Lacock
28 Decr 1841
My Dear Mother
We came here in 7 hours, which is the usual allowance. The day was fine for outside travelling, till we got to Frome after which it grew cold and foggy.
John Humphries <1> was not in the way, as usual, to lend his help at unpacking the carriage, so I suppose he is growing lazy – Today the Abbey feels very cold, but out of doors it is mild and foggy, and very muggy, a very dispiriting kind of day – I cannot write any more because pens paper & ink are all greasy and refuse to mark.
Five thieves from London have broken open Mr John Awdry’s <2> house at Wraxall and stole all the valuables. They were known to the railway people as belonging to the Swell mob & they put them in a carriage by themselves that they might only rob each other, & sent notice down <illegible deletion> the line to beware of them – The thieves being displeased at this, left the railway and took a postchaise to Bath whence they went to Bradford to plot mischief with the distressed chartists there
Yr aff
Henry
Notes:
1. John Humphries, gardener at Lacock Abbey in the early 1840’s.
2. John Awdry (1766–1844), solicitor, Reybridge.