The Methodist Nathaniel Wathen in Stroud to his wife Maria born Beardmore in Islington 1805

 

No one writes like this now.

Nathaniel Wathen (1772-1856), a wealthy clothier from the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, writes to his wife Mary Beardmore (1779-1838) living in Islington. The couple married in 1804. Their families had close connections to leading Wesleyan Methodists:  Nathaniel Wathen’s parents knew John Wesley and are known to have invited him to dinner in 1782; Mary learnt to play the organ with Samuel Wesley, nephew of John Wesley, a noted composer and organist who has a Wikipedia page which records his rather scandalous life. Her father knew John Wesley. Whether she continued to played the organ after her marriage I do not know

The Wathen and Beardmore families have been exhaustively researched by Michael S Clark (Mike Clark) and I provide references to his work at the end. When Nathaniel Wathen writes of walking to the Mill it is most likely the Hope Mill at Brimscombe outside Stroud which, at this period, he managed with his brother. The numerous characters introduced in this letter are probably quite easy to research. 

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mrs Wathen   No. 5 Canonbury Place   Islington

Datelined: Stroud Wednesday 1 May 1805

No despatch postmark legible; London receiver marks of 2^nd May 1805

Docketing note: Received May 2^nd Answered May 4^th 1805

I sent my dearest Mary half a dozen lines yesterday in a parcel of Mr Partridge’s by Coach containing a letter from Elizth. which I hope you will have received. I was greatly disappointed & made rather anxious by the non receipt of your Letter on Sunday which thro’ the inattention of Jenner or his people, was overlooked when Charles called so that I did not have it till Monday when at breakfast. During that interval I felt firmly persuaded that there must be a letter & I was enabled to cast the burden of my anxiety on him who careth for us. I was made happy & thankful, however, to the giver of all mercies when I learn that you & the dear pledge of our love were going on well & that you bore our separation so tolerably being convinced that each was in the path of duty. Still however it seems that the wings of time appear to move rather more heavily than when I was with you, notwithstanding that you have so much to interest your affections & occupy your thoughts & attention, I feel a hope (may I not add a strong confidence) that our present separation may be rendered beneficial to our best interests by giving us subjects for reflection and thanksgiving – by causing our minds to meditate on the tender mercies & loving kindness  of our God that have been exercised towards us in so abundant a manner thro’ the vista of our past life, on those that we still so largely experience, and above all on those transcendent, sublime & perpetual enjoyments that lie before us and may with confidence be laid hold on by the arm of faith by us if we do truly & sincerely desire & endeavour by divine assistance to seek our happiness in God & thankfully to acknowledge the channel thro’ which all our blessings flow.

My conscience accuses me of indolence & sloth in the discharge of my duty towards God since we have been united, as well as for unmindfulness & want of thankfulness for the many favors that he has heaped upon us. As an instance of the former I cannot but consider the not having set out with family prayer in the morning which I henceforth hope we shall endeavour to exercise ourselves in as constantly as no foible, having begun it since Mr Williams has been with me, At this period of the day we are particularly called on to grateful acknowledgments in family as well as in private prayer when we call to mind the preservation of the night, the business that calls us into action in the ensuing day, & above all when we consider the wily foes that we have to contend with. Under such impressions we ought right humbly & gladly to bow our knees before the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ that we may plead for mercy as a family & obtain the grace we may need day by day, I do not doubt, my love, that you will coincide in these sentiments & feel a disposition to unite with me in the resolution by God’s grace to carry them into effect. The multiplicity of business that demands so large a portion of our time ought not, must not prevent us from spending a quarter of an hour in reding a short portion of scripture & in supplicating the Throne of Grace. I have always experienced the advantage of this morning exercise in my ride or walk to the Mill & during the remaining day. On Monday Mr Williams & I dined at Newhouse & yesterday he went to Mr Charles Wathen’s where he intends to stay ‘till Friday when he is to return here. I am much pleased with him & desire to be truly thankful to the great Head of the Church for having in the order of his Providence brought him hither. On Sunday, I had Mrs Lees & Miss Iles with our brother and sister. I spoke to the two former respecting Mrs Ford’s proposal, which seemed to be relished by Anne Iles, but respecting which she requested to be allowed time to consider. The Friday Lecture during the ensuing season is to be preached in the evening service beginning at ½ past six o’clock. I have invited the same party on Friday that dined here on Sunday in order to give them an opportunity of going to Church. Mr Williams the Preacher is now at Stroud to make a short visit to assist Mr Rhodes during Mr Woolmer’s absence: he supped with me last night & desired his best respects. He told me of the excellent effects that might be expected from the Methodist Sunday Schools which have been established in many place & exhorted me very much to exertion in that way at Stroud, The great peculiarity attached to these schools amongst the Methodists is that all the Teachers give their labours gratis instead of being paid for them: and you know that, in such case, more attention & care may very reasonably be expected as well as the exertion of pious endeavours to inform the judgment and to affect the hearts of children. It seems that a large school has been within six months been established at Dursley where Mr W generally resides. He does not yet give up the affair with Miss Cooke: it seems (at least I judge so from what he said) that it is to the mother that are to be ascribed the impediments & difficulties that have been raised [presumably to a marriage].  Mr & Mrs Scudamore the child & two servants go to Bristol for a fortnight or so next week & have taken lodgings in King Square: the latter is grown quite large & has been rather complaining of late. I go after exercise with the Corps this evening to Brimscombe [a short distance from Stroud] to make arrangements about raising the money to pay off the debt on the Chapel account. Mr Scudamore is to meet me. I called Sunday evening after having been at the Chapel on Mrs Willis & Mrs Holton who are both very poorly & not again likely, as I think, to regain strong health. Mrs Ellis is well. I indulge the hope that Dr Baillie’s prescriptions for our dear mother will be attended with the divine blessing & I trust that she will largely enjoy that peace of God that passeth all understanding. Give my tender love to her & be assured my dr. Mary of my unalterable affection NW [ Nathaniel Wathen, her husband] present me affectionately to your father & each of your circle & tell your uncle that I hope to send his cloth & … with the rugs in two or three days.

