Laycock abbey
29th Decr
My Dear Henry
We returned here yesterday as it was my only chance of seeing Caroline <1> between last august & next june – as the house at Melbury <2> is so full at present that it could not hold us all. She is to be there about the middle of next Month, so if you pay your intended visit there you will meet her. From this She goes to visit Lady Pembroke <3> at Wilton, in her way to Melbury. We had a most disastrous journey the snow was so deep & the roads so slippery, Had I known what I was undertaking I think I should have remained at Melbury. I was only one day at Moreton, <4> they are going to Weymouth for change of air for my Sister <5> who is very poorly. Mary <6> has changed her mind & decided not to cross the Severn this winter. This disappoints me much. I conclude that Constance <7> has found even Sidmouth cold this severe weather. Bimbo <8> has succeeded to Ela <9> in the Confessional
affly yrs
E F
Harriot Mundy <10> was a week at Melbury, she is most unwieldy
The press of company at Melbury ends with Stavordale’s <11> Birthday he comes of age the 9th or 10th I forget the day
Notes:
1. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
2. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
3. Catherine Simonovna Herbert, née Woronzow, Lady Pembroke (1783–1856).
4. Moreton, Dorset: home of the Frampton family.
5. Lady Harriet Frampton, née Fox Strangways (d. 1844) .
6. Mary Thereza Talbot (1795–1861), WHFT’s cousin.
7. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
8. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
9. Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter.
10. Harriot Georgiana Mundy, née Frampton (1806-1886), WHFT’s cousin & sister-in-law. Her second child, Her second son, Adrian William Mundy, died an infant at Brighton on 14 September 1837 and she was unwell.
11. Stephen Fox Strangways (21 March 1817 - 1848), Lord Stavordale from 1837-1848.