ISBN: 978-0-9568543-0-8 SB
249 Pages
Published by The Elmyrste Press
The Family Budget edited by Paul Elmhirst is a most curious book. The title would suggest a book about finance! However, this is far from the point. Paul Elmhirst has brought together and edited a collection of letters written by his father, and his father's siblings, during the Great War. The title is derived from the Gaulish meaning of the word Budget: a sack or bag with its contents, an accumulation.
Paul Elmhirst's father Alfred Octavius (Pom), was one of eight - seven brothers and one sister - who were all children and adults during the period of the Great War. Their birth dates ranged from 1892 through to 1901 for the boys, and 1902 for Irene the only daughter. The Family Budget is a round robin letter written by the family to keep each other informed about what they were doing as they played their part in the Great War.
The letter was started by Leonard, the second oldest brother, who wrote the principles of the ‘Budget' in October 1914. The Rules of the Game were that the letter would be written firstly by Leonard. This letter was then to be sent around the siblings in age order. Each added his or her own letter to the ‘Budget'. Once it had been circulated around the siblings each one of them took out their first letter and replaced it with a second letter. This way everyone was kept up to date with exactly what each of them had been doing. On average, the ‘Budget was circulated around the family approximately every two to three months.
The family were middle-class English stock who lived happily under the accepted rules of life in early Edwardian England, and their letters very much reflect the society of the day. However, after they suffer the loss of William and Christie in the War, a change comes over the letters. Their absolute faith in life as it had been changes for ever. The book includes comprehensive biographies of all the family. It is also most interesting to see how their lives change and develop after the war.
This is a beautifully edited book, illustrated with many fine pictures. Paul Elmhirst has very much kept this innocence of the younger members of the family in his editing. A first class book that brings the reader into the Elmhirst family's war. It is a fine piece of work and I cannot recommend and praise it highly enough.
Reviewed by: Martin Hornby
