Letter from Frank Austin's daughter Shirley Korner of Lewes, East Sussex

Transcription of original letter, circa July 2011.

Dear Ben
It was nice to talk to you. Forgive my handwriting; I really can't cope with computers!
You want to know about Hannah Moser, the "old Booka" as we used to call her, as opposed to "Booka", who was Dora/Dobbie, mother of Leah, Harry, Frank, Sam, Nat, Lew and Kitty. She was a very important figure in the bringing up of the seven children after Mordecai / Mark died when Kitty was six months old and Dora used to go out to work as a midwife's (sic) assistant to help families where mothers had just give (sic) birth.
The "old Booka" was very strict and dominating, but quite helpful. My father Frank remembered (going) with her to sell Charasett at Pesach in Petticoat Lane, and he often lived in her flat with her after her husband died.

Later on she said she was going to get married again and one day she disappeared but came back the next day- "But Booka, what happened?"...."Oof, he was a dirty old man," (in Yiddish) and that was the end of that.
She and Dora lived together with the grown up children until they all left to get married. I remember (aged 6) visiting their flat in Stoke Newington and hearing my uncle Lew singing very beautifully as he showered. We used to always to have a Seder together there until she was too frail, and then they all came to our house.
Hannah used to wear an ornately curled black shteitel (wig). When I was about five I gave her a hug and to my horror her head came off; and I cried in shock! Everyone laughed, especially Booka.
She did not speak English but she did read Yiddish and Hebrew, which her daughter Dora did not. I used to feel very sorry for her later on, when she sat alone at home waiting for her children to call; or 'phone her. She used to visit us every week and we had a lot of family gatherings before the war.
Hannah died in 1938 I think- and then the family was evacuated and the uncles all did war-time work.
I think she was a great character, as were all that generation of immigrants. It is hard to imagine the hardship and persistence - but I always think of refugees and asylum seekers and modern immigrants with great respect, and really try to help them.
Incidentally, although my family are not at all attached to Jewish rituals etc, I am still called Booka by the eight grandchildren!
Best wishes to your parents and to Amanda and your little children.

Good luck with the research.

Love
Shirley