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Document number: 5746
Date: Fri 09 Oct 1846
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: TALBOT Constance, née Mundy
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 15th September 2013

Lacock Abbey
Friday Oct. 9. –

My dear Henry

You cannot think how very glad I was to get your letter this morning – having lost all trace of you since hearing from Wright <1> that you had set off for Dover last Friday (this day week). – Up to the date of the last part of your letter you seem to have proceeded very perseveringly – in spite of indifferent weather. Since then I fear you will have been much discouraged – for it has been one incessant storm – such wind & rain as we have scarcely experienced since last winter. – I felt sure you must have crossed the water or else it would have brought you back again, – and I have done nothing but lament over your ill-luck. – For my Brother <2> too I feel anxious – as he intended to cross from Southampton to Havre on Tuesday – but I cannot think that he would be able to do so – & I have heard nothing since – I hope you will soon write to me again dear Henry & tell me what you resolve to do – under these adverse circumstances – & how you manage to keep up your spirits – It grieves me to learn from your letter that you are unwell – perhaps the voyage upset you although you bore it better at the time than some of your fellow passengers –

I am puzzled about your letters – as you do not say – forward them all except any that are evidently unimportant – How can I judge! – without perusing them! – There are 2 Foreign letters, both with the Paris postmark – in the same hand – one of them stamped Charles Chevalier. <3> One from Mr Cowderoy <4> – 1 Harrison <5> & 1 Mr C. Jones <6> – 2 from Melksham <7> a bulky one from Mr West Awdry <8> – & 3 others – & a brown paper parcel looking like Talbotypes. – So in my perplexity I decide upon forwarding none – Rosamond <9> sends her love to you in an affectionately squeaky voice – Matilda <10> joins – for these two are in the room with me at this moment. I took them all to see Tom Thumb yesterday at Chippenham which was a great pleasure – Mr & Mrs Moore <11> went with us & lunched here afterwards. – She likes this kind of thing – by why she made Mr Moore go also, I cannot understand; as it is not at all in his line & he was evidently bored if not disgusted. Wright is here on his way to Mt E. <12> – he seems still unwell & wants nursing – Horatia <13> has ordered him to take down with him – a quantity of things – warm clothing &c. which implies that she intends to prolong her stay considerably. –

My Brother paid his promised visit the same day that you left home, arriving in excellent time for dinner – he signed the deed of exchange & went on to Moreton <14> on Saturday – I wrote to you on Friday & directed to Cox’s hotel – but of course you did not receive my letter. <15> Wright says Ld & Lady Lansdowne <16> reached London on Monday – & I imagine they will come down to Bowood immediately. I must go & enquire after them as soon as the weather improves – Mlle A <17> has a cold & is indisposed – the weather does not allow of her going to Bath as she had intended for bathing. –

Dearest Henry your affectionate
Constance –

I heard from Mrs Henneman <18> a day or 2 ago – She was getting stronger & Henneman <19> was much better & intending to return to Reading <20> this week.

Notes:

1. James Wright, footman to the Talbots & Constable for Lacock.

2. William Mundy (1801-1877), politician, WHFT’s brother-in-law.

3. Charles Chevalier (1804–1859), optician, Paris.

4. Benjamin Cowderoy (1812–1904), land agent in Reading; business manager for WHFT; later a politician in Australia.

5. David Harrison, sometime assistant to Nicolaas Henneman in London.

6. Rev Calvert Richard Jones (1802–1877), Welsh painter & photographer.

7. Melksham, Wiltshire: market town near Lacock, 2 miles S.

8. West Awdry (1807–1892), solicitor, Chippenham.

9. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.

10. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, n้e Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.

11. Thomas Moore (1780–1852), Irish poet and Elizabeth (Bessie) Moore, n้e Dyke (1783–1865), wife of the poet Thomas Moore.

12. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.

13. Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, n้e Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.

14. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.

15. Doc. No: 05741.

16. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle; and his wife, Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, n้e Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838, WHFT's aunt.

17. Am้lina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Am้lina's journal].

18. Mrs Sarah Henneman, first m. Price ( ca.1811–1848), housemaid at Lacock Abbey.

19. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.

20. Henneman set up his Calotype works at 8 Russell Terrace, Reading. Commencing operations at the start of 1844, it functioned both as a photographic studio and as a photographic printing works and continued through late 1846, at which time Henneman transferred his operations to London. Although Talbot supported Henneman through custom, such as printing the plates for The Pencil of Nature, and loans, it was always Henneman's operation. His business cards made no mention of "The Reading Establishment," the designation that it is popularly given today; the only contemporary use of that title seemed to be by Benjamin Cowderoy - see Doc. No: 05690.