Letters of Arthur Jolly and Diary of Flora 'Bonnie' Doris Jolly (née Leaver) and transcript of Interview with June Jolly

From: Letter in the Attic

A series of letters from Arthur Jolly, written just after the end of the Second World War. The letters were sent to Masonic brothers in Australia, thanking them for sending food parcels. The letters contain information about post-war conditions, as well as news of the family.

Also, extracts from the diary of Flora Doris Jolly, née Leaver (1898-1987). The extracts come from her spiritual diary, which she wrote in about 1937 when she was deeply involved in a local branch of the Oxford Group [the Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Christian missionary Dr. Frank Buchman; the movement became known as Moral Re-Armament]. The diary is structured according the ‘four absolutes’ of the Oxford Group: ‘absolute honesty’, ‘absolute purity’, ‘absolute love’ and ‘absolutely unselfishness’.

There is also a transcript of an interview made by Margaretta Jolly (grandaughter of Arthur and Flora Jolly) in 2005 with June Jolly, daughter of Arthur and Flora Jolly. This is is known as ‘The Tapawingo Tapes’, after June Jolly’s house in Lee in London. On the tape June Jolly talks about her life, her memories and her family.

Creator

Jolly, Arthur (1892-1983); Jolly, Flora 'Bonnie' Doris (1898-1987); Jolly, June [Interviewee]; Jolly, Arthur Richard (known as Richard) [Interviewer]; Jolly, Margaretta [Interviewer]

Date of creation

1937-2006

Extent

Scans of 4 letters; scans of 8 pages from a diary; 7 photographs; 1 transcript of a taped interview

Access

Open

License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Reference number

LIA/77

Background information

Arthur Jolly (1892-1983) grew up in Eastbourne and moved to Hove with his mother shortly before the First World War. He raised nearly a million pounds for the First World War war effort through Victory Bonds, then served briefly in the army during the First World War. He was a chartered accountant and worked for Nevil Hovey Gardener throughout his life. During his time in Hove, AJ played a leading role in founding and maintaining many of the borough's civic organisations - the Rotarians, the Youth Advisory Council, the Presbyterian Church, as well as becoming a magistrate and the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Hove, Cliftonville and Steyning Building Society. He was a leading Freemason and was the Provincial Grandmaster. He organised the fire-fighting service in Hove during the Second World War. Flora Doris Jolly, née Leaver (1898-1987) was born in Hove. She spent most of her life in Hove with the exception of a few years in Vancouver, Canada. She married Arthur Jolly in 1927 and they had four children. She was deeply spiritual throughout her life and was a keen member of a largely Christian religious movement known as the Oxford Group, later known as Moral Rearmament. She was Commissioner for the Girl Guides for Hove in the late 1920s.

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Letters of Arthur Jolly and Diary of Flora 'Bonnie' Doris Jolly (née Leaver) and transcript of Interview with June Jolly

Arthur Jolly in his office