Sackville St <1>
Monday Night
Dearest Constance
Ela’s <2> progress in 2 months appears to me to be marvellous, especially her having attained to so difficult a word as uncle. I suppose uncle must have been particularly kind to her, so that she was induced to take particular pains in acquiring his name.
I did not know that any of our family was exposed to the great storm, till Wm <3> told me today that Starndale was on his passage from Rotterdam to London, and that he was 51 hours reaching Margate. Now see what a good thing a barometer is, for a sudden great fall of the mercury is an indication which no wise person, intending to cross the german ocean,<4> would neglect.
They are going to make me a Member of the Council of the Royal Society, in consequence I suppose of the papers I sent them; I have promised to attend whenever I can, that is to say whenever I am in Town.<5>
Tuesday
We had as fine a day on Sunday as you had, but yesterday was raw and foggy, which has given me a very bad cold & in consequence I do not feel as if I should be able to do much today out of doors – I believe I shall therefore require to remain in Town tomorrow & next day and set off Friday –
The Lansdownes <6> have reached Berlin where their son joined them from Konigsberg, & now I believe they are going to Dresden, & soon afterwards coming home.
Your affte
Henry
Notes:
1. 31 Sackville Street, London residence of the Feildings, often used as a London base by WHFT.
2. Ela Theresa Talbot (25 Apr 1835 - 25 Apr 1893), WHFT's 1st daughter.
3. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat. On Monday night and Tuesday morning, 10/11 October, an enormous gale devastated the western coast of Britain. Guernsey was heavily damaged on Wednesday evening, the worst storm in decades.
4. A less common name for the North Sea.
5. Although there is no record of regular service on the Council, WHFT was soon invited to attend at least one meeting - see Doc. No: 03432. In the pre-railway days, regular attendance in London would have been a problem.
6. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle; and his wife, Lady Louisa Emma, née Fox Strangways (1785-1851).