 

References

https://www.mikesclark.com/genealogy/mills.html

https://www.mikesclark.com/genealogy/wathen.html#nw

https://www.mikesclark.com/genealogy/beardmore.html

Wikipedia: Samuel Wesley (composer, born 1766)

 

 

 

Nathaniel Winter slave owner in London to Hugh McCalmont slave owner in Belfast 1820

 

When I first began this project I would have discarded any letter which began “Your favour of the 20^th Instant” shortly after followed by pound sterling signs. I did not intend to transcribe business letters or, worse, lawyers’ letters. But I have learnt that such letters often mix up business with political and personal news and that sometimes the business is itself interesting.

There is a lot of interest in this letter written by Nathaniel Winter (circa 1763-1824),  a London merchant born in Barbados and now operating as Nathaniel Winter & Co. He writes about the going prices of West India slave plantations in relation to which he has his own interests to think about. In the 1830s his widow Elizabeth (born Elizabth Pitcher), as Executor of his will, put in claims for loss of slaves on the Deutichem and Eliza & Mary estates in British Guiana, the former with 244 enslaved persons, the latter 518. His former business partners disputed her claim and the matter went to court. The monetary sums involved were large enough to justify that  and her two sons were entitled to shares of their father’s estate. At the 1820 date when this letter was written Nathaniel Winter was living in London’s Russell Square though his children were staying in the country. The weather in the winter of 1819-20 was notably cold and parts of the Thames froze though not enough to support a Frost Fair on the ice.

In the course of the letter he makes reference to the new and now rather neglected Colonial Slave Registration Act of 1819 Act owhich created a slave register held in London which supplemented the registers held in individual colonies. As a deterrent to evasion of the 1807 Act which criminalised the slave trade, the new Act required that the names of  people enslaved in the colonies now be registered in London s well as locally in the colonies; lists had to be regularly updated and the total number of enslaved persons could now only be increased by the addition of children born to existing enslaved people. Winter notes that a recent sale of an estate has been rendered void because the obligation to register names under the act had not been complied with.

Hugh McCalmont in Belfast, the letter’s recipient and addressed familiarly as “Dear McCalmont”, appears elsewhere on this site; type his name into the search bar or go to

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/10/hugh-and-robert-mccalmont-merchants-and.html

The Spencer McKay referred to as losing £4000 was a significant plantation owner in British Guiana and received compensation in the 1830s for 656 enslaved persons. The UCL Legacies of Slavery database offers a basic biography. The Charles McGarel has a very long biography there – see References at the end for both of them. Dr Duncan I cannot pin down.

The sums of money mentioned here are very large: £40 000, for example,  converts to about £3 500 000 using the Bank of England inflation calculator.

 

Transcription

Addressed to: Hugh McCalmont Esqr   Belfast

Datelined: London January 25^th 1820

Postmarked in London JA 25 1820, manuscript charge markings which suggest that a delivery charge of 1/4 [one shilling and four pence] was corrected to 1/7.

No docketing note.

Dear McCalmont

Your favour of the 20^th Inst, to the House [his merchant house], has been rec’d with its inclosure; namely your draft on Messrs Ross & Co. at 90 ds. [days] sight for £800 which is passed to your Credit.

