drenderturmaud Yes please, would love to listen

@Drenderturmaud I have free audio codes left if you want one! The narrator was amazing!

I'm sure mine won't be in FL libraries. As a former school librarian of 20 years, this is a badge of honor. WORTH IT is the story of a homeless, pregnant teen living in poverty and how she claws her way out. It's a fictionalized retelling of my story. Ban me. #WritingCommunity

@sally_bromley @JerichoWriters Haven't seen it. When does it close?

@CoxLetters @JerichoWriters Have you entered? You should.

I've just entered the @jerichowriters #First500 competition for a chance to win a one-to-one with an agent, a full MS assessment and a lifetime Jericho Writers Membership. What a prize! Wish me luck 🤞

@samatlounge As an Australian I am staggered that the storyline got past the editor. Did no one do any research?

@AmyNielsen06 Fabulous tips. Thanks

🧵I've been meeting with editors all week and asking most of them two questions. 1) What keeps you reading a submission? 2) As far as craft, what advice do you have for authors? And I'm sharing some of that with you today! #writingcommunity #amquerying

@Megthelibraria1 @PaulSuttonKing Yes. Great pic

@CoxLetters @PaulSuttonKing The step ladder might be to collect apples from the tree & I thought the structure under the left hand tree was a Punch & Judy theatre

Anyone fancy a mystery #postcard Friday challenge? This has vicarage tea party written all over it. #Bolton postmark. Any ideas?