Chippenham ^<1>
April 26^th1821 –

Dear Sir/

I am obliged for the Letter you wrote me on the 15^th Ins^t – I have directed a part of the Repairs at New Farm to be set about immediately & the remainder could not be done with convenience to the Farmer till next Spring, therefore the Expence will be divided between the two years –

I received a part of the Lady day Rents last Week & have remitted £300 for Captⁿ Feilding ^<2> – One of the Farmers has not yet paid, but has promised positively to do so in two or three Weeks at the latest – I can depend upon remitting Hammersly’s ^<3> £500 – by the first Week in May & I hope to get in £200 more in the course of that Month or in June – I should observe that we do not receive half the Rent Roll at this Audit, as the Great Tythes are only paid once a year & that at Michaelmas – The Tenants of the two small Farms at Nash Hill ^<4>, have generally been half a year in arrear – They are still so & I fear we shall not get better payment from these Farms, unless times should be more favorable for the Farmer than they are at present –

I have made enquiries of Tayler about the Club & am sorry to find there are two who had lent money – The Sums are stated as £100 and £140 – With respect to these Sums, I take the liberty of suggesting for your consideration (in case you should wish to return them) that it will probably be quite as serviceable to the poor People, to receive the Money by Instalments & consequently any Sum that you could conveniently spare from your Income, might be presented as a gratuity to the Clubs, till the whole was repaid – another advantage which I contemplate in this method of payment, is, that it will create less conversation upon the subject, which I understood from Captⁿ F – it was wished particularly to avoid, lest it might produce the general expectation of a recognition of the Debts – For the same reason, I fear I cannot recommend the payment of the Old Widow’s Debt which you mention – but you will probably allow me to give her occasionally a Pound Note privately – if I find that she is in much distress –

I hope soon to get a Valuation of the Sum due to M^r Paley ^<5> for his Composition Tythe during the Minority & as he rents some Land of you near the Vicarage, I have not called on him for the present half year till his claim is settled – We have not yet been able

to get Cottages for the Tenants who are to make room for the School & I therefore suppose it cannot be set about till next year – I requested M^r King ^<6> to inform you respecting the Insurance of the Property, which I hope will meet your approbation –

I am Dear Sir Y^r obliged & obed^t Ser^t
W. H. Awdry

W. H. F. Talbot Esq
N^o17. Rue de Clichy
Paris

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Notes:

1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.

2. Lady Day is one of the traditional English quarter days, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, on 25 March. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.

3. Hammersley & Company, bankers, London.

4. Nash Hill, also Naish Hill, a hill and farm 1 mi NE of Lacock, Wiltshire.

5. Rev James Paley (1790–1863), Vicar at Lacock.

6. Of William Read King & Son, solicitors, London.