I also rec’d your kind Letter in course and very much regret to find you had been inconvenienced by your continuing your Linen Speculation so far; however I am glad to find it  will be attended with inconvenience only, - and not loss: - the distress and inconvenience in every branch of Commercial pursuit is infinitely greater than I ever knew it: about two years ago it was said that distress was every where, except with the West India Interest  [those dealing in the produce of Caribbean plantations using slave labour] – but the Wheel has gone round and we come in like the others for our share; - the Sugar Market is in a most deplorable state; - & the Remittances (when they do come), make no impression on the heavy advances for Sugar Estates: Cotton you know more about than I do – Coffee to be sure is a good price; - and it appears that the Stock of that article 31^st Decr. last is much less by a great deal than any previous year for some time: - we have about 100 [Puncheons?] Weight from our Estates: on board the [ship] Ann Captn Munro, which vessel is wrecked in the Bay of Galway by the unskilfulness ‘tis said of the Galway Pilot or rather a Pilot taken from Arran, an Island in the Bay: we are insured to a certain extent: - but the shipment was greater than we expected, & the still non-arrival of the packet [boat] (due 3d Inst [ 3^rd of January]) prevented our increasing the Insurance: - a person went over on Thursday night to see after it, get it dried, and reshipped to London, how it may turn out I know not: - but if it had safely arrived it wd. have fetched £7 …[unclear weight measure]: - - we have no later Answr. from Berbice than the end of Octr: - there are many vessels from Demerary [later British Guiana] expected: - and as the frost is now gone, I hope they will soon arrive – we have had a most severe Winter, the Cold has been extreme, and has pinched Mrs W. [his wife] very much, my son Charles has suffered a little; but the rest of the Family thank God – is very well; our Country Cottage has been serviceable, and we have not yet removed our Nursery to Town; - altho’ we have ourselves for some time past [ that’s to say, the children have been left in the country cottage].

The action bought in the name of the Assignees against Mr K. McKenzie for one Guarantee of Eight Thousand Pounds terminated against him: whether the Verdict will be appealed against, a few days will determine, as the [Law] Term has now commenced and four days are given for that purpose this has been altogether the most unfortunate Business I ever knew. Vigers & Co are Debtors for £85 000 and what is got from Mr K. McKenzie is I understand all that is likely to be received.

I fancy the value of Demerary estates is falling– there was a Cotton Estate called the Triumph: sold tother Day at the Auction Mart with 180 odd Negroes for £21 000 bought by Spencer Mackay, but I understand there’s some difficulty about [ letter torn here, most likely word is it] for by the Act of Parliament passed last year: - unless the Negroes are registered in London in a new office established for that purpose: that any Sale made – is void this has not been done & of course the Sale is void. – and yet Mackay cannot get back his £4000 paid as Deposit. – I understand Doctr Duncan – and Charles McGarel &c here have [bought?] an Estate for £42 000 which C McG had in Demerary offerd £53 [thousand] for [that is to say, they got it cheaper than they had previously offered]. I must now conclude with best wishes to Mrs McCalmont, yourself & young folks. Ever  Dear McCalmont

Yours truly   N Winter  

 

References

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/6914 for Charles McGarel

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146634514 for Nathaniel Winter

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8983 for Spencer Mackay

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8582 for Hugh McCalmont

 

Elementary Education in North Walsham Norfolk 1814

 

Until the Elementary Education Act of 1870 schools in England and Wales were controlled by charities, religious organisations mostly connected to the Church of England, and private individuals running schools as a business. The Act did not make schooling compulsory (that did not happen until 1880) but committed the state to the building of government-funded “Board” schools managed by locally-elected School Boards to which women were eligible for election. Existing schools were not merged into the new system but could qualify for government-funding for half their running costs. As a result, the voluntary sector actually expanded significantly after the Act was passed  and the dominant Anglican "National Society" added about 6000 schools to its portfolio between 1870 and 1885; in 2026 such schools constitute a significant part of a supposedly “state” system, the schools now receiving most of their funding from the state but retaining semi-independent status as “voluntary aided” or “voluntary controlled”; most are Church of England or Roman Catholic denominational schools with a scattering of other denominations and religions, now including Islam and Judaism. In many parts of England and Wales, and especially at primary level, parents will find themselves without a local non-denominational school despite the collapse of organised Christianity. As of 2026, no Westminster government has shown any interest in changing this anomalous situation.

The pioneers of elementary education for the lower orders or working classes in England and Wales were two Anglican societies: the British and Foreign School Society (founded 1808) and what became the dominant National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church (founded 1811). Both societies adopted what are called monitorial systems of instruction which employed proficient pupils as instructors. The British and Foreign used what came to be known as the Lancastrian system (after its originator Joseph Lancaster) and the National Society used the Bell system, named for Dr Alexander Bell. Both methods kept down costs but eventually gave way to ones dominated by more costly trained adult teachers.

