Ab: Monday
My dear Henry
Pray accept the very cordial felicitations of the Ab: Chateau upon the arrival of your Son & heir & make us all happy by giving good report of Constance & her babe <1> & may she say as a young Mother in India wrote the other day “to be sure tis very nice to have a little Son” God bless all yr family and preserve them to you
I know not where your Mother <2> may be but pray give to her my hearty Congratulations on this auspicious event in your Abbey
Fanny S. <3> & Charlotte Neave desire to be affly remembered to Constance with every good wish for happy recovery
Ever dear Henry Yr Affec Granny
M. Ilchester
H F Talbot
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
Wilts
Notes:
1. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife, and their only son, born on 2 February, Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary.
2. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
3. Fanny Strangways, daughter of the Rev the Hon Charles Strangways, brother of the 2nd Earl of Ilchester.