Winton Castle ^<1>
Tranent
Sunday Oct^r 19^th 1862

My dear Henry

We had the kindest reception here from our old friends, Lady Ruthven & her Sister Lady Belhaven –

They asked after you particularly, & Lady Ruthven said you were at Freelands formerly, & did I think you would come here tomorrow, if she were to write & ask you? I felt myself inclined to say that I was afraid you would not – as you now lived such a retired life. – but she begged me to write & try & persuade you to come tomorrow; & also Constance & Ela. ^<2> She was quite surprized to find you had been settled so long near Edinburgh – did not even know you were married – still less that you had daughters!

I do not imagine in my own mind that Constance will care to come – but I really think you might. – We came in 1^h. & 40 minutes – all of us & luggage, in one carriage & 1 P^r of Post horses – 14 miles – But you alone might come by Rail, & take a fly at Tranent, or Preston Pans (one & the same) Station – between 4 & 5 miles off. If you do, you must write a line, or apply to the man there who keeps the flies – His name is Nimmo.

We had an excellent carriage with a seat behind for one maid & the Servant, & the luggage on the top, from Croll’s, the principal man of that sort in Edinburgh. It is coming again to fetch us on Wednesday morning – The Belhavens go tomorrow I am sorry to say. There is no one else here but L^y Arthur Lennox ^<3> (one of L^y Ch. Barry’s daughters) & her girl – & M^r Hare who draws very well – & a M^r Fraser, a particular friend of M^r Gilchrist Clark ^<4> – He is, I think, the head of the Registry Office, & was mainly instrumental in re-establishing Lord Abercorn’s claim to be Duc de Chatelerault. ^<5> – Freelands now belongs to the late L^d Ruthven’s Sister, as well as the title – being a female peerage – & our friend Ly. R. lives at this curious & handsome old house – which she inherited from her Uncle. She has been very ill lately – & seems still suffering – but is so nice & pleasant – & she desired me to say she had set her heart on your coming – for “auld lang syne”. She also wants Constance & Ela to come too – you understand – But if they won’t, do you –

y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline

I enclose her note – M^r Fraser thinks he will pilot you tomorrow –

[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot Esq^r-
Millburn Tower
Hermiston
Edinburgh

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Notes:

1. Haddingtonshire, East Lothian.

2. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife and Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1^st daughter.

3. Lady Adelaide Constance Lennox, née Campbell (d. 1888), wife of Lord Arthur Lennox (1806–1864).

4. John Gilchrist-Clark (1836–1881), JP.

5. James Hamilton (1811–1885), 1^st Duke of Abercorn, 1868; father-in-law of William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4^th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.