Steam Yacht
off Erith – Kent
August 29th 1861
My dear Henry
I only received your letter of the 26th this morng – & most sincerely do I wish you all joy of the birth of your little Grandson, & of dear Matilda <1> being so well. It must be a great relief to your minds to have the event so well over – & I suppose it took place without your knowing anything about it.
You know by this time (as I had Amandier’s <2> answer yesterday,) how dreadfully anxious we have now been for many days, about dear Ernest <3> – He is fearfully weak, & wakes up with very alarming attacks of faintness. He was certainly better yesterday morning – but it was a very trying day – & the consequence was that he had a very bad night, without any sleep. – He talked a great deal to all of us, trying to think of all he had to say, & to find out what he could do to please us. In the evg at 10 o’clock, a Clergyman much recommended to us, residing at the Victoria Docks, came & administered the Sacrament to him & several of us – & this fatigued & excited him a good deal. He was very unwell indeed all night till 9 o’clock this morning, since when he has been more tranquil – & we are trying to keep him as quiet as possible. Please thank Amandier for her kind letter, & tell her how very sorry I am to hear she is so unwell –
My love to Constance & the others –
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
When he was talking to us yesterday, & recollecting everyone, he sent you his love & kind messages, & wished he had seen more of you than he had done.Notes:
1. John Henry Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Jack’ (1861–1902), WHFT’s grandson and Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter. Ten years before this letter was written, Caroline and WHFT lost their sister, Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister, following child-birth.
2. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal ].
3. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.