The early schools were often called “Sunday Schools” but as this letter indicates did not necessarily meet on Sundays, making it possible for the Boy Wilson to instruct in several schools in the course of a week. And some schools met several times in the week depending on the supply of teachers and the demands of parents who usually had to pay something, however nominal.

The history of the National Society’s school in North Walsham has been documented; I quote from the online North Walsham Guide:

“A 'National' Sunday School had been set up in North Walsham by 1813……The school was held in a large room in the workhouse superintended by a Mr. Hay. There were 150 pupils on the register made up of 67 boys and 83 girls. By 1815 the school also met one day during the week but the number attending was now only 89-51 boys and 38 girls. The school was described as extensive by 1818 and was meeting two days in the week to teach the girls needlework, in addition to Sundays. The Vicar, the Rev. W. F. Wilkinson felt that the poor of North Walsham were not ' without means of education'. By 1827 the school was meeting in the parish church and in addition to the Sunday school sewing was taught on three half days each week. There were two teachers, William Moyes and Susanna Pope to manage 33 boys and 45 girls. The youngest children at the school were five years old and the eldest 12 and 14 years of age”.

I cannot discover how old or how well-schooled was Wilson, “the Boy” who is being despatched to North Walsham but it is clear that he is not being appointed in any regular manner or has much choice in the matter. He is in the hands of the Reverend Dr Charles Sutton (1756-1846), who as well as being a long-serving Norwich vicar held an administrative post in Norwich Cathedral and this letter is directed to him at the Cathedral’s Close – the Close being the group of administrative and residential buildings which always surround a Cathedral. 

The Mr Spurdens who is giving up one secretarial post is probably the Rev. William Tylney Spurdens, headmaster of Paston Grammar School in North Walsham from 1807 to 1825, and if not him then a relative of his.

Following the Education Act of 1870, North Walsham acquired a purpose-built Board School in 1874 able to accommodate 500 boys and girls aged 5 to 13 and charging a  penny per week.

Transcription

Addressed to: The Revd. Dr Sutton   The Close    Norwich

Datelined: North Walsham     January 3d 1814

Postmarked NORTH WALSHAM and endorsed Post Paid, 4d.

Docketing note: North Walsham

Dear Sir

Mr Hepworth at my request had the goodness to enquire at what time, a Boy qualified and accustomed to train schools on Dr. Bell’s system would be at liberty to come to North Walsham. He has informed me that Wilson, the Boy who has been at Harleston is returned and can now be spared to come here. I would therefore request that you would allow him to be sent next Wednesday & should recommend his coming by Moneyment N Walsham Carrier from the Pope’s Head, in the Upper Market. He has a good covered caravan, leaves Norwich, I think about three o’clock and arrives at N.Walsham, usually about ten O Clock. Moneyment will inform him where He is to board, or if Wilson would call at my House, as soon as He arrives on Wednesday, He shall receive proper directions. Mr Spurden has already corresponded with you upon this subject, & from him you would hear that there are other schools in this neighbourhood, which are desirous to avail themselves of Wilson’s assistance. It was at first intended that the Boy sent should instruct this Sunday School and one or two other in the neighbourhood in the course of each week but it now seems preferable that He should continue here to train the Boys & Girls Schools at North Walsham for a fortnight or three weeks as may be found necessary (a sufficient number of children with the Master & Mistress having engaged to attend every day) and after this school is enough instructed that the Boy should proceed to others, in the Dean’y [Deanery?] which may require his aid. As Mr Hepworth made use of my name in his application to you, I trouble you upon the subject myself, otherwise I should have begg’d Mr Spurdens as Secretary to have written to you on the business.

I am, Dear Sir, with much respect, Your faithful Humble Servt.  T. [or J.] Hay

PS. As you are already probably informed, Mr Spurdens (retaining the situation of Secretary to our District Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) has desired to resign the Secretaryship to the School Committee here, but Mr Gur….  [seal broken here; likely name would be Gurney] has kindly offered his assistance to supply his place. Till our next Committee Meeting Mr Spurdens handsomely promised however to continue to be our Secretary. The next meeting is appointed for the 25^th of his month.

