Bowood <1>
Saturday –
My dear Henry.
I do not think I have much to make a letter of – but conclude you will be glad to hear of our being all assembled here alive & well. The children <2> came a day before us – there is no one in the house but a Miss Fitzgerald who you never saw – Ld Lansdowne <3> is just arrived from France, but he brings no news of any kind – Ld Auckland & his sister <4> come on Wednesday. & I suppose some others, or our Xmas party will not be very numerous – Your letter to Richard <5> did not reach him till he came here – I hope what you wanted from Town was not very pressing – however if you tell me your wishes I will endeavour to gratify them down here – Our Melbury <6> plan is given up. so in ten days or a fortnight we shall go again to Middleton. & thence to Town I see in the Papers that Ld Lauderdale’s son <7> has died at Cambridge after a very short illness & your mother <8> is fearful that the Camb <9>: fever may have reappeared – let us know what he died of & what college he belonged to &c &c &c.
My poor sister Lady Robert FitzGerald <10> is very ill at Paris & I believe I shall be obliged to go there with my sister towards the end of the month of January. I shall be glad to hear the results of your experience on the wine – write to me or your mother my boy & tell me how you feel yourself getting on for your examination –
God bless you Yr aff
C.F.
Henry Talbot Esqre
Trin: Coll:
Cambridge
Notes:
1. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, and Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister.
3. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP and noted statesman, WHFT’s uncle.
4. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland (1784–1849), Governor General of India, and his sister.
5. Richard, a servant.
6. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
7. James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759–1839), politician, economist and Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. His 4thson was Charles James Fox Maitland (1793- 18 December 1817), who is memorialised through a fine sculpture by Richard Westmacott in the Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge.
8. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m. Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
9. See Doc. No: 04913.
10. Misspelling of Lady Sophia Charlotte Fitzgerald, née Feilding (d. 1834).