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Record Number: 33055

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

�Many thanks and belated for the parcel you sent about a week ago and your letter. The apples are always a good thing to have and these remained fresh. I have not answered before because I have spent all my spare moments during the last week reading with avidity "Cranford." I bought it in how-much-would-you-give-to-know-where: the only English book in the bookshop left standing there: an English edition published in France, retaining the �loin� for �lion� misprint. That I had not read it before I count as a great gain, as it enabled me to read it now. Now you can never put it in my epitaph �He had never read Cranford, nor reading it had he failed to enjoy it.� You can make the remark about Jane Austen, however.�

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 7 Aug 1915 and 15 Aug 1915

Country:

Belgium

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Ploegsteert
county: Hainault
other location: trenches

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

19 May 1895

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

First Lieutenant, 7th Suffolk Regiment

Religion:

Agnostic

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Belgium

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Elizabeth Gaskell

Title:

Cranford

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33055

Source:

Print

Author:

Charles Hamilton Sorley

Editor:

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

Title:

The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1990

Vol:

n/a

Page:

248

Additional Comments:

To Miss Jean Sorley 15 August 1915 [Belgium, near Ypres]. Sorley was probably by this time at Ploegsteert, near Ypres

Citation:

Charles Hamilton Sorley, Jean Moorcroft Wilson (ed.), The Collected Letters of Charles Hamilton Sorley, (London, 1990), p. 248, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33055, accessed: 21 March 2026

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Additional Comments:

None