 

References

https://www.northwalshamguide.co.uk/chapter-11-education-in-north-walsham

Wikipedia: Monitorial System

Wikipedia: National school (England and Wales)

Wikipedia: Elementary Education Act 1870

 

Politics, Religion and Money Making all in one 1811 Glasgow letter to the Principal of St Andrews James Playfair

 

 

The recipient of this 1811 letter has a brief Wikipedia page which confirms his identity as Principal of the United Colleges of St Andrews – now the University – between 1800 and his death in 1819. The first half of the letter is written by his son-in-law Patrick Playfair (1765-1836), prominent in Glasgow’s West India trade, importing sugar and other commodities; he had a particular connection to Antigua and he or his son claimed unsuccessfully in the 1830s for compensation as a creditor of Antigua’s Drew’s Hill estate which housed 144 enslaved persons.

The recipient may not have been entirely comfortable with his son in law’s robust approach to life, evident in this letter, and the docketing note is very dry, “Mr Playfair May 1811”. But the Principal’s elder daughter, Jean, was married to this Patrick Playfair and she writes the second half of this four-side letter. Both writers are currently excited by the activities of Jean’s brother, William (ca. 1782-1851), the second son of the Principal.  He achieved the rank of Colonel with the East India Company and is currently in Mauritius, then known as the Isle de France, and which the British had captured from the French in 1810. About this period of his life the internet appears to be silent; about Jean Playfair’s life it is simply silent. The Lord Minto who figures as a godfather figure was Governor General of India from 1807 to 1813.

Disputes in the Church of Scotland were endemic and related both to more obviously theological questions and more substantively to church organisation and government with a strong party in favour of complete independence from the state and from patronage analogous to that which was central (in the form of “advowsons”)  to the organisation of the Church of England. These disputes eventually led to a major split in 1843 which created the Free Church of Scotland which itself split in 1900. Whatever the disputes of 1810-11 referred to in this letter were, they do not seem to have been as critical as the first part of the letter paints them.

*

Addressed to: The Revd. Principal Playfair    St. Andrews

Datelined: Dalmarnock May 7^th 1811

Postmarked GLASGOW  8 MAY  1811 and receiver mark of MY 9 1811

Docketing note: Mr Playfair May 1811

My Dear Sir

The contents of your letter to Mrs Caw & your two last letters to me, you may believe afforded much rejoicing at Dalmarnock & Brunswick Street. The complete victory obtained at the Synod over your malignant & insatiable foe was received with the most heartfelt satisfaction & I think it will be followed by a decision as gratifying at the General Assembly. Such fierce persecution is perhaps without precedent, for, it should seem, every irregular & unlawful artifice which could be thought of by your adversary has been resorted to in order to effect his diabolical purposes. Your cause however is good & I think the high Ecclesiastic Court will rid you of the grasp of the foul enemy & clothe him & his party with confusion.

The joyful accounts from the Isle of France are delightful beyond all measure. William’s success can be compared with none other I recollect than a Mr Brown’s who from being the master of a ship from London in the Antigua trade & with whom I had the honour twice as passenger is now at the receipt of £100.000 annually from Government. This Gentleman with his wife & friends paid us a visit last autumn in a coach & four [horses] & petrified me with his success. From the Duke of Portland he lately purchased an Estate of £200.000 he has another in Essex & one in Antigua besides a seat near London! If Wm [William] go on paying £300.00 a month for some years his commission for transacting the business must be very moderate indeed if he do not accumulate equal at least to the purchase of all Fyfeshire. It is therefore high time for those who wish for land in that quarter should supply themselves immediately or [should be before?] such wealth can reach us to raise the price. But to be serious, Wms. luck has certainly been wonderful at last he is placed in the situation which of all others, from his former pursuits, he is best qualified to fill with  advantage, & if he discharges his important trust to the satisfaction of those to whom he is amenable, whether he holds his office for long or for only a short period, it will in my mind lead to the making of his fortune for since he has attracted the attention of Lord Minto to such a degree he will be provided for in some other way should the Ile be given up to Government. It is somewhat remarkable while his Lordship has been induced without solicitation to render such services to one of our connexions in the East his brother Governor Elliot of the Leeward Islands [Governor from 1809-14 and an opponent of the slave trade, banned in 1807] has shown his good wishes to my establishment in the West. On his arrival at the seat of Government Antigua about 8 or 9 mo’s [months] ago he it should seem appointed our firm there his agents so that the whole of his money & other transactions connected with it centres in us & this Mr Crichton wrote me was quite unsolicited on his part.

