Chippenham <1>
22nd May 1833
Dear Sir,
I beg to advise a Remittance to Messrs Hammersley <2> – of £150· –
I will take care to have your suggestion attended to, respecting the Room at the Workhouse for the Superintendent.
I spoke about the fire Engine a short time ago & was glad to hear that it was regularly tried about once in a Month or six Weeks –
I am not able to give any information respecting the Map of the Village – not having had occasion to borrow it at any time – but I trust, there can be no doubt of your finding it among your Papers at the Abbey. –
When the Chimneys were swept at the abbey, a few Weeks ago – some Repairs (of the kind you mention for the Confessional Room) were found wanting in 3 or 4 of the Bed Rooms & I ordered them to be done at the time –
I am sorry to inform you, that Mr Spencer <3> has got into Embarrassments & has left Lacock – I have been relieved from the unpleasant necessity of distraining on his Furniture in order to secure your Rent – by the voluntary offer of the Auctioneer, to guarantee the payments as soon as he proceeds to Sell – I hear that Mr Spencer is not likely to return to Lacock & I shall therefore, most likely, have applications for the House in a short time – Have you, or Captn Feilding <4>, any one to whom you would wish it offered?
I am Dear Sir Yr obliged Servt
W. A. Awdry
W H F Talbot Esqr M. P.
Brampton Square
29 Albemarle Street <5>
London
Not known <6> by the second direction in Brampton square – [illegible]
Notes:
1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.
2. Hammersley & Company, bankers, London.
3. Dr Henry Spencer (1805-1842), surgeon in Chippenham.
4. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
5. WHFT lived at this London address, just down the street from the Royal Institution, for half of April and the whole of May, 1833. As it was not his usual address letters sometimes went astray, as this one apparently did.
6. The remaining part of the text is written in another hand.