| Description | This majority of this correspondence consists of letters to Cynthia from officers stationed on the Western Front during the First World War, but also includes correspondence from Maurice Pretyman, an officer serving in the Dardanelles in 1915, and Robert C. Faulconer, serving in Palestine in 1918. However, the correspondence also includes brief letters and field postcards to Cynthia and to her father, Lord George Curzon, from soldiers and sailors serving in the war, who were likely to have been employees of the family. It is probable that this occasional correspondence was received as a result of the Curzon family's benevolence in sending gift parcels to aid the war effort and to give assistance to former servants, and is therefore distinct from the letters from officers, who appear, for the most part, to have been family friends. A possible exception is the correspondence from Victor H. T. Weekes, serving with the Navy during the war, who was a regular correspondent with Cynthia, but who, from the content of his letters, appears not to have been from the same social background.
Sequences of letters from most correspondents cover only a few months, although letters from Rex Benson, and from Frank Pretyman were written over a longer period and give some indication of the development of their careers and views about their experiences, and the progress of the war. Letters from most correspondents contain information about life at the front, which includes descriptions of routines and any military action they were involved in, but these accounts are not often very detailed. The other main theme of these letters is Cynthia's war work and social life in England, and that of her sister Irene Curzon, often discussed in the context of a longing to return to England and take part in social activities. Several correspondents also discuss the affairs of mutual friends, and give news about other members of their social network who are serving in the war. The nature of much of this correspondence from officers is affectionate and protective of Cynthia in the manner of an older brother, but in some letters the tone is mildly flirtatious. |