What dreadful times we have had here in commercial matters, that blackguard Bona: [Napoleon Bonaparte] will ruin us by his system of exclusion from the continent, unless a spark of resistance be kindled soon in the North. Something like dissatisfaction if report says true manifests itsefl there at present but I fear it will as usual end in smoke. If they do come to blows I wish a Wellington or a Graham [General Sir Thomas Graham, a Scotsman] were opposed to the Monsieurs – we might then hope. As you are soon to be within 6 hours ride of us might not you come & see  us, if it were but for a day. James Roger [The Reverend James Roger (1767–1849), a prominent figure] would perhaps accompany you. I was much gratified to learn that all along he has taken deep interest in your cause & he has risen in my esteem in consequence for although in some instances he may have defeated his own purposes by a little impudence yet his warm interference has been well meant & of course has been well taken by you. I have procured a [illegible]: of good rum for you  & your associates lying at Greenock in the King’s ware house neat[?] as imported & have order’d it to be sent to Leith whence it can be ship’d for ….[illegible] but I must conclude yours aff Pat Playfair [Patrick Playfair]

Third page of the letter in a different hand:

Dalmarnock 7^th May 1811

My Dear Father

Your letter to Mr Playfair last week gave us all extremely great pleasure, & amazement to hear of William’s wonderful fortune, what a reverse! In a moment to be raised to such honour & preferment. I cannot get over it even now. Many thanks to you for taking the trouble to transcribe his history of this astonishing piece of good luck, to us & sincerely do I congratulate you & my Mother upon it, may both your lives be spared for many years that you may embrace all your [letter torn] distant sons who are such an honour to you … [letter torn] when parents have comfort in their children, as you have, it makes other trials in life appear lighter, than otherwise would be the case. I was very sorry to find you had been labouring under a bad cold, when you wrote, I hope it has left you before now, these East winds are much against these complaints, & will prevent you taking necessary exercise for your health. I am quite vexed to hear that you have determined to go by sea to London, & alone, indeed Father you must really give over this intention the sickness it brings on you is more than you can bear, immediately before taking so much fatigue in Lond’n as you are obliged to do, will you then be prevailed upon to go by land? You agree much better with it & the diference of expense is not worth mentioning now that Willm. is a paymaster General! he will send home soon I hope, as much money as pay your Ticket at least so do not I entreat you put your precious foot into a ship. I again repeat I shall be quite miserable if you do so. It would be a great comfort to yourself & a wonderful one to us, if you would take Jessie [ youngest daughter?] to be company to you. I’m sure you would not repent so doing but your own inclinations must determine that point.

I had a long letter from William two days ago viz. Saturday which is a repeatition of the substance of yours, this is dated 14^th Feby & he mentions having written St Andrews on the 11^th by the same ship he does not mention his pay – but says it is very handsome & that we need not be afraid of him not acting with the strictest integrity, as it is as possible to make gold out of stones as to make more money than his monthly pay, in his situation, he says he has a good allowance, because he must be responsible for all deficiencies in his accounts – he mentions he has paid in one month £300.000 has employment for 5 or 6  clerks – he has no time to make acquaintance with the inhabitants, as he has not a moment to himself day or night, his accts. are kept up to a day – accurate to a penny hitherto. The inhabitants, very illiterate, the first mate cannot write a common note the ladies are beautiful & engaging, about 15000 in Port Louis (I mean inhabitants). What do we not owe the generous Ld. Minto? I beg my love to my Mother & Jessie. I ever am your most affectte Daughtr Jean Playfair.

Mary Bertram is quite well, & is to write home by Jean Trail, she is continuing to give great satisfaction in her Pupils.

References

Wikipedia: James Playfair (minister)

“Your Sincere Unknown Admirer” to John Head of Tavern Street Ipswich 1822

 

The genre of Anonymous Letters comprises two sub-genres: those whose writers do not wish to be identified and those who do. This letter falls into the latter class, written perhaps by a customer if John Head is a Tavern Street shop-keeper or perhaps by someone who moves in the same religious or social circle. The surname “Head” was common in Ipswich at this period and some Heads were Quakers. If I could home in on the right John Head – I can’t – it would be possible to discover whether he married and, if so, who.

The writer values constancy, identified as a female virtue, and is attracted to someone who she judges inconstant, identified as a male failing. I doubt this is a unique case. The poetry is her own but there are strong hints of borrowing: “may calm the troubled breast” hints at a line in John Newton’s 1779 hymn How Sweet the name of Jesus Sounds. Google is not quite sure whether to attribute the contrast between “The applause of Angels” and “the gaze of fools” to William Blake or John Constable or accept it as an unauthored trope. “beauties, formed in virtues rules” suggests an educated acquaintance with either classical or 18^th century philosophical thinking, or both.

The ink of the letter is very faded and a crease prevented transcription of one or two words. The letter ends with a pleasantly light-hearted reference to the fact that John Head will have to pay one penny postage to be handed the locally-posted letter.

 

Transcription

Addressed: To Mr John Head    Tavern Street   Ipswich

Datelined: March 23 1822

Postmarked straight line undated IPSWICH and manuscript “1” (One Penny postage to be paid on receipt, as noted at the end of the letter).

