1850 Hazards of daily life in County Offaly Ireland: Daniel Egan in Shinrone writes to George Gresson in Dublin

 

 

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I have no doubt that the recipient of this letter, George Gresson (1802-76), understood it at first glance because he could predict the text; I can’t predict and so struggle in places.

Gresson was a successful Dublin-based solicitor, land agent, and land owner in the Irish counties of Cavan and Tyrone. The obvious measure of his success remains in the shape of Glencairn House which he had built in 1860 with architectural plans provided by the architect Benjamin Woodward (1815-1861). Woodward began his career on Upper Merrion Street in Dublin but is now better known for Gothic-style buildings in Oxford: the Museum of Natural History and the Oxford Union. As for Glencairn House, it has for decades now been the official residence of the British Ambassador to Ireland. So quite a house built less than a decade after the end of the Great Famine.

I read that Gresson was responsible for evictions during the Famine, the long dates of which are usually given as 1845-52 with 1847 reckoned the worst year. A Google extract gives me “George Gresson, a magistrate and agent to numerous estates in King's County [Offaly], evicted over fifty families during the Famine years, in some cases physically…” but I cannot complete the quotation from open access sources; I have provied a link below.

The writer of this letter, Daniel Egan, belonged to a line of tenant farmer Egans living in and around Shinrone in County Offaly, now a small village but more populous in the past – in 1850 it was a post town as indicated by the postmark on this letter. Egan datelines his letter from Coolblow just outside Shinrone though the modern spelling is Coldblow which may well be true of the place. Egan is asking Gresson to acknowledge that he had given him permission to cut some turfs and that therefore Egan is not guilty of the theft for which he has now been convicted. It’s as simple as that though I cannot provide information about the outcome.

Transcription

Addressed: To Mr George gresson esq    no 30 upper merrin street   Dublin

Datelined: Coolblow May 29 1850

Endorsed Late for 30^th [that is, too late for the post that day], postmarked SHINRONE MY 31 1850, Dublin arrival mark JU 1 1850. Docketing note: 29^th May 1850 Danl. Egan

Sir   I hope that you will cawl to mind the Day that we were sowing the Barley that I asked the the plase [?] of two plane[?] of turf and you told me that you would not grudge me to getil [archaic, getting] it I then went to cut it and Mearea [ AI says: The spelling "Mearea" is an occasional, archaic variant of the traditional Irish surname Meara (or O'Meara). It is deeply rooted in County Tipperary (Shinrone is near the border with Tipperary - TP) originating from the medieval Gaelic clan Ó Meadhra] summond me and fiend me for it and the Court refered the case to you now I hope that your honor will free me as I must go to gaol too pay it

I remain Sir your verry humble Servent   Dan Egan

 

References

https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/items/841c5752-01dc-4e57-9467-6b6155c34cd8

Wikipedia: Great Famine (Ireland)

Wikipedia: Benjamin Woodward

Wikipedia: Glencairn House

Wikipedia: Shinrone

An 1841 letter from the Chartist and Radical Richard Carlile (1790-1843)

 

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Unusually, this letter from the historically important London-based radical Richard Carlile (1790-1843) is enclosed within an outer folded wrapper, thus using two sheets of paper rather than one. Posted in 1841 when pre-payment of letters was the new norm, superseding the time-consuming system in which postage was paid by the recipient, it could have been franked with a postage stamp. In that case it is more than likely that a dealer or collector would have torn off the stamp and discarded the wrapper (and probably the letter too). Fortunately for me, who wants to know the identity of the recipient, pre-payment was indicated by the uncommon handstamp Enfield Highway 1^D PAID. There are collectors of such markings and at some point this wrapper – with the letter still inside and probably unread – was in a dealer’s box. A price of 12-   is pencilled bottom right. Dealers think nothing of writing on supposed collectible items often at length and occasionally in ink.

In his twenties, Carlile became a prolific writer and printer & publisher of radical (Chartist) and anti-religious materials which British governments in the high period of post-Napoleonic Wars reaction sought to repress, charging him with blasphemy, libel, seditious libel, and anything else they could think of. He was first imprisoned in 1817 (four months) and again in 1819 (three years but extended to five for refusal to pay a fine of £1500), after he had published his eye-witness account of the Peterloo Massacre. He was imprisoned again in 1831. Exactly two hundred years ago in 1826 he published Every Woman’s Book which argued for the sexual emancipation of women and the use of birth control. It might be regarded as a precursor of Our Bodies Ourselves (1973).

The “Darke” who is mentioned was Edward Darke, a printer-publisher-bookseller whose name is linked to those of Alice Mann and James Mann who were based in Leeds and published radical and Chartist materials, including ones written by Carlile. I provide a Reference at the end. The addressee of the letter, W. Kemp, is more elusive as is Mrs Castillo, who is presumably his landlady. As of today, I cannot find any source which leads to either of them.

Transcription

Addressed to: Mr W Kemp at Mrs Castillo’s   Lambeth Green   Lambeth

Datelined: Enfield Highway July 13 – 1841

Endorsed with Mss Paid and   Enfield Highway 1^D PAID and two London transit marks in red dated JY 13. Illegible endorsement in a different hand.

My Dear Sir,

I don’t know if you have been informed that on the last Sunday in March after one of my lecturing exertions and return home here at midnight, I had a severe paralytic stroke on the left side, crippling me both in voice and body. I have made several attempts to lecture since; but when the cold days of June came I was obliged to give it up from defect of voice, or stuttering.

I have at present no call into town this week; but if you can spare a day to come down here, giving me notice that I may be in the way, I shall be glad to see you. Gwier’s [?] Omnibus that leaves the Marlborough Head, Bishopsgate Street, at half past ten, in the morning, changes horses at my gate by 12, and returns at 4. The fare is 1/6 [one shilling and six pence].

