These letters were written to Margaret Llewelyn Davies by her mother, Mary Llewelyn Davies (nee Crompton). The letters are written from various Llewelyn Davies family addresses as follows: 18 Blandford Square London (1860s and 1870s); 34 Dorset Square, London (1879-82); 5 Blandford Square, London (1882-89 - a letter of 8 June 1882 reads 'We have bought the lease of Mde. Bodichon's House, 5 Blandford Square'); and Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland (1889-95). They are also written from various holiday addresses and places where Mary was convalescing or accompanying her husband John in the course of his work, including London, Kent, Devon, Sussex, Hampshire, Marlborough (most of the Llewelyn Davies boys appear to have attended Marlborough School in Wiltshire), Glasgow, the Isle of Arran, Birkenhead, Liverpool and Chorley.
They are addressed to Margaret variously at Girton College, Cambridge (1881-83) and at the family home as above; also at various holiday addresses and locations where Margaret was undertaking Women's Co-operative Guild business or visiting friends and relations, including London, Glasgow, Birkenhead, Manchester, Liverpool, Rochdale, Ipswich, Norwich, Sedbergh, the Isle of Arran, Farnham, Reigate, Ruan Minor (Cornwall), Italy (1887), Germany (1888) and Switzerland (1877 and 1893).
The letters relate largely to social and domestic matters, parish matters and the work of John Llewelyn Davies, and parish work undertaken by Mary, including 'work at the school'. The letters contain frequent mention of Margaret's brothers, as listed in the headnote above. They also contain frequent mention of 'Granny' [presumably Margaret's maternal grandmother], who lived with the family as an elderly invalid from 1877 until her death in 1882. Mary invariably says that she is missing Margaret, longs for her to be back at home again and enquires in detail after her health and wellbeing. The letters do not usually reply in much detail to the letters which Margaret sent her mother [not thought to be extant]. However, the individual catalogue entries below quote those parts of the letters which help to shed any light on Margaret's time at Girton College, her work for the Women's Co-operative Guild, her travel, any other activities, and the nature of the relationship between Margaret and Mary.
Mary often mentions Margaret's friends, colleagues and hosts (usually by first name only), some of whom were Girton contemporaries, including: Janet [Case?] 1885; Emily Booth, 1894; Lilian [Harris - Women's Co-operative Guild colleague] 1892 and 1893; Meta [Muir] 1889 and 1892; Rosie, 1885, 1889, 1890 and 1894; Rosalind [Nash, nee Shore Smith] 1889, 1890 and 1894; Gwynneth, 1887 and 1889; Janie, 1889 and 1894; the Howard family at Castle Howard in North Yorkshire and at Naworth Castle, Brampton, Cumberland, 1885, 1886 and 1888; and the Jex-Blake family, 1885 and 1889.
The collection includes letters from others, including Margaret's father, John Llewelyn Davies, and her brothers - these have almost invariably been sent as enclosures with Mary's letters. There are approximately 350 letters in the collection. They were not found in exact chronological order, bundles of broadly consecutive dates often containing stray letters from other years: in the absence of any obvious evidence for the order in which they were found, a more exact chronological sequence has been imposed.