Edinb.
Friday
My Dear Charles
I do not know whether you have heard the sad intelligence from Melbury <1> of the death of my dear uncle the Earl of Ilchester <2> We knew that his health was very precarious but as he was spending the winter at Melbury in perfect quiet and I believe without seeing any company whatever we hoped he would have got through the winter and that next summer might have removed his complaint in the throat.
It is a satisfaction to us to look back upon his last visit to Lacock in company with Lady Ilchester <3> when he seemed to enjoy himself very much in the hot and bright weather and I visited them at Abbotsbury <4> also.
Tomorrow I am going to Dabton to stay a few days with Matilda <5>
Your affte Father
Envelope:
C. H. Talbot EsqMr Prichard’s <6>
Architect
Llandaff
Notes:
1. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
2. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
3. Lady Sophia Penelope Jolliffe, née Sheffield (1822-1882); first m. WTHF Strangways, 21 July 1857; second m. 1st Baron Hylton.
4. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
5. Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, née Talbot (25 Feb 1839-1927), 'Tilly', WHFT's 3rd daughter.
6. John Prichard, Welsh architect; Charles Henry Talbot apprenticed to.