I duly received the parcel of books for which I thank you. It was the last Sunday I lectured. There were ten Abstract of Lectures; for which Darke  claimed change; but did not say what: nor did he mention if any of the others had been sold during their stay with him.

I was talking to my eldest son on Sunday about serving him [ with a writ?]  but he is reported in London as a troublesome customer. I found him pleasant enough to do business with. I am ten miles from the Marlborough Head.

Very respectfully yours   Richard Carlile

P.S. Thank you for the account of the Norwich Election. I formed no very high estimate of Dover. [See the link in my references for an online biography of the very colourful figure of John Dover, a Norwich Chartist subsequently transported to van Diemen’s Land]

The omnibus leaves half an hour earlier on Sunday and he fare is 2/-

 

References

Wikipedia: Richard Carlile

https://www.chartistancestors.co.uk/john-dover-1804-1865/

https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2019/09/13/alice-mann-1791-1865/

 

 

 

1780 and His Brittannic Majesty's Man in Tangier, Charles Logie, is shortly to be expelled.

 

The author of these letters (which may be contemporary Copy letters rather than originals) was British Consul in Tangier at a fraught period in Anglo-Moroccan relations. In normal times, Morocco   - just across the Strait of Gibraltar - was a source of fresh food for the garrison and people of Gibraltar. During periods of conflict with Spain over the sovereignty of Gibraltar and notably during the Great Siege ( 24 June 1779 to 7 February 1783) Morocco had strong motives to remain neutral, thus allowing it to trade with all sides – in the Great Siege France was allied with Spain -  but equally had motives to seek most favoured nation agreements with one side. When these letters were written, Morocco was officially neutral despite the incidents they describe; but just a few months later the writer Charles Logie was expelled from Tangier and obliged to cross the Strait to Gibraltar with other British residents of the port. A former Moroccan ambassador to London, Mohammed Belmahi, described what was going on as follows in a 2015 lecture:

“.Massa'ud de la Mar was a Moroccan Jew trading in Amsterdam. Appointed in 1782 diplomatic Envoy to London, he delivered a letter from Sultan Mohammed III to King George III concerning Morocco's official decision to expel the British Consul-General, Charles Logie from Tangier. In his letter, the Sultan stated that he "had expelled Logie because the Consul-General was a cheat, and because he, the Sultan, had had bad reports about him." …. The political explanation of why Logie was expelled is that Morocco made an agreement with England's traditional enemy, Spain, to let this country's fleet have exclusive use of both the ports of Tangier and Larache, during one single year (1781). As a compensation, Spain would return 100 Moroccan captives and pay a given amount of money. Because Consul-General Logie would counter this agreement, he and twenty other British Subjects were forced to leave Tangier for Gibraltar, on 28 December 1780. Once the one-year deal with Spain had expired, the Sultan instructed his Envoy, de la Mar, to forward a message to King George, inviting him to replace Logie by appointing a new Consul-General”.

For material related to this post, see on this site

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/07/our-man-in-genoa-and-great-siege-of.html

I have been unable to find out more about "Angelo's boat".

 

  Transcription of First Letter

Addressed to: To His Excellency The Rt Hble Grl Geo Aug^s Eliott

Datelined: Tangier 20^th June 1780

No outer wrapper; docketing note Tangier Consul Logie 20^th June 80 Rd.[Replied]10^th July

Sir

Occupied in remonstrating to The Emperor against a Manifest Breach of the Laws of Nations & Neutrality of His Port, I have not time to answer Your Excellency’s Letter of the 13^th ins^t.

The subject of Complaint is the Admitting of the Enemy to send on the 17 Ins^t an armd Boat out of the Mole to take off our ships from under the Batterys of This Town and within Musket shot of the shore. The vessel, supposing the Boat came off to give him assistance & to Pilot him in, admitted him alongside, when the Enemy fired into him, wounded a man, and took possession of the ship, - and this after I had repeatedly sent to the Governor to say that the Boat was gone out with that Intent, and that I demanded Protection.

I have explained to the Emperor that we are not to put up with such usage, - that the Answer with immediate Restitution was what I had every reason to suppose the King my Master will expect from him as well as strict orders to the Governors of His sea port Towns to see that the Laws of Nations and Neutrality of Ports were not violated.

The ship taken is like a Collier, the Master of the sloop says that she was at Portsmouth when he sailed, loaded with Coals for the Garrison [at Gibraltar] – The Enemy say she’s loaded with Butteer – Her Crew consists of 14 men.

I have the Honour to be Sir Your Excellencys Most Obed^t Hum^be Serv^t Charles Logie

*

Transcription of Second Letter

Tangier 27^th June 1780

Addressed to: The Rt. Honble Gen^l Geo Aug^s Eliott

Datelined: Tangier 27^th June 1780

No outer wrapper; docketing note Tangier Consul Logie 27^th June 80. R^d [Replied] 10^th July

Sir

I am honoured with Your Excell^ys Letter of the 13^th Instant, my motive for not Selling the Live Stock on the publick Account is that they have been Offerd in the Publick Market and the highest price bid for them has not Exceeded from ten to fourteen Cobbs, owing to the Season of the Year and the number of Cruizers the Enemy have in this Port, Stoping the Exportation of Cattle &c [ as part of the siege and blockade of Gibraltar ] the Expence of Keeping is four reals p[er]. month each Bullock, if Sold at the present Market price more than half of the first Cost must be sunk and the Expence of keeping them to the Season of the Year they were purchased when they will sell for what they stand the Government in if not more will not amount to three Cobbs p. heads. Sixteen of the Sheep has been sold for four Cobbs each.

