Cockington Court<2>
Torquay.
Jan 1st /66
My dear Father,
I leave here tomorrow for Exeter where there is a ball. I have another at Tetbury on the 4th at Chippenham on the 9th and at Grittleton (Sir John Neeld’s) <1> on the 11th. After which I think I shall have had quite enough so I mean to go to London on the 12th. I went yesterday to look at a house which Mr Froude the engineer<3> has been and is building on Mr Mallocks land in a very good situation. I was very much pleased with the house which is very solid and withall architecturally good. I saw Mr Froude today and Young Brunel<4> who is staying with him. We drove over to Dartington a curious old house which I have seen before.<5>
Your affect son
Charles –
Notes:
1. Sir John Neeld (1805–1891), Conservative MP; sat for Chippenham, 1865–1868.
2. Charles could have been friends with either of two sons of Charles Herbert Mallock (1802-1873) of Cockington Court, Torquay, whilst at Harrow. Charles Herbert Mallock (1840-1875), later a barrister, entered in 1854. Richard Mallock (1843-1900), later an MP, entered in 1858. Both left Harrow in 1859, the year of Charles Henry's departure.
3. In 1837, William Froude (1810-1879) went to work for the celebrated engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel(1806-1859) building Britain's first railways. He went on to work for the Admiralty, using ship models in a tank at his house to predice the motion of full-size ships. The Froude Number is still used by naval architects to predict from models.
4. Henry Marc Brunel (1842-1903), civil engineer, the 2nd son of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
5. Dartington Hall, near Totnes, Devonshire, is a medieval structure built between 1388 and 1400 for John Holand, Earl of Huntingdon, half-brother to Richard II. At the time of Charles's visit, it was still occupied by a descendant of the original family, the young Arthur Champernowne (1839-1887), who had succeeded his father, Henry Champerdowne (1815-1851) and who followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Arthur Harrington Champerdowne (d. 1819) to become a distinguished geologist. The Hall went derelict in the early 20th, was rebuilt and became the base of the Darlington Hall Trust charity in 1935.