Chippenham <1>
6th March 1837 -
Dear Sir /
As I expect to have £100- more of Arrears - ready to be remitted to you by the end of this Week, I beg the favor of your informing me when you write next - to whom I shall pay this amount -
I recd your Message respecting Miss [Brackstone's?] <2> House & have communicated it to Mrs Barton - I hope she may take the House - as she has always been a good Tenant & in that case, Rainsford the Tailor, would rent the House wch she now occupies - I found the three Bills on your Table & found after examining that of John Phelps - there was only one Item not belonging to the Abbey - wch was for Snozzell's House -
The Draft of the Conveyance for the Fisherton Advowson<3> - was sent to my Son<4> last Week & afterwards forwarded to Mr King<5> - I was glad to learn that Mr Finch <6> had seen you at Lacock & I trust that he explained to your satisfaction - the respectability of the Parties for whom he had been treating - it appears to me quite clear, that the Living must be, bona fide, filled up, before any Money can be recd for the Advowson
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I am Dear Sir Yr Obliged Sert
W. H. Awdry
W. H. F. Talbot Esq
31 Sackville Street
Piccadilly
London
Notes:
1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.
2. See Doc. No: 03473.
3. Fisherton Anger, Salisbury, Wiltshire. WHFT had inherited the advowson (the right to present a new Rector to St Clement's Church) from his father, Davenport Talbot, and held it until 1849. The new Rector would enjoy the income and assets of the living, including the Rector's house. St Clement's was demolished in 1852 and parts of it were incorporated into the new St Paul's Church.
4. West Awdry (1807-1892), solicitor, Chippenham.
5. Of William Read King & Son, solicitors, London.
6. Possibly Charles Finch, who ran a lunatic asylum in a large house at Fisherton Anger; the Finches were an old established family in the area.