Inclosed Your Excell^y has Copy of the Letter I was employed writing to the Emperor when I wrote on the 20^th instant, he has sent no answer to the Letter I wrote him the 17^th May regarding the taking of Angelo’s Boat off the Shore [ this may have been a small boat used to cross the Strait to Gibraltar].

I hope your Excell^y will do me the Justice to point out the Objections to the Accounts, that I may have it in my power to produce the necessary Proofs that  will place them in their true light and Satisfy Your Excell^y that it was out of my power to have Conducted that Service with a Strickter Attention or more Aeconomy

I have the Honour to be / Sir / Your Excellency’s Most Obedient and Most Humble Serv^t  / Charles Logie

 References

https://www.constantinian.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Jews-in-Anglo-Moroccan-Relations-10-May-2015-.pdf

Roy and Lesley Adkins, Gibraltar the Greatest Siege in British History (2017)

https://discoveringtangier.wordpress.com/2017/07/30/el-consulado-britanico-un-edificio-olvidado-de-la-medina-de-tanger/

1767 The Aggrieved Rector of Little Gidding, William Robinson

 

As I was transcribing this letter, signed simply “W. Robinson”, it did not occur to me that he might be a clergyman. Despite the doctrinal framing and textual references to the Bible, he read simply as someone with a very secular grievance: he is being (or has been) left out of a Will. But then I realised that he includes a detail which only an Anglican clergyman would be likely to know: the income of a clergeyman, the very handsome £1200 income which Dr Law will now enjoy as a Prebend – more precisely, holder of the Twelfth Prebendal Stall in Durham Cathedral. The Bank of England inflation calculator converts that to £178,000 at today’s prices. But the detail led me to the Church of England clergy database, and there he was: William Robinson, BA of St John's College in the University of Cambridge, and then Rector of the  Huntingdonshire parishes of Hamerton and Little Gidding from 1731 until his death in either 1774 or 1781 (the C of E offers both dates on the same page).

The Dr Law to whom he refers was the very distinguished Edmund Law, eventually Bishop of Carlisle and a noted theologian. Law attended St John’s College Cambridge in the early 1820s (BA 1823) and that date is right for Robinson to have been a fellow student. There was also a Cumberland connection. The Reverend Williamson is writing to his cousin Captain Williamson (no first name given) whose prominent family held the manor of Watermillock (which appears in the letter's address line)  as barons of Greystoke – and Law was presented in 1737 to the church living of Greystoke by its patron, Cambridge University. The Reverend Williamson was probably born in Cumberland.

Hamerton and Little Gidding are adjacent parishes in Huntingdonshire, and the latter with its very small country church – more like a chapel -  is now known principally from  T S Eliot’s Four Quartets, the fourth of which bears the title “Little Gidding”.

That all established, here is the letter written by the Rector of Hamerton and Little Gidding; I can only categorise it as tragi-comic:

 

Transcription

Addressed: To Captain Robinson   Watermillock to be left at Mr Hindson in Penrith Cumberland

Datelined: Hamerton  [Huntingdonshire] August 14^th 1767

Postmarked   HUNTINGDON   and charged 4d on delivery

 

I most affectionately condole with you, my dear Sir, ye loss of my good Unkle, yet perhaps we ought rather to rejoyce at it, since it pleased God to spare him to us as long as his existence with us here co’d be any pleasure to himself, or comfortable to others. Infirmities at his age multiply apace and have then but few amusements to alleviate or take off ye keen Edge of them: and we cannot doubt, but that he has changed ye miserable situation for a most happy one, where I hope we shall at length enjoy him again without fear of any such mortifying separation. I more anxiously lament ye unhappy conduct of my still nearer Relations, who seem to me not to consider (with due attention) ye Rules of Religion, and ye inavoidable consequence of deviating from them. Oh! that they wo’d consider an eternity as just opening upon themselves, & time & all its concerns very shortly to vanish when ye sound of ye Gospel, ye offers of Mercy, and ye means of Salvation, will all be at an end. The Period, during w^ch we are to inhabit this Earth, and enjoy our Spiritual advantages, or our worldly possessions and pleasure, is confined in very narrow limits. Oh! that they wo’d wisely reflect upon this, & improve each transient moment to ye purpose for w^ch  it was given; and not doat so much upon ye glittering vanitys of this life, w^ch  as they are Baites to pleasure & allurements to sin, will one day add more keen & exquisite sensibility to our future pain.

I cannot but commiserate my Bro’s want of health, & warmly wish him a speedy release from his complaints; tho’ his want of affection for all his own Relations as well as myself & my inoffensive Child, in some measure blunts that Pity. I well know ye cause of this aversion to us all, & greatly lament his weakness to suffer himself to be so gratly imposed upon by a familly who have always endeavour’d ye Ruin of His; & ever heretofore made him ye Cat’s Paw [ a person manipulated to do the bidding of others] in ye contract for Coals. But now again they are his best Friends, & cannot be content with his woods only, but must have his Paternal Estate, tho’ I fear at the expense of his Soul. His will is certainly his last Act, & by that they purpose to get his Estate: tho’ both natural priinciples, & ye Mosaic Law (Numbers 27, twelve first verses) & ye Gospel (Math 7 ch. 12 verse) & in several other places most absolutely forbid such disposal. With the breach of all these (unrepented of, for there is no repentance in ye Grave) He must appear before an omniscient judge, And ye Gospel teaches us yt [that] without repentance there is no salvation! Oh may he find mercy in that day!

