Stonehouse
Plymouth
April 20th 1855
My dear Henry
Many thanks for your instructions about the R. Society <1> – It is by no means such an easy matter to get in, I see. Milord <2> has written another letter to the Globe <3> upon the Militia – & tho’ I believe it is not a subject that particularly interests you, he likes to send you anything of his – & therefore has commissioned me to send the Plymouth Paper, in which you will find the letter
Please let me know if you get it.
Has Horace <4> paid you a visit at Laycock yet? Charlie <5> was going off with a private tutor into Essex yesterday – but we must keep him a few days longer in consequence of a tiresome cough – Ernestine <6> & I have both been unpässlich <7> in town – Milord keeps wonderfully well – considering – for this East wind & hot sun are very unwholesome–
Is not Flora <8> fortunate to be in Waiting now? She says the Empress <9> is handsome & very graceful & pleasing – with a beautiful figure – But how extraordinary it does seem that Napoléon III <10> should be invested with the Order of the Garter by Queen Victoria’s <11> own hand! Certainly wonders will never cease. I suppose the D. of Wellington <12> wd have choked, had he been still alive.
What does Amandier think of the decision in the Hopwood case?<13>
My love to Constance & all –
Yrs affly
Caroline
[envelope:]
H. Fox Talbot Esqre
Laycock Abbey
Chippenham
Notes:
1. Royal Society of London.
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
3. The Globe, launched in 1803, London.
4. Lt Horace Charles Gaisford (1851–1879), WHFT’s nephew.
5. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.
6. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
7. Unwell, indisposed.
8. Caroline's husband's niece through his sister, Lady Caroline Sophia Edgcumbe (d. 10 April 1824), who was the first wife of Reginald George Macdonald (d. 1873): The Honorable Flora Isabella Clementina (1822-1899) was Maid of Honor and later Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria.
9. Empress Eugénie, married to Napoleon III, 1853.
10. Charles–Louis–Napoléon (1808–1873) Napoleon III, Emperor of France; elected as President of the Republic, 1848.
11. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
12. Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), 1st Duke of Wellington, field–marshal.
13. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
From June 1828 - September 1831, Amélina was a companion to the family of Robert Gregge-Hopwood (1773-1854) and the Hon. Cecelia, née Byng, daughter of John Byng, 5th Viscount Torrington, at their home of Hopwood Hall, between Middleton and Rochdale, Lancaster. The 'Great Hopwood Will Case' was triggered by the death of Mr Hopwood, who had disinherited his eldest son, Capt Edward John Gregge-Hopwood (1810-1891), in his will of 1853. A small fortune was at stake, and Capt Hopwood contested the last will, saying that his father was of unsound mind when he executed it. The jury decided in Capt Hopwood's favour.14. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.