To the letter: Jane Gibbins on a unique correspondence

‘The stories Omnium holds are captivating.’

by Jane Gibbins 10th July 2026

Just before world war one, a group of girls left Mount School in York. They were determined to keep in touch, and, this being pre-email and Facebook, they did so by writing their news and thoughts in a hard-bound exercise book and posting it to each other. They called it ‘Omnium’, sometimes ‘DearOmni’, and referred to it as ‘he’. Over the next thirty years – spanning two world wars, women’s right to vote, and the beginnings of the welfare state – they developed a unique correspondence.