My heart thanks you & all my friends, for their very kind attention to my Poor Daughters welfare; she is indeed very greatly & unexpectedly recover’d yet her thinness & weakness remains, & my [?] apprehensions of a return (For ye Doctor saies it is constitutional) either at ye fall of ye leaf [ even then probably obsolete for "Autumn"]  or in ye Spring, are very great. Her Hectical Cough & Fever is quite gone for ye present, but I cannot flatter myself & Her against ye worst.

I was truly sorry to hear of Coz Peggy’s indisposition, but by promise I expect her along with James soon here, & hope to see them well. Dr Law is not at Durham, where for ye future He is to reside a mnth in ye year as a Prebend. His income now is 1200 £ per An so yt [that] He is at last enabled to provide for his large family. My child most cordially joins me in my concern for my Coz. Nancy’s bad health, and as sincerely wishes everything yt is good & kind to her & all Relations with & near you, as does

With ye greatest regard & Esteem

Your sincerely affectionate Friend and Relation     W Robinson

Hamerton    Aug^st  14^th 1767

References

Wikipedia: Edmund Law

Wikipedia: Little Gidding (poem)

https://littlegidding.org.uk/

The Grand Tour: George James Watson Farside reports from Naples 1829

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It took me over a day to transcribe this 3600 word letter-cum-diary; the temptation is to think it important. The letter is interesting and specialists could retrieve useful material from it; but it is not important. The letter follows on from an earlier one published here at

https://www.otherpeoplesletters.com/2026/08/the-grand-tour-george-james-watson.html

In that letter, the writer described very well his experience of crossing the Alps. Now, perhaps because he has been worn down by illness, he is more introspective; he is not fit enough to get the most out of the Naples he has now reached, unlike his brother and companion who has headed off for a round trip to Sicily and Malta. Nonetheless, the invalid manages some interesting descriptions of life in Naples.

The writer began life in 1804 as George Watson, a younger son of the Watsons who owned Bilton Park at Knaresborough in Yorkshire where his widowed mother and unmarried sister Mary still live. But in 1826 he legally changed his surname to Farside (alternatively spelt Farsyde), probably in connection with inheriting the fairly ancient Farsyde estate of Thorpe Hall at Fylingthorpe near Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. He did practice as a barrister in London for a short period – and perhaps before this Grand Tour embarked on when he was 24 - but spent the latter part of his life at Thorpe Hall and became a Justice of the Peace and prominent Liberal political activist in the north west. He died in 1876 leaving descendants. 

Transcription

Addressed to: Mrs Watson   Bilton Park    Knaresboro’   Yorkshire   Inghilterra  / Single Sheet

Datelined: Naples 27^th March 1828 [this is clearly a slip - he is writing in 1829 having crossed the Alps in late 1828 ]

Postmarked NAP 182-  9 APR; weak London transit markings dated 1829

Dera Mother (Please address your Letters until you next hear from me “Posta Restante  Napoli”)

Your last letter dated Bilton Jany 13^th 1828 arrived 9^th February You will see by the date we have got to this charmingly situated City but woe is me bad health accompanies me wherever I go. My complaint is now an ulcerated sore throat caught at Florence last November which has never healed even thro’ my severe illness at Rome. All the delights & improvements of this & other climates are therefore dead for what is pleasure without the power of enjoying it – but why inspire you with the same gloom that covers me? Our letters should give an exact account of our condition neither diminishing or adding shouts or …..The situation of our Lodgings is magnificent they are on the (Cheaga) (which signifies Quay). On our right is the gay white City of Naples in front is the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius smoking in the background & to our left is the open sea with the Island of Capri in the Mouth of the Bay no pen (except mine) can describe the chains of mountains & the beautiful form  of Mount Vesuvius it is formed of two cones (this shape ^ ^) but its lines are so sweeping & graceful, its base is studded with Vineyards, Villas &c. I dare not venture to ascend my health is so precarious how unfortunate at my time of life to stay moping at Home, to dread the night air, to be eat up with melancholy. I have pursued my likings with too great eagerness how difficult it is to suffer with fortitude & to take everything as it comes, I begin to wish myself at home every now & then –

28^th I felt myself in so melancholy a humour yesterday that I thought it better to give over a fresh stock of spirits with the change of weather will probably make this Letter more agreeable. My Brother left me last week to go & visit the islands of Sicily & Malta the reasons above prevent me accompanying him Sicily contains many fine remains of Temples during the time it was possessed by the Greeks some Centuries before it fell into the hands of the Romans & on that account interesting One acquires by degrees a taste for these old times now relics of days & people that must never return, perhaps it is that which makes them interesting but considering them intrinsically they are still beautiful the purity of the Architecture the brilliant whitness of the marble & their generally imposing situations must never fail of conveying pleasure to minds the least acquainted with antiquity. Not but what I confess they are much more talked & taken more trouble about than the sight of them can ever repay. For instance I persuaded my Brother to leave Naples his comfortable Lodgings with the not to be forgotten comforts of an Italian kitchen to go in a dirty steamboat, spend three weeks in a Country without beds & hardly Inns for that purpose but in that steam Boat were 200 persons all in the same mind as himself  & I, had my health been suitable should have made the 201^st. Today is Sunday no doubt Mary will groan when I tell her there is no Church here for protestants, I read her last Letter to my Brother & I believe she may thank me she did not receive an answer in a very different strain by way of return. There is anchored within half a mile from my window a first rate English Man of War “The Revenge” she is a most glorious sight & came in yesterday. I couldn’t help humming  “Hearts of Oak” & “Rule Brittania” (had the Violoncello been here tunes would have been fiddled) & felt naturally our nations pride today it rains & blows the heretofore smiling Bay is covered with waves but its situation is so sheltered that I apprehend vessels are perfectly safe  in much worse weather than this. It is a great pleasure to have something so grand to remind one of one’s country every morning on rising. I always loved Boats & water from a child. I almost wish they’d made me a sailor. But my Grandfather set his heart against any warlike thoughts tho’ he had no right unfortunately neither Inos [a nickname for his brother?]…: nor I knew what would be, Inos [?] blames the old fellow when he should blame himself as for me undoubtedly I  wished to get from school but likewise the old fellow wished to put 500 Guineas into his Sons pocket. I have been at one party since I came here a Monsr. Degas, a French banker settled here I became acquainted with his son [later the  father of the painter Edgar Degas] in the Diligence between Calais  & Paris when he invited me should I come to Naples to come & see his Family. I thought no more about it when we accidentally met in the Street the other day, this is the first party I have been at since leaving England, “how gay?”  but blessed is he that expected nothing verily he shall not be disappointed. A man without letters of introduction on the Continent loses half the pleasure & advantage of his travels, but why groan after that one cannot have?  Men & manners not musty marbles & monuments give a man mores  & knowledge

