Mount Edgcumbe <1>
Devonport.
15th April 1874
My dear Henry
I behaved very badly to you in not answering your letter written so long ago – but I think it is the first time the omission has been on my side; & we have been very busy moving about &c – so you must forgive me for this time. You asked me to tell you what I knew about the Nicholls <2> – I have not Harriot’s letter by me at this moment – but I remember she told me they would be very well off – & that £49000 was a large sum to be paid out of the estate – but then there are 8 children to provide for – of course not counting Johnnie nor Kate, <3> who is in a convent.
I remember the Daughters were to have more than the Sons – which I am glad of – as they have no means of maintaining themselves like their Brothers – & Lucy <4> is a terrible invalid.
We have been paying a visit lately at Tregothnan – a beautiful place up the river Fal – with miles of woods winding in & out of the creeks – & fine pleasuregrounds.
The Rhododendrons & Camellias are a sight to see – hundreds of them in the open air, covered with blossoms. Lady Falmouth <5> drove me to Carclew <6> one day. You know Sir Charles <7> left it to his Nephew, Col Tremayne – (brother of the new member) <8> – The house is exactly as it was, & looked very nice & well furnished – but he will be obliged to make some additions, having so many children.
The gardens there are very soignés <9> – & the hot houses. There is an excellent gardener. There is one splendid Tree Rhododendron, planted by Sir Charles – I should say 10 or 12 ft high at least – covered with scarlet flowers. – But I was most charmed with the garden at Lamorran Parsonage, near Tregothnan. The clergyman, Mr Townshend Boscawen, is Ld Falmouth’s <10> brother – & is a perfect fanatico per i’ fiori. <11> He is very poor & has 10 children – & does most of his gardening himself. He don’t [sic] care how untidy the place looks, provided the plants flourish – & they certainly do that – owing to good care & the mild climate, to an extraordinary degree. In a cold corner of the house, looking North, are 2 splendid Rhododendrons, one pink, the other white, covered with immense blossoms – the rest of the garden full of varieties of the same, a tall Chamærops Excelsa, ten ft high I shd say, & a magnificent Taxodium – & he has only had the living 20 years.
We are here for a few days with Val, <12> & have to make preparations fr London so are in all sorts of fusses – Love to all
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Notes:
1. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe.
2. The family of Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
3. John Cole Nicholl (b. 1823), eldest son of Jane Harriet Nicholl and his sister Katherine Maria Nicholl.
4. Lucy Mary Nicholl (1824-1876), of Merthyr Mawr.
5. Mary Francis Elizabeth Boscawen, née Stapleton, Baroness le Despenser, Lady Falmouth (1822–1891).
6. Carclew, Cornwall, 3 mi N of Penryn: seat of Sir Charles Lemon.
7. Possibly Sir Charles Lemon (1784–1868), politician & scientist; WHFT’s uncle.
8. Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Tremayne (1827–1905), politician and his brother John Tremayne (1825–1901), politician who sat for Cornwall from 1874 until defeated in 1880.
9. She means ‘well done‘, ‘carefully finished’.
10. Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth (1819–1889).
11. Fanatic for flowers.
12. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
13. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
14. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.