FRANCES NORAH WOODSFORD: known as Norah (or Nori) to family and friends, Frances to Mr Bigelow. Born on November 11th 1913. She was exceptionally bright at school, excelling at Mathematics but her father's death in 1926 interrupted the prospects of an academic career. Edwin Frank Woodsford was the inventor of the Goray skirt; he left his dress-designing business to his son and daughters and not to his wife. Without his creative input his business partner went into liquidation; when the children were old enough to inherit there was nothing left. Frances left school and earned money to keep the family together. In 1930, Frances's elder sister, Peggy, died of meningitis, aged 19, and later, her younger brother 'Mac' was made a prisoner of war in Germany. When the Second World War ended Frances took a job as secretary in the Public Baths Department of Bournemouth Town Council, where she worked for the duration of her correspondence with Mr Bigelow.
Amy Woodsford (née Mould): widowed mother of Frances and Mac, living with Frances in the family flat in Bournemouth
Frank MacPherson Woodsford: Frances's younger brother, known as Mac also living at home with Frances
Mould relatives: Frances's mother Amy was one of ten children: seven brothers and three sisters. Mould uncles and aunts who appear in this selection of the letters include: Syd (Lyme Regis), father to Frances's cousin Arthur; Ethel (Somerset); Ronald (Sussex) and his wife, Phyllis; and Herbert (Wirral).
Dr Keith Russell: Frances's suitor, a medical doctor from Canada, nick-named Sir Bertrand by Mr Bigelow
Audrey Fagan: Mac's wife-to-be
Wendy Fagan: Audrey's younger sister
Mrs Fagan: Audrey's mother
Mr Bond: Manager of Bournemouth Baths Department, Frances's boss
Mr Samson: Frances's dentist
Mr Watts, Mr Peet: Frances's French teachers
Mrs Bendle, Mrs Hedges, Mrs Noble: fellow students in French class
Dorothy Smith: friend of Frances, another Council secretary
Phyllis Murray: married friend
Sammie, Freckleface, Willie Jackson: cats
Commodore Paul Bigelow, widower: Frances's correspondent and mentor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1863, he was a civil engineer by profession, and spent time with a firm building cottonseed oil mills in the Southern states. Later, he returned to New York and, until his retirement in 1924, was the Eastern sales representative for the Buckeye Engine Company, a firm that produced steam engines used for operating electric generating plants. During the First World War he was commissioned as a Major in the U.S. Army Ordnance Service. Paul Bigelow's great passion was sailing and he was Commodore of the Bellport Bay Yacht Club for seven years, and a keen yachtsman all his life, although he retired from racing aged 70. His wife, Pauline, died in 1942. They had two children, Rosalind and Perry.
Rosalind Akin (née Bigelow): daughter of Mr Bigelow, pen-friend to Frances, nickname Roady. Married to Bill Akin, steel magnate, of Alton, Missouri. They had three children: Bill (who died at sea as a teenager), Paul and Tommy.
Mrs Gudrun Arnfast: the Commodore's housekeeper, nicknamed The Tin-Opener (also The Can-Opener) by Frances
The Dalls: Mr Bigelow's neighbours in Bellport, Long Island
Mrs Harriet Beall, Mrs Lucia Watson: American friends of Rosalind Bigelow in Alton
Mrs Florence Olsen: American friend of Rosalind Bigelow in New England
Angel Face: Mr Bigelow's cat
Missie: Mr Bigelow's dog