Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Tuesday August 10th 1852
My dear Henry
I have been living in such a whirl the last few days, that I have not been able yet to answer your letter. Many thanks for your charming present to Ernestine <2> – She will be delighted with it when she knows of it – but of course I keep it as a surprize for her Birthday. I think it must be the same little Book Amandier <3> told me you had given your Girls, <4> & which pleased her as much as it did them. Poor Ernestine’s was a disagreable [sic] accident – & the more so from the Collington Surgeon having mistaken the nature of it. He said the bone was only bent – whereas the Devonport Surgeon, who saw the arm on her return, said it was a decided fracture & that had we waited a day or two longer, it would have been too late to have made it straight. It wd have set itself, crooked of course. He is a very clever man, the same who set Val’s <5> arm 15 years ago. The setting hurt poor little Ernestine very much indeed – & the notion of her arm being broken, frightened her – But she is so dear & gentle – & when she cries it [sic] the most innocent, touching thing! The moment the accident happened, she only entreated that I would not be frightened – tho’ she was then in great pain, & might well have thought more of herself than me – & when a little more composed she said: I do only entreat you dear Mamma, not to tell Papa <6> – He will be so frightened. – She is in no pain now whatever, & very merry – & going on quite well. We are dreadfully busy today – preparing for tomorrow’s Bazaar<7> – & yesterday we drove to Port Eliot, to assist Ly St Germans to receive the Qn of the French & the Nemours,<8> who went there to Church (all the way from Teignmouth, & drove back again afterwd) So, as Amandier saw when she was here, we have never any rest for the sole of our foot, at Mt E. Today while we were busily working & fixing our goods, arrived Ld Hardinge Sir Jms Burgogne & 3 Colonels & Ld Mt E.<9> is gone off with them to visit the fortifications on the Heights. – In short one lives in a bustle – so no good bye – Louisa Galwey, Miss Gent, Mr Gaisford & Captn Key <10> are here – going to assist at the Bazaar – Post is going.
Yr very affte Sister
Caroline
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
3. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
4. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter, Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
5. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’. [See Doc. No: 03481].
6. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
7. As was an annual custom, the Edgcumbes hosted a grand fete to benefit the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital, the Devon and Cornwall Female Orphan Assylum, and the Royal British Female Orphan Assylum. A special train was chartered from London to bring down 1200 visitors. Unfortunately, extremely heavy rains forced the cancellation of the Wednesday and Thursday events, but this was made up for by fine weather on Friday and acceptable weather on Saturday.
8. Jemima Granville Eliot, née Cornwallis, Lady St Germans (1803-1856). Maria Amalia, of Naples and Sicily (1782-1866), consort of Louis Philippe I from 1830-1848. Her son, Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Nemours (1814–1896) and his wife, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary (1822-1857).
9. Henry Hardinge, Viscount Hardinge (1785–1856), British field marshal and governor-general of India. In 1852 he succeeded the Duke of Wellington as commander-in-chief of the British army. Sir John Pox Burgoyne (1782–1871), British field marshal. Her husband, Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797-1861).
10. Louisa Gallwey, née Quin; Miss Gent is unidentified; Capt Thomas Gaisford (1816–1898), JP, WHFT’s brother-in-law, and Sir Astley Cooper Key (1821–1888), admiral.