 My Dear John Head

With pleasure the most sublime I sit down to pen this short Epsitle to you to express the great Partiality I have so long entertained for you, therefore I express the following lines

Have you a pasion firm and true,

Avowed for me that loveth you,

Neir for me inconstant like your sex,

Nor Boast you have the power to nex [variant of to nix],

At Hymens shrine your vows renew,

Haste, and may happiness ensue.

But I fear John Head your mind is too much disipated to confine yourself to one Woman alone, there is nothing more Respectable than Stability of mind, those who are continually betraying new signs of the inconstancy of there Dispositions, can be esteemed by no one, and though every things in nature is subject to change, (the mind of Man more frequently than anything else) yet it is possible to possess a fidelity unshaken by time or circumstances, and pleasure has no charms, when it madly overleaps the bounds of discretion, there cannot be a greater reproach upon our understanding than an immoderate love of  frivolous and idel amusements, for when the attention is chiefly occupied in the thoughts of pleasure, but little progress can be made in any other useful improvement, well may the Poet say

Let idle flatteries miserably say

In dress and trifles, waste there useless day;

Seek then for beauties, formed in virtues rules,

The applause of Angles [sic], not the gaze of fools

 

believe me John Head I have the greatest respect for you and hope that my sentiments will not fail in giving you some little pleasure, the gentility of your Person and the Affability of your maners has inspired a pasion of the warmest, yet purest kind. Oh! John Head what would I give to gain your Affections, think what a pleasure I should have in your society, what a pride in your confidence, our sex when truly attached, have unhappily for themselves, a propensity to be constant, and rarely, if well treated seek abroad for forbidden pleasures ethe blindness of love can convert faults into beauties, men, indeed talk of tenderness but it is Woman only that feel it, Oh! John Head sole Name that makes Language Enchanting

Musick’s soft powers, may calm the troubled breast,

And soothe distraction into peaceful rest,

Reason a cure for lighter ills may prove,

But cannot ease the Heart that’ sick with love,

Love poisons deep, it sinks in to the Heart;

Since only you, who did the infection give,

The pleasing, painful evil can relieve;

Exert your power, and kindly ease my pain,

Better …. comfort to your love sick swain.

Allow me to subscribe myself

Your Sincere Unknown Admirer

~ ~  ~  ~

John Head that loves to read,

Will find amusement here,

One penny is the cost

You cannot think it dear

~ ~ ~ ~

Sir Henry Bayly in London writes to his son the adventurer Hugh Forbes currently in Siena 1845

 

Wikipedia entries for prominent figures of the past often rely on old sources which were coy about personal lives. The Wikipedia page for  “Henry Bayly (British Army Officer, born 1769)” summarises his military career and appointments (Aide de Camp to the Prince Regent 1811; Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey 1816) and notes that a cousin was First Marquess of Anglesey; but it does not mention his better-known son, Hugh Forbes, who has his own short Wikipedia page as “Hugh Forbes (soldier)” which is also coy but does footnote a 2022 full-length biography by Virgilio Ilari and Viviana Castelli, Vita e tempi del colonnello Forbes (1808–1892): un inglese italianissimo tra Risorgimento e guerra civile americana [Life and times of Colonel Forbes (1808–1892): A very Italian Englishman, between the Risorgimento and the American Civil War]. A second biography by the American historian David T. Dixon is due for publication in 2027 with the title Rebel, Criminal, Patriot, Scapegoat.

Hugh Forbes, born in 1808, is not mentioned on Sir Henry’s page because his father never married and Hugh was a natural son – in the language of the period, a bastard or illegitimate child. But this 1845 letter to Forbes from his father indicates their continuing relation. It has been dictated and only the signature is in Henry Bayly’s very shaky hand – he died eleven months later in April 1846, aged 77, and thus never knew of his son’s active military involvement in the Italian Risorgimento. Elsewhere on this site I have published a letter from Hugh Forbes to his own son Archibald written in 1862 which makes reference to several of his later activities:

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/an-1862-letter-from-garibaldino.html

The letter shows that Henry Bayly is informed of  his son’s current business involvements in Italy. In February 1845 Forbes had acquired rights from Francesco Senesi to undertake escavazione dei minerali (mineral extraction) from land he owned at Montagnola Senese and known to be suitable for quarrying Siena’s yellow marble (Giallo di Siena). The reference to iron in the letter must relate to another project, of which I have no details. The reference to “Cox” leads to the bankers of the British Army, Cox and Co, who paid out army pensions and made loans to its military clients. Henry Bayly’s request for the ages of Forbes’s sons, Archibald and Hugh, is no doubt in relation to Bayly’s intention to provide for them in his will – which he did and also made provision for their father.  Forbes had other children born in Italy to a second partner and who do not figure in this part of the story.

