Lincolns Inn <1>
10th Feby 1864
Dear Sir
The Presentation after going the rounds has been stamped and is forwarded by this Evengs’s post to the Revd E. P. Nicholl <2> at Llandough with instructions to pass it on to the Bishop’s Secy who is prepared to act upon it.
The latter has required a certificate of us with a short statemt of ye title which we have prepared from the documents in our custody and with which we have no doubt he will be satisfied –
On looking to the Draft of yr will we found no special mentions of the Advowson therein or of the or advowson of Fisherton,<3> we think this had better be supplied by a short codicil hereafter at your convenience
Ever Yours faithfully
J. H Bolton
Notes:
1. One of the four Inns of Court, the ‘colleges’ of barristers at the English Bar. Bolton had his chambers [lawyer’s offices and, at the time, living-quarters also] there.
2. Rev Edward Powell Nicholl (1831–1902), Vicar of Lacock from 1864 until his resignation in 1870; photographer. Talbot, the patron of the living of Lacock, had presented it to Nicholl, who at the time was the rector of Llandough, near Cowbridge, Glamorganshire. The patron of Llandough was Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.
3. Fisherton Anger, Salisbury, Wiltshire. WHFT had inherited the advowson (the right to present a new Rector to St Clement's Church) from his father, Davenport Talbot, and held it until 1849. The new Rector would enjoy the income and assets of the living, including the Rector's house. St Clement's was demolished in 1852 and parts of it were incorporated into the new St Paul's Church.