Problems at Pitchford & Trouble at Eccleshall: Letter from Colonel Cotes, 16th August 1907

Description:A number of letters from Colonel Cotes refer to work which was going on at Pitchford Hall in the early twentieth century. In one letter to Menzies, Colonel Cotes asks him to ‘have a look at the laundry roof’ which was ‘in a very bad state’.

Cotes also writes to Menzies about the Owens, a troublesome family on his estates. He informs Menzies that ‘Ward had given the Owens notice some time ago before the row to leave on the 1st Sept & I told him I thought they had better go’. Despite this decision, Colonel Cotes was having second thoughts and comments ‘now that young vagabond George Owen has gone perhaps it will be hard on them having to leave though I don’t like the Owens’. If the family were to stay, Colonel Cotes states that ‘it must be on the understanding that on no account George should come back which he is sure to do…as he is not likely to keep his place with Col. Gates’.

Colonel Cotes often wrote to Menzies when he was away from home for a period of time. His letters include amusing comments about his activities and the weather where he was staying. In this letter he notes that his party were experiencing ‘wretched weather rain every day & have only been out shooting twice’.

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