53 Parliament St
My dear Sir
In consequence of my absence from home I only received yours of the 8th <1> yesterday evening – I will not fail to lay the enclosed <2> before the Directors <3> and have no doubt that they will immediately express to you their warm thanks <4> for the exertions you were kind enough to use in our favor when we were in want of it. <5>
I am my dear Sir Yours very truly
I K. Brunel
H F Talbot Esq.
Laycock Abbey.
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1. Letter not located.
2. Enclosure not located.
3. Of the Great Western Railway.
4. See Doc. No: 03163 of 11 November 1835. The second Great Western Railway bill was passed by Parliament in October 1835.
5. The first Western Rail-road Bill was passed by the Commons – Talbot was a Member and an active supporter of the Bill – but defeated in the Lords 25 July 1834. There was opposition to the building of railways from landowners, from local farmers and businessmen, and from those with interests vested in other forms of transport. [See E. W. Woodward, Age of Reform (Oxford: OUP, 1938), pp. 44–45.]