VE Day: The beautifully-written wartime letter from wife to sailor found behind my fireplace

The discovery of a letter behind my fireplace, which must have been there for more than 70 years, has shed some rare detail about life at home in Scotland during World War Two. Or, more specifically, life in my own home.

The letter, over ten pages on both sides and compiled over several days, was written by Ella Ranson from the cottage where I have lived in Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire, for the past ten years. The document was for her husband George, with the letter addressed to SS Sutherland, the merchant ship on which he served.

George and Ella Ranson, who lived in Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire, during World War Two. A letter written from wife to husband during his service in the Merchant Navy sheds light on ordinary day-to-day life of a mother in a small Scottish village during the conflict . | Contributed

It was found when a builder removed the fireplace to cure a leaking chimney breast, but the beautifully-written letter has remained intact.

Suddenly, this house feels no longer like a house for one. The fireplace, now gone to a new home, would have been tended to by Ella while George was at war. Indeed, she writes about collecting firewood with her young children from the beach.

Getting the wood home up the hill was, she says, the “stiffest job”.

On the journey, she spoke to three Polish soldiers fishing down at the river. They may well have been deployed to the village to build the pillbox lookout and sea defences, which still stand today.

These defences serve as a reminder the Nazi threat was never far from a stretch of the most peaceful shore where I spend a great deal of my free time.

The letter written by Ella Ranson to her husband George, a merchant seaman, during World War Two. It lay behind a fireplace in their home in Inberbervie for more than 70 years and has recently been discovered. | Contributed

The ten-page note is crammed full of wit and asides about life at home during the war in Inverbervie, from air raid sirens to a villager’s fine for a faulty blackout screen. And, in true village style, there are a few digs about local characters.

“The front of him,” she writes about one man’s female companion at the whist drive.

READ MORE: VE Day: Flotilla to cross North Sea in honour of ‘Shetland Bus’ heroes

A photo taken by George Ranson while on service with the Merchant Navy during World War Two. He sailed mostly out of Stromness on the Montreal-registered vessel SS Mapleforth. PIC: Contributed. | Contributed

Much is written about the couple’s two young children, Brian and Gillian, and how village life ticked on as war raged in Europe.

Inverbervie remained relatively safe by comparison, with one account of a bomb dropped on Kinghornie farm, which overlooks the village, by a German machine gunner. The gunner also fired at the railway line, now long gone, as he vanished above the clouds over the North Sea, where Nazi-occupied Norway lay.

George and his son Brian with the family fishing boat at Bervie Bay. It was later requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence for its engine, according to the family. PIC: Ranson family. | Ranson family

After tracing George and Ella’s grandson, Glenn - the son of Brian - who lives in Prestwick, more details of the sailor’s service have emerged.

The letter must have been written sometime between July 12, 1941 and May 12, 1942, when George served on the Sutherland. Nine days later, he joined the SS Mapleforth, a Canadian vessel, at Stromness. His destinations and routes remain unknown.

As the country celebrated VE Day on May 8, 1945, Ella would still be waiting some time to see her George back home in Inverbervie, given that he remained in service until October 9 that year, when he was discharged.

In his four years at sea, there were very few breaks in George’s service, according to his service record.

A picture taken outside the Crown Hotel, Inverbervie, which was owned by Ella's mother's family. PIC: Contributed. | contributed

“I hope your time will come soon,” Ella wrote.

She added: “I have asked you a few times now if you are comfortable and have good mates, but you refuse to answer my queries. So I am just asking you once more and perhaps I will be lucky enough to get your answers.”

By the time George signed up for the Merchant Navy, his little fishing boat in Bervie Bay had been requisitioned by the MoD for the engine. A picture of baby Brian and his father by the boat remains a prized family possession.

News of good salmon fishing days at Bervie were relayed to George by letter, along with with snippets of Ella’s everyday life, including a bus tris to Stonehaven with her young son to buy furniture - “a rather uphill job, I tell you” - and the air raid siren that sounded in the town as they boarded the bus home.

“By the way, the times are all changed, so don’t be caught napping if you come soon,” Ella writes.

READ MORE: VE Day: We feared the war would go on for years

The envelope, complete with George VI stamp, contained the 10-page letter written over several days and a book of half-used stamps. | Contributed

On collecting firewood, she adds: “We have all got colds ... the carrying of it home was the stiffest job and Edd the old b****** watched us from the top of the Brae, but never came to lend a hand.

“I believe I could have got help from three Poles who were fishing at Donald’s Hole, but I never gave them any encouragement.”

Ella reflects on the different temperaments in her growing children, and of Brian and writes: “Brian will go back to school on Monday and I think he will be glad. He was always been wondering if tomorrow as Monday.”

Ella Ranson, formerly of Inverbervie. | Contributed

Meanwhile, Gillian - “as sharp as a needle” - gets a new navy coat costing 14/6 to go with the outfit her father sent her.

An order of books is also mentioned for a relative.

“I just had a thought about Tiny’s books,” Ella writes. “She has ‘No Orchids for Miss Blandish’, ‘Silken Sinners’ and ‘Flaming Youth”.

“So don’t be coming home with any of these titles or else she’ll heave them at you.”

The letter was written on Crown Hotel notepaper, which was owned by Ella’s mother, Mary McLeod, a bailie in the village.

The name of the hotel has been crossed out and replaced with the house address.

Newspaper cuttings from Inverbervie from the time are full of details about fundraisers for the war effort and updates on those fighting overseas, including those taken as prisoners of war.

They included James Cargill, of the Gordon Highlanders, who was captured in 1940 before the Maginot Line and did not return to the village until April 1945. That day, flags and bunting flew for the returning soldier.

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According to National Archives, enemy aircraft were reported in the area on January 9, 1941, when a bomb was dropped on Kerloch Hill to the south of Banchory.

Later that month, an appeal for air raid wardens and fire wardens was made in the village, with ear plugs to be delivered house-to-house.

Glenn Ranson, the grandson of Ella and George, of Prestwick, has now received the letter, with the document back in the vast family collection of photographs and papers

He said the couple left Inverbervie in 1952 to take a job as stewards at Prestwick Golf Club and went on to work in various castles and country homes. The letter, however, was left behind in Bervie.

Mr Ranson said he was delighted the letter had been found. He returns to Bervie from time to time to connect with his roots and visit George and Ella’s grave, which is in neighbouring Gourdon.

He said: “It is such a shame my father, Brian, has now passed away as he would have loved this. Many things are now falling into place. Lovely and thought provoking. It has brought back many memories.”