Mount Edgcumbe ^<1>
Jan^y 23^rd 1865

My dear Henry

Theresa Digby ^<2> wrote to me also, but as her letter went first to Cotehele, ^<3> it was some days before it reached me. She told me that the funeral ^<4> was to take place last Thursday at Abbotsbury ^<5> - as he had expressed a particular wish to be laid by his Mother. ^<6> She also said that during his illness, he was as patient & gentle as usual.

The Executors are L^d Digby & Henry Frampton ^<7> - The latter was unfortunately laid up with the gout, & could not assist Lord Digby - M^rs John Strangways, ^<8> who is sole Guardian, came down to Minterne with her 2 children, to be at hand. L^y Ilchester ^<9> was alone at the time, but Theresa went to her directly, & staid till her own Sister, M^rs Hornby, arrived. L^y I. was very much exhausted with watching & nursing, & Theresa hoped she w^d soon leave Melbury ^<10> for a change.

What a terrible disaster you have had at Edinburgh.^<11> So many lives lost - & the theatre itself will be a great loss to your ladies. We have hard frost for some days - but today it is I believe thawing, with every appearance of another Gale coming on.

The Bougainvillea is in full bloom at the W. Villa. ^<12> More blossom, I am told, than it ever had before - & the Acacia with pale yellow tufts in bunches - It reaches to the roof - & has a large trunk, like a tree. The Palms are all luxuriant. Love to all -

Y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline

We go tomorrow to Pamflete for a few days,^<13> & Joybridge then return here.

[envelope:]
Henry Fox Talbot Es^re
13 Great Stewart Street
Edinburgh
N.B.

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Notes:

1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe

2. Theresa Anna Maria Digby, née Fox Strangways (1814-1874), WHFT's cousin.

3. Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.

4. The funeral of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways, 4^th Earl of Ilchester (1795-1865), botanist, art collector & diplomat. [See Doc. No: 08934].

5. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of WTHF Strangways.

6. Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby (d. 1842).

7. Edward St. Vincent Digby, 9^th Baron Digby (1809-1889), and Henry Frampton (1804-1879).

8. Amelia Strangways, née Marjoribanks (d. 1886).

9. William's widow, Lady Sophia Penelope Jolliffe, née Sheffield (1822-1882); first m. WTHFS, 21 July 1857; second m. 1^st Baron Hylton.

10. Melbury, Dorset: one of the Fox Strangways family homes; WHFT was born there.

11. On Friday the 13th, January 1865, the Theatre Royal at the head of Leith Walk was engulphed in a terrible conflagration, heavily damaging the adjacent St Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Six lives were lost, including that of George Larimer, Dean of Guild, who responded to his duty when he heard of the fire on his way home.

12. Winter Villa, near Plymouth: estate of the Earls of Mt Edgcumbe.

13. Pamflete, Devon, the home of John and Emily Buteil.