Sidmouth
Decr 17th
My dear Henry
It is time I should thank you for your kind letter <1> from London, & I promised Emily <2> to thank you for her plants which she was delighted to receive, & besides you will be glad to hear that I had as good an account of Mr Lemon <3> this day as we could expect – Emily is now at Torquay, & says his spirits are good, the bleeding lasted but two hours, & there has not been any return of it since – they think it was caused by his anxiety about your Aunt Charlotte, <4> billiousness, & smoke – he has no cold, or Cough – Your uncle Harry & John <5> came here yesterday, & went on today to Torquay, & propose to stay there till Saturday, they left the Children quite well at Melbury <6> – I went over with the Franklands <7> & Emily to Exeter last Saturday, to meet Charley Lemon <8> on his way for the holiday; & that Emily might go on with him to Torquay – he did not arrive till three oClock on Sunday, & as Mr Frankland had a cold, & the Carriage an open one, we were obliged to come away after Church, & leave Emily for him, they got safe to Torquay that night, & she tells me both he, & Augt <9> are very well. The Cathedral at Exeter is handsome & the service remarkably well performed & tell Wm <10> that the Bishop his old friend Dr Carey <11> looks particularly well –
It has been a tremendous day here & I feared we shd be over whelm’d with the sea – but the wind has changed & I trust we may get over the night without more alarm – the Garden was cover’d with water & a street I could see into at the [illegible] <12> of the House was also filled with water & many others which I cd not see in the same state – The sea very fine to look at but very alarming from being so near to it.
Give my love to Lady Mary <13> & to all my Friends at Penrice <14>, I hope dear Charlotte <15> is better, & Jane <16> & her Babe flourishing – Ly I– <17> hopes to be at Melbury by Xmas day, so I conclude Wm will not be a great while absent after that –
Ever my dear Henry most affectionately yours –
Tam <18>
Henry Talbot Esqre
Notes:
1. Letter not located.
2. Amelia ‘Emily’ Matilda Murray (1795–1884), author.
3. Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
4. Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt.
5. Henry Stephen Fox Strangways, 3rd Earl of Ilchester (1787–1858), and John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP.
6. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
7. Sir Robert Frankland-Russell, 7th Baronet Russell of Thirkleby (1784-1849), and his wife Lady Louisa Anne Frankland, née Murray (d. 1871), sister of WHFT’s aunt the Countess of Ilchester.
8. The son of Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle and Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt. His death precipitated that of his mother.
9. Augusta Lemon, daughter of Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle and Lady Charlotte Anne Lemon, née Strangways (d. 1826), WHFT’s aunt. [See Doc. No: 00967, Doc. No: 01206].
10. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
11. William Carey (1769–1846), bishop of Exeter 1820–30. He was previously headmaster of Westminster School where John George Charles Fox Strangways (1803–1859), MP was educated, and perhaps William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat also.
12. Text torn away under seal.
13. Lady Mary Lucy Cole, née Strangways, first m. Talbot (1776–1855), WHFT’s aunt.
14. Penrice Castle and Penrice House, Gower, Glamorgan, 10 mi SW of Swansea: home of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot.
15. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin.
16. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874). Her ‘babe’ is probably her eldest child John Nicholl [b. August 1823].
17. Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby (d. 1842).
18. ‘Tam’ was the nickname for Mrs Campbell in the Strangways family. See Louisa Charlotte Frampton, ‘Princess Charlotte and Mrs Campbell’, The Gentleman’s Magazine, n.s. v. 27, September 1876, pp. 275-289. Mrs. Campbell, a close family friend of the Framptons, first joined Princess Charlotte’s household in 1805.