Apl 2 I did not write on 1^st April lest your witticisms should be exercised to find me a fool: do you recollect me making Inos an April fool respecting his expected Commission. I have given you little account of a topic on which I am able to expatiate with some fluency … I am under a regimen at present being allowed to eat only meat fish & bread tea or coffee. At home we had woodcocks as many as one liked  for two pauls each (a paul less than a sixpence) wild boar, partridges, Quails, Wild geese, Wild Ducks, in proportion fancy a  great Wild goose brown & tender (not  ….) enough for 3 people about  2/6 and a good red wine something like a light port wine for less than 6d p[er] bottle.

Ap. 4^th I’m tired of of every thing, for the last fortnight nothing but rain & wind impossible to stir out, Vesuvius has had his head all that time in “ a dark &misty vale” the distant Appenines are also clouded & nature weeps, dear England when I think of thee & my sweetly wooded native place fears arise many false but most too true. One fears death & at that thought reason flees away. In my illness I never could master that fear, to lie & await his approach tranquilly os much more difficult than to meet him in heat that the loss of strength, looks & appetite all combine to render it  Mans greatest enemy & tyrant, yet the gospel teaches us to regard it as a blessing  or something sent for our good. It is indeed a comfortable hope that they who suffer here shall rejoice hereafter yet what is death after ... Let’s look at him if we dare!  Poets call him “King of Terrors” my idea of him was taken from Milton’s Paradise Lost as a Child, Now it is composed of heaven, hell, Pain, parting with friends & property, Doctors their medicines & Bills  this is a strange mixture but I dare say it is like every other persons. Now if we can get rid of the fears arising from these objects I take it we get rid of the fear arising from death. I do not feel inclinded to prosecute the inquiry at present any further otherwise my Letter would get into the sermonizing style & one Letter writer of that kind is quite enough in a family for if we were all to take that turn we might as well set to & copy the Prayer Book by degrees  into each of our Letters, by this means we should  do good to the state by increasing the Revenue with Postages & say, dont I fill my Letters full? Look how close & plain this is written? Your kind regard my dear mother for me & my Letters makes me take more pains with them, tho’ generally they are very carelessly written & with little attention to anything but filling the sheet & finishing as soon as possible. Now a little well written & well thought one is better than a great deal the contrary. I have all your Letters tied & carefully parcelled together with a string, you have no idea the comfort your first Letter gave me when I arrived at Rome broken down as I was by illness & fatigue for some time I felt relieved  but ironhanded Pain came with sweeping I must stop or be very Poetical which is not good for a would be Lawyer. I speak Italian most infamously it is with great difficulty  that my servant can understand my orders in the most common things yet people say my progress is wonderful never having learnt. John gets on capitally he speaks Italian nearly as well as French only he is apt to be pedantic  in his manner of speaking & what is worse thinks no one but himself can possibly ever speak. You have no idea in what excellent temper I have kept him  in truth he has felt what ill humor is in another so I hope has learnt to curb himself for I have been the crabbed one, generally from necessity his conduct & childishness grieved me so far it is not here as where our characters as where our characters are both known but a Man’s character is here chiefly judged of from his associates according to the old addage “birds of a feather”.

Apl 5^th Sunday evening I have spent the best part of this day in riding & walking for the day has turned out fine for a wonder tell Straubenzee. I met his friend & quondam schoolfellow young Stuart this morning he inquired after him he is not the brightest looking youth one can see what absurd notion  to fancy a lad of 17 to be my guardian angel & Aclates [?] do think?  Tell Mary I have an invitation to go to a ball this night but being unwell cannot when people are at Home do as they do there” but not in what is wrong we should not follow the multitude to do evil. I for my part do not see any harm in a cheerful dance on a Sunday evening & no matter in a country where it is the custom & no harm can be done by example.

*

Written sideways at edge of pages: I have seen a good deal of a young man named Beckwith he says he is cousin to the Collier’s he has just left this place by sea for England he is in delicate health I was at school with one of his Brothers (since dead) at Thorp Arch [?] his father lived in York he talks of coming to Knaresboro’ this summer when you see Mr Collins mention it Pray make my remembrances to all friends & give me accounts of everything. Your letters always please me. If you hear anything of old Blomberg [?] mention it.

