Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Sunday Jany 15th 1865
My dear Henry
I was much shocked at seeing accidentally in the Plymouth paper, the very sad news of dear Uncle William’s <2> death. We had been sleeping at the Rl Hotel on Thursday, for the Ball patronized that night by Mrs Edgcumbe, <3> & it was only the next morning that we saw a paragraph mentioning the event. Another statement appeared the next day, by which it appears that it took place on Tuesday last at Melbury. <4>
I am so very very sorry for this sad loss to all the family – & I cannot help writing to condole with you – for I know you will feel it deeply. I am unhappy too that no one has written me a line – I did not even know he was ill – & the news was therefore very sudden – It is true I have been moving about – but other letters have followed me. I left Osborne <5> on the 5th & staid in London till that very Tuesday. I then went to see Lady Brownlow <6> at Torquay, & came to Plymouth – Where I met Ernestine <7> & the Edgcumbe family for this Ball. The next day I went to see them at Thanckes – but the weather was so exceedingly stormy, that they made us stay the night – which was a dreadful one – Such a gale, with rain & hail – it seemed as if the windows must be blown in. We drove over here the next day (yesterday,) 9 miles – the gale still went on, & the Post did not come in all day, as no boat could cross – I hoped however that today’s Post would have brought me a letter from some one of the family – but I have heard nothing.
Pray write & tell me anything you have heard – & how poor Ly Ilchester <8> is – & who was at Melbury with them at the time. Poor dear Melbury will never be the same again! Please thank Amandier <9> with my love for her letter & views of Edinburgh. also Rosamond <10> for her’s. Write here – in haste
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat.
3. Possibly the wife of George Edgcumbe.
4. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.
5. Osborne House, Isle of Wight. Purchased in 1845 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a retreat from court life.
6. Lady Brownlow, wife of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow.
7. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
8. Lady Sophia Penelope Jolliffe, née Sheffield (1822-1882); first m. WTHF Strangways, 21 July 1857; second m. 1st Baron Hylton.
9. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
10. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.