Broxbourne <1>
August 15th
My dear Henry
We have this morning had a letter from Mr England saying that you wish the remainder of the money remain retained from the purchase money of the Bredon estate<2> to be invested in the Funds. £112 inclusive of interest has been recd by us after deducting Mr White’s bill & expenses at [illegible] & we have paid at Hertford for papers drawn up there previous to the sale £7 & Mr Hayward’s expences £6.6s which leaves a balance of £98 – 14 which sum we wish to keep uninvested as we expect to be called upon by Mr Wall the purchaser to make a most unconvenient [sic] & vexatious journey into Worcestershire that I may surrender the property in person at a court of the Lord of the Manor – It is particularly inconvenient to me as I have been in very bad health for many months & am hardly equal to such a journey which will also be very expensive – Mr Thackeray <3> has unfortunately become answerable for a very considerable sum of money in consequence of the misconduct of a relation & we are compelled to adopt the plan of taking Pupils as the only resource. Should you be able to recommend us any young men I should consider myself much obliged we only wish for two at the salary of £250 a year each. Our house & situation are well adapted for such a plan & Mr Thackeray has all his life been devoted to literary pursuits.<4> We do not wish to receive any one till Xmas
Ever yrs truly
M A Thackeray
If we are obliged to go into Worcestershire Mr Thackeray will be obliged to pay a Clergyman to take his duty here during our absence & I shall certainly wish to prolong our stay for some weeks to visit my brother in that neighbourhood but it is not my wish to leave home at all at this time if we can avoid it –
Henry Fox Talbot Esqr M.P.
Sackville Street
London
Notes:
1. Broxbourne Vicarage, Waltham Cross, Herts.
2. Bredon, Worcestershire, the home of her grandfather, Rev William Davenport (1725-1781). Mary Ann had inherited from her aunt, Barbara Davenport (1754-1812), daughter of Rev Davenport, certain copyhold and freehold at Bredon.
3. Francis Thackeray (1793–1842), clergyman and author.
4. In his lifetime he was mostly known for his History of the Right Honorable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1827) but his Researches into the Ecclesiastical and Political State of Ancient Britain Under the Romans was published in 1843, shortly after his death.