Remember me to Straubenzee should you see him. Should you by chance meet a Mr Burgess (the English protestant minister at Rome a Yorkshireman from some where near Thirsk) be civil to him if you have it in your power. He came several times to see me when I lay dangerously ill at Rome. I had a dreadful bout indeed. I thought noting could have saved me at one time & verily believed myself on the confines of another world. I laid in my bed for 28 days in agonies of mind & body without once closing my eyes during the greatest part of that time I was friendless & hopeless but God of his infinite mercies spared me & from a shadow I became a substance. You’ll say but a Rheumatic fever to do all this but I was in that state of debility from previous improper treatment at Florence that it had thereby the greater hold

*

My future plans for travelling depend so much upon the state of my health that I can at present say nothing certain, health is the object of my movements. I have it in contemplation to spend my Summer by the sea aside 18 or 20 miles from Naples at the foot of the Apenines at a small town called Castel-Mara where go many English families. The Earl of Moray young Stuarts Father was there last year with his family it is said to be healthy & pleasant. You have heard the Pope is dead a fresh one is made & I understand to be enthoroned today [Leo XII died in February 1829 thus confirming the mis-dating of this letter to 1828]; at present I do not think of returning to Rome for the Holy Week altho’ I shall be condemned to doubt for not seeing it but I have no mind to run after such raree there & no strength either to stand hot rooms & crowds which are detestable I should wish nevertheless to see the Pope wash the Pilgrims feet & hear the music called the “Miserere” only performed 3 times in the year & which is not allowed to be printed for any other Kings [?] & ceremonies. The Roman women are many of them extremely beautiful fine tall commanding figures with such eyes! Oh my eyes! Black & sparkling, with clear brown white complexions & color they have however many defects, their voices are harsh & screaming their feet & ancles very often deformed by pinching being naturally large & they spit continually not in your face it is true but still it is a nasty trick as for the men I have the … to tell you of their beauties but they are generally fine muscular athletic fellows indeed the common people of Naples have such Limbs as would astonish you indeed I quite envy them their shanks . The common people I mean a particular class of them called Lazzaroni [the poorest of the lower class] are a singular class, they are half naked beggars & conceive their numbers when they form an eighth of the Napolitan population they are literally  vagabonds & would all be sent to the house of correction in England for they have very few of them homes many sleep under porticoes of palaces, on steps or any sheltered place the better class of them are fisherman & my great Pleasure is to stand on the wall of the public gardens  & see 30 or 40 of these fellows hauling a net of some two to three hundred  yards long they are all half naked up to the Thigh when working at their nets in this state howl & tear about like inhabitants of the element to which they have been half born in.

Apl 7^th Yesterday my dear Mother I didn’t touch your Letter but I thought of you which was the same, in affection. I have no idea how long things may keep me away from England sometimes a melancholy fit takes me & determine on getting off the first opportunity then getting better all the resolutions vanish but at present no serious calls demand my presence in England my profession [ he is a lawyer] must wait to my health & spirits & none except those of being so long without seeing you & Mary [his sister] at all press my departure. My affairs in England were all arranged to bide ….in … years absence so that what with my own wishes & interest I believe it is not unlikely I may [letter torn] longer than I thought for I hope to make some friends at Castelmara for there the English are [torn] to be social being thrown entirely on themselves for society & a young man who can fiddle da[nce?] & make himself otherwise useful  & agreeable, may stand a chance of passing his time usefully & …. Besides it is really time John & self should think of looking out for a Companion in the shape of an amiable polished & agreeable woman with a proportionate share of good looks, connexions, & wealth, not that I have any right to presume from any qualification  of my own to expect all those good things but I mean if such things are to be met with to try for them I should like to see one of us married for it never pleases me to think of the property [Bilton Park] slipping out of the family for want of heirs. I shall not at present attempt to give you any description of the wonders & …. Near this place until I have seen them once or twice. Pompeii & Herculaneum you know are in the immediate neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Vesuvius & are really objects of curiousity worthjy some attention, Pastuni where are some very ancient Roman or Phenician temples is the next place of interest but it is 6[?] miles distant they are said to be the finest ruins of Temples existing. Virgils Tomb is in the neighbourhood of Naples as are also the scenery & places from which he described his Tartarius Elysium & in his Aneid. So the Catholic question is to be in favor of Ireland what do the two female Divines [presumably his mother and  sister] say on the subject?  For I dare not offer an opinion fearful of being sent (I know where) with some appalling text for my ignorant presumption? Pray may I humbly ask a question, Do the two learned Theologians intend publishing their opinions on the subject in the shape of a Pamphlet & also with all due deference state my doubts whether his late holiness the Pope would lose himself eternally because he was very fond of hunting, & also whether all the Irish people being Catholics are of the Elect. I have just come in from riding & had my dinner of 3 dishes of meat & soup & a bottle of wine all for about 2/6 [two shillings and sixpence]  My horse which I hire for about 3/- a day is a perfect beauty a fine long tail & mane & partly Arabian you recollect we are not far from the coast of Africa  & Arabians are plentiful there I wish I had him at Bilton or in London to caper about on

Fancy the difference of the two Climates at present all the peas & Beans are in blossom & I have already had fresh peas for dinner The Vines are partly out & many of the larger trees the Corn is a foot & a half high & the country generally looks as green as ours does in the beginning of June they have two or three crops of every thing in the way of Vegetables all winter beautiful Lettuces Cabbages Cauliflowers The oranges & lemons are still on the trees & in winter they are perfectly beautiful the leaf being evergreen indeed the olive tree is evergreen of which trees the country is covered The Italians make good use of their ground every part of being planted with vines or olives at about 10 yards apart  & the intervals sown with corn, beans, onions &c The Neapolitan Farmer seems very industrious all seems to be done with the hand I have not yet noticed a plow going they use oxen for drawing & beautiful creatures they are an enormous size dun color & immense long crooked horns I do not understand their beauties as to shape but they have not so many awkward projections as the English beast I am ordered every morning to drink milk & it is most delicious it it stands but 2 or 3 hours it is covered with cream. The Roman country is much less cultivated than the Neapolitan in fact most part of it is in a state of perfect desolation See the evils of priestcraft. [The Papal Sates were notorious for mismanagement and poverty]. After all this account of myself & the pleasures of this & other countries believe me my dear Mother there is one thing I regret which is that you cannot share them with me the way the English live here would make it as expensive & more so than living where you are you would not like to be here without mixing in society  & to keep it up must be expensive & ruinous to persons with small incomes & it is no very easy matter to get introductions to the best families English people carry English stiffness wherever they go & I have found as much here as in London. If John instead of squandering his money on his fancied intellectual attainments & masters he might make you & Mary comfortable & himself happy but he would not have prudence enough therefore things stay for the best Hoping I hear from you & Mary soon believe me with love to you both your very aff Son

