Melbury <1>
10 Sept
My dear Henry
I am much obliged for your thinking of me in acquainting me with poor Lord Mt Edgcumbe’s death <2> – Bad news flies quickly & I had already heard of it – & tho’ no one could be surprised at it, still the thought of Caroline’s <3> situation away from home & on board a yacht where all possible accommodation must leave numerous sources of discomfort, was very melancholy – what a comfort it must have been to him to have seen Valletort <4> settled & happy before he died. – I have since heard from Mr Gaisford <5> that prolonged life to him would certainly have been further suffering.
We are here or hereabouts I suppose – for the winter having given up Lincoln & Derby for this year – We spent three weeks very pleasantly in Wales but I cannot get over the idea of Wales without Penrice! <6>
I hope you are all well – when do you come to Lacock again?
Yr Affte
Wm
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law, died on 3 September 1861.
3. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
4. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
5. Capt Thomas Gaisford (1816–1898), JP, WHFT’s brother-in-law.
6. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot, empty since the death of Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.