Addressed to: Hugh Forbes Esq   Via della Volpe No 1309   Siena   Toscana   Italy

Datelined:23 Albermarle St [ London]    May 10th 1845

Despatch postmark of Chancery Lane [London], transit mark of Boulogne, transit mark of FIRENZE 19 MAG 1845 and arrival mark of SIENA 21 MAG 1845

 [No salutation]

After I had sent a answer yesterday to your letter of the 25^th Ult I received your’s of the 29^th by which I judge that you have perceived great difficulties in carrying through your plan respecting the Iron Mine, indeed, it appears to me that the further you go the more you will be puzzled to get through such a Work without materially involving yourself in pecuniary responsibility, and Italian confinement for debt would not be a very pleasant result.

Your undertaking however to try this Speculation has proceeded from industrious and honest motives and is therefore laudable and though I fear you will be disappointed in your expectations of forming a company to carry the work through without risk to yourself I shall be very sorry should you fail in your hopes. You shall know by the Post next Tuesday further about Mr Bolland [ possibly Bollard but either way not traced].

I believe that the value of Iron is increasing every where on account of the quantity required for Rail Roads.

As regards yellow marble the English market is overloaded and it sells at a very low price that is at least 75 per cent lower than the Carrarra Marble.

Wishing you every success I remain &c &c

H. Bayly

P.S. By Tuesday’s Post you will also hear from Craigs Court

What are the respective ages of your two children? 

Acknowledgments

Viviana Castelli and David Dixon filled in blanks to enable me to write-up this letter.

References

Wikipedia: Henry Bayly (British Army officer, born 1769)

Wikipedia: Hugh Forbes (soldier)

Bankruptcies in South Carolina 1812

 

The Napoleonic Wars in Europe had a global impact. In the Atlantic, Royal Navy ships seized American merchant ships bound for France and French forces likewise seized American ships headed to Britain. Privateers joined in the fun, The United States sought to demonstrate its neutrality with an 1807 Embargo Act which basically forbade the shipment of any goods to the European powers; an 1809 act (the Non-Intercourse Act) removed the embargo except on shipping destined to France or Great Britain. As the letter transcribed below indicates, both Acts were ignored when possible (as it often was) but they were nonetheless disruptive of commerce. At the end of the year 1812 in which this letter was written Great Britain brought matters to a head by declaring war on the United States, creating an armed conflict which lasted for three years.

As the letter illustrates, Great Britain in this period imported goods, notably cotton and tobacco, produced on slave plantations not only in its own Caribbean colonies but also in the USA; the transactions recorded in this letter are for very large sums: £3000 in 1812 equates to about £190 000 today.  “Nisbet” would have been one of a family of merchants of Scottish origin; some of their business papers are held by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “Hindley and Gregorie” was a prominent firm of cotton brokers which supplied raw cotton to British textile manufacturers. George Mitchell was (Chief) Cashier of the Royal Bank of Scotland from 1808 to 1816.

I cannot find anything which clearly relates to the George Keith who wrote this letter.

Addressed to: George Mitchell Esqr Cashier of the Royal Bank of Scotland Edinburgh

Datelined: Charleston S. Carolina 13^th Janry 1812

Postmarked on arrival with an illegible oval Ship Letter mark in black and illegible date mark in red

Docketing note: Geo Keith 13 Janry 1812 Rec’d 20^th Febry 1812

Sir

I beg leave to refer you to my Letters inclosing A Forbes bill on Nisbet for £1056 & my other Inclosing Hindley & Gregories for £3000, and now advise you that since receiving the last they have likways failed in this place, and beg you that if there bill be not Accepted, that the Cotton here is shipped to order in Liverpool & the proceeds to be paid to you, I do hereby authorise you in Case it does not amount to as much to pay the Whole £3000 pounds you are at full liberty to receive what may be paid over to you on Acct [Account] and in all and every Case you may allow time in Case of any of my Bills sent to your Care and protection to do the best you can for me as there is no probability of any things to be recovered here as every Merchant in this place almost without exception  is in a State of Bankruptcy, you will particularly Oblige me by  giving the earliest information of there fate – you will please to allow Nisbet time if wanted and at any rate receive whatever he can pay. I am tottally sick of Bills & shall send no more for the present.

I remain respectfully

Sir your Obt. & Humble Servt.    Geo Keith

 

George Mitchell Esqr.

 

References

https://rylandscollections.com/2023/09/18/mcconnel-and-kennedy/

Wikipedia: Embargo Act of 1807