Aprl 6^th George James Farside [ in large letters]

Inos [his brother] not yet returned from Sicily expected in two or 3 days

Apl 7^th 1828 I hope you’ll write to me soon it’s two months since I heard from you, there may be letter for me at Rome as I left 13^th March I have this day written for my letters & hope to find one from you

 

Francis Atkinson travels from Kirkby Moorside to van Diemen’s Land via Gravesend, Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope 1822.

 

I discard most business letters as insufficiently interesting for my purposes but some are irresistible; such are those which follow. It’s 1822 and a presumably young Francis Atkinson of Kirkby Moorside in Yorkshire has decided to try his luck on the other side of the world, in van Diemens Land. As you do. It has been very recently settled and in 1822 was being administered from New South Wales; it became a separate colony in 1825.

Atkinson is not without local family and London business connections which will enable him to organise and finance his first outward journey; and the letters show him very adept at networking. He comes across as highly observant and alert to taking up any business opportunities which present themselves, even if not anticipated. When his ship calls at Madeira and the Cape Town, he busies himself in trading – some of it by barter.

The first letter shows him seeking to assemble cargo to take with him on his outward journey which starts from Gravesend; the second to his namesake cousin in London is written from Madeira where he identifies various trading opportunities; the third is written from Cape Town to another cousin, Thomas Atkinson, and again is full of news and identifications of trade possibilities; the fourth – not written by him – shows that he reached Hobart Town before the end of 1822 and has promptly set to work. The arrival date means that he and the Captain of his ship escaped new, higher import duties on the wines and spirits they are carrying and which applied from January 1823.

Other related letters show him in Hobart Town in 1826, engaged in extensive trade activity and shipping bales of wool to family members in Yorkshire. The term "slops" which he uses was the name given to cheap, ready-to-wear as opposed to tailored clothing.

 

Transcription, first letter May 1822

Addressed to: Messrs Boothby & Grove   Merchts   Sheffield

Datelined: Kirkby Moorside [ North Yorkshire] May 31, 1822

 

Messrs Boothby & Groves   Sheffield

Gentm [Gentlemen]

I wrote you on the 25^th to which beg reference stating that I was going to van Dieman’s Land to settle as a Mercht and wished to take an assortment of Sheffield Goods, [cutting] Edge Tools &c with me, and being recommended to you by Messrs Whiston & Hewitt of London [who organised shipping to Australia] I requested you to forward me a list of your prices of the different Articles with the lowest price affixed suitable for that Market and if approved, would make a selection and give you an order in course with satisfactory payment, not having heard from you on this, think the letter must have miscarried.

Waiting your reply in course, that if it is not agreeable to you I may apply elsewhere.

I remain Gentm.   Your obdt Servt  Fras. Atkinson Junr.

In another hand:

Answerd June 1^st

We are much oblgd for the recommendation of Messrs W & H & shall be happy to execute any orders wh you may be pleased to favor us wth We manufacture Saws, Cast Steels, Edge tools, &Files wch are all on Printed Lists wth Prices annexed and may be obtained fr any Ironc or Carpenters …..Tools & Files are in good Demand at vandemonsland. If you favor us wth an Order can inclose Lists of Prices – as at prst ……….[can’t read]

We never recd. your letter you mention of the 25^th Ulto.  …….. We remain … B&G

Transcription, second letter 2 September 1822 of which I have only an old and unsatisfactory photocopy

Addressed to: Mr Francis Atkinson No 5 Newman’s Court   Cornhill   London England

Datelined: Madeira Septr 2 1822

Endorsed Single Sep 2 1822, weak London receiver postmark, manuscript charge mark

Docketing note: Fras Atkinson Junr Madeira Septr 2 1822

Dear Cousin

These few lines are to inform you after 14 days beating about in the Channel with constantly adverse winds and rather unpleasant weather  we cleared it on the 19^th and have since had a fine passage with fair winds al the way and arrive dhere on Friday last the 29^th inst; in consequence of the long time we have been since leaving Gravesend the Capt. put into this place Funchall for Water and expects to leave here tomorrow, I am very much pleased with the view from the ship as the Mountains Gardens and Vinerys are a fine sight the Town is also a pretty object being all white Houses, but when you come near them and in the Town they look very shabby. The streets are also very narrow. Fruit is very plentiful & cheap Lemons d 4 [four pence] per Doz[en] Grapes d 3 …. very fine & Peaches 70 or 80 for d 6, the oranges are not yet ready in a fortnight they will be in fine Perfection. I am afraid we shall not be able to make the Voyage in 5 months the Regalia being such a bad vessel for going thru  the water, the Capt & Crew say she is like a Log and the worst sailing vessel they were ever in, I shall regret very much if we should not [arrive on schedule] as there is to be an additional Duty of 5/- [shillings] per Gallon had on all Spirits after the 4^th Jan 1823 therefore if we should not be able to reach Hobart Town before that period it will be a great loss to me as well as the Capt’s … for he says he has several puncheons [a puncheon was most likely 70gallons/ 300 litres] as well as the …. therefore Interest will compel him to lose no time he can avoid. Hitherto I have felt very well and have only been twice sick and that only for a short period.

