Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Friday Septr 17th 1852
My dear Henry
Your little Book of Ornithology was safely received, & duly presented to Ernestine <2> on her Birthday – She admired it very much, but was not, as you are aware, able to write & thank you for it herself – She sent a message however lately through Rosamond <3> (in a letter from me) which perhaps you have not yet received. Her arm <4> is well now, but she must not use it much, as it is of course, very weak. – I suppose you heard of Charlie’s <5> accident – how he fell down the hatchway of the Cloud & cut his head on the corner of the Stove. We kept him back from Harrow (where he ought to have been this day week) – as his head is still tender. He goes to London however tomorrow with a young Officer of Engineers, a great friend of his – & on Sunday evg – or Monday morning to School – & he is furnished with a medical certificate to exempt him from playing at football. – I hear you wish to know Val’s <6> present place of abode – It is Dorlin
Strontian
Argyllshire
He says the situation is quite lovely – & the sunsets by far the most [illegible deletion] beautiful he ever saw. The house looks down upon Loch Moidart – & on a small island just opposite rises a ruined Castle, the last remaining wreck of the Clanranald <7> property. Val only went there to read for a month – & as I believe he got there on the 1st I suppose he will be coming home in a fortnight. Suppose you write to him. I imagine the D. of Wellington’s <8> death will make a great sensation abroad as well as at home. Everybody is wondering who will be the new Commander in Chief. Milord <9> is much better to-day – He has had a severe attack of illness – partly gout – but is going on quite well now –
Yr affte
Caroline
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
3. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
4. See Doc. No: 06670.
5. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.
6. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
7. Castle Tioram, Loch Moidart, the ancestral home of the MacDonalds of Clanranald. Lord Valletort's sister, Lady Caroline Sophia Edgcumbe (d. 10 April 1824), was the first wife of Reginald George Macdonald (d. 1873).
8. Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), 1st Duke of Wellington, field–marshal.
9. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.