Parkside.
Jan: 21st 1874
My dear Mr Talbot,
I suppose you saw in the ‘Times’ <1> the death of my dear Mother <2> which took place at Clifton <3> last Monday week. She went off rather suddenly at last though peacefully & without any apparent pain, my sisters were with her to the last & they told me fell into a gentle sleep and so passed away. Of course although I had prepared myself for the news at any moment, still the shock was great, no one ever had a better mother, and through all my trials and difficulties and has shewn such sympathy as I had no right to expect.
My sisters are of course very much knocked up by their nursing her, having taken it in turns to sit up every night for the last six months: poor Lucy <4> is very poorly and will not be able to be moved from Clifton for some time. My mother was buried at Merthymawr <5> last Friday we had a wretched wet morning and the rain came down in torrents as we went from the house to the Church. Uncle Kit & Mr Fl Franklen <6> attended. Aunt Charlotte & Aunt Emma <7> are still at Bath as I suppose you know –
Yours Truly
Edward P. Nicholl
Notes:
1. See The Times (London), 16 January 1874, p. 1.
2. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
3. Clifton, Bristol, on the Avon Gorge.
4. Lucy Mary Nicholl (1824-1876), of Merthyr Mawr.
5. Merthyr Mawr, Glamorgan, on River Ogwr.
6. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin, and probably Richard Franklen, husband of Isabella Catherine Franklen, née Talbot (1804–1874).
7. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin, and Emma Thomasina Llewelyn, née Talbot (1806–1881), photographer; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.