Chippenham <1>
12h July 1831
Dear Sir/
I have much pleasure in being able to inform you, that your wishes respecting the calling a meeting here, have been anticipated – Mr Gundry’s <2> Partner ( Mr Poole <3>) spoke to my Son <4> upon the subject, yesterday – & the latter then got a Requisition signed for that purpose & the Meeting is appointed to be held to morrow – My Son desires me to say, that no time shall be lost in forwarding the Petition to you, after a sufficient number of Signatures have been obtained to it – I have been to Mr Bradbury’s <5> & seen the Survey of 1822 & his Son (who is my Clerk) informs me, that he made the extract relating to the number of Houses & that you may depend upon its being accurate – This Survey having been made by a perfectly disinterested Person, for the purpose of fixing a Poor’s Rate at that time – must of course, render it a Document above all suspicion, if it should be necessary to produce it to the House of Commons upon the present occasion –
I am Dear Sir Yr Obliged Sert
W. H. Awdry
I am promised the Money from Miles & Hayward <6>, this week – Upon looking over the Acct I find that I shall not have a large Balance to remit – it shall be made to Hammersley’s <7> as you desire – unless you wish to the contrary, I will retain enough for Strong’s <8> Payments – this & next month
W. H. F. Talbot Esq
31 Sackville Street
Piccadilly
London
Notes:
1. Chippenham, Wiltshire: largest town near Lacock, 3 miles N.
2. William Gundry, banker, Chippenham .
3. Probably of Poole & Carpmael, London solicitors.
4. West Awdry (1807–1892), solicitor, Chippenham.
5. George S Bradbury, governor of Union Workhouse, World’s End, Chippenham. [See Doc. No: 02207].
6. Thomas Hayward (b. 1783), tenant farmer, Wick Farm, Lacock.
7. Hammersley & Company, bankers, London.
8. Strong's identity has yet to be established. However, Awdry met Mr. Strong at Box [see Doc. No: 02006], the Wiltshire hamlet whose quarry originally provided Lacock Abbey with its stone. It is possible that Strong was there temporarily to select stone for the renovations at Lacock Abbey, but given the expansion of the area in the 19th c., perhaps Strong was resident there. The 1841 census for Box (the earliest one available) points to two possibilities. The first, James Strong (b. 1796), was a mason, but the Lacock mason, Charles Selman Banks (1805-1881) did most of the masonry at Lacock at this time. Thomas Strong (b. 1781) was a builder, and seems the more likely candidate.