Edinburgh, Scotland: Nora's Letters

Available for over a year

EH15 2AF - Portobello, Edinburgh When World War One was declared, sixteen year old Norah Torrance lived with her family at Mount Lodge, a large house with a huge garden in Windsor Place in Portobello which is now a small housing estate. Weeks earlier, Norah’s mother had died suddenly leaving her father William with three daughters; Mona, Norah and Roma. Thousands of troops were billeted in Portobello during the war and William Torrance was a generous man who invited the young men, sometimes convalescent soldiers to spend time with him and his family at Mount Lodge. Norah wrote to several soldiers when they left and the collection of letters and photographs are treasured by her daughter Dorothy Kelly. Some have recently been published in, “Portobello and the Great War”. Author Margaret Munro and Dorothy Kelly describe a few of the soldiers who looked forward to Norah’s “newsy” letters from Portobello and receiving her photograph.