The purport of this is merely to say that I have found from the Captain and Mates that old clothes of every description sell for a high price and a ready sale in Hobart Town & Sidney and as I thought you might probably have a quantity  as People in London cannot wear their clothes near, if you were to make up a parcel and send them by the first Ship I should be able to make you a good price of them also old Hats, Shoes, Boots or anything of that description that you are not able to wear. Capt Collins had a Parcel of Cloth that he has been bartering for 30 Pipes [ a Pipe about 100 gallons / 400 litres] of Madeira, which is the reason we stay so long here as they got all their water in the first day, he has made a good thing of it, as he has sold the cloths for 27/- per yard which cost him from 16/- to 21/- I should feel greatly obliged to you, if you would occasionally send me a London Price Current as I met with Mr Raines [?]  at Gravesend who told me to have one sent by all means it was the most useful thing in the Colony and brought a Person into notice, he appears a very nice man. Mr Whiston introduced me to him but he was in such a hurry I was not able to have more than ½  an Hours conversation with him I wish I had met him in London, I should have got some useful information from him he said he should be in the Colony in abt 6 weeks and would be ready to impart any Information to me that he required. He told me he married Boothbys Daughter of Sheffield. I find on checking Boothbys Invoice over, there is an evident error of £2-0-0 in the carrying on .. which he wants debiting for which you will perceive as a …. And if he will not possibly allow the other Errors, he must allow this, as he will see at once it is an error [he sets out the details at the end of this letter].

The Newspapers from Yorkshire you will have the goodness to forward to me along with any Parcel of Letters directed to Post Office Hobart’s Town. If you could without much trouble have procured me a copy of the Report of Commissioner Bigs [John Thomas Bigge, responsible for a major government-ordered enquiry] Inquiry into New South Wales I shd have felt additionally obliged as I find they will be worth any Money. Capt Collins is taking one out and has let me read it  you would be much pleased with it as it gives an account of all the Land that has been granted and what purchased, the Characters of …[letter torn here] Magistrates and Inhabitants, their occupation and …. Have been possessed of their property which   … many not been very creditably obtained, how the magistrates conducted themselves as well as others in office and what they originally were, in short it is a complete exposure; I do not know whether it is to be had of any of the Booksellers or it cannot be obtained but through a member of the House of Commons, it is just at the latter end “printed July 1822 by order of the House of Commons”.

I should feel obliged if  you would send me 3 Cwt [hundredweight] of Shott say 1 Cwt if cut for Kangaroos  abt Double B’s not quite so large as Buck Shott, 1 Cwt of No 1 and 1 Cwt of No 4 as I find it is generally scarce and selling from 1/- to ^d18 [eighteen pence = 1 shilling and six pence] per lb [pound weight] the price wholesale in England is from 24/- to 28/- per Cwt [112 pound weight = one hundred weight] also 100 Gun & pistol Flints sorted and I will remit you for them when I remit for the soap and others which I trust will be not long after I arrive there. With love to my Aunt and Cousins and feeling particularly obliged to you for all favors

I remain Dr Francis    your aff. Cousin Fras Atkinson

PS I have written home from Madeira  P.S. over[leaf]

Slops of all kinds pay an enormous profit … the Cape [of Good Hope] and at van Diemen’s I wish I had brt some I could have sold then readily they are selling here [Madeira] the … Trowsers [?] for 7/- that cost at a Dixon’s 2/9

[Note added explaining the Boothby error of £2.]

July 6 1822

6 x cut Saws @ 22/-       £ 6 12 0

6 do  do 6 ½ feet at 24/-    7  4  0

6 do  do  7 feet                   7 16 0

                                           21. 12. 0. and he has carried it out in the Invoice 23. 12. 0.  consequently an error of 40/-

Rec.d letter from Boothby 7 Sept with copy of this letter to you in reply to yours of 31 May ……..

 

Transcription, Third Letter Nov 14 1822

Addressed to: Mr Thomas Atkinson Merchant no 7 George Yard Lombard Street London

Datelined: Cape Town Nov 14 1822

Unreadable Ship Letter postmark indicating where brought ashore; London receiver postmark 8 FE 1823

Docketing notes: 1822 Fras. Atkinson Cape Town – 14 Nov   Ansd. p[er the ship] Aguilar for van DL [it regularly  sailed the route to van Diemen’s Land but at the end of 1825 was deemed unable to complete a return voyage to London and was broken up at Cape Town].

Dear Cousin

I have just received an order from the Capt to be on board by 10 o’clock this morning as he wishes to be off before the South Easter blows and will leave some of the Water Casks rather than stop he wants to get to save the Duty on Spirits by the 1^st Jan. I wrote you a few lines from Madeira – it was expected we should not sail before Saturday next. I am happy to inform you I have made 60/- per box for 20 Boxes of 100 to each of the yellow soap and 70/- per box for 12 Boxes of the Mottled by barter for some Hardware and Clothes. Mr Whiston has also sold here 9 boxes of 50 to each at 58/- for the 100 and 6 do [ditto] @ 57/- of the yellow and I hope to send you a good Account of the remainder and will send you a remittance from van Diemen’s. I have also quitted 1 Box of each of the low Tin Plates for 20/- a Box profits the prices I cannot say exactly as my Book is on board also the two fine tin plate Boxes at 20/- profit. Those kinds are the right ones and what are wanted.  If you or your Friends were to ship any more soap, Tin, Hams, Cheese, Butter and Slops they would meet a ready & a good Market they are decidedly what are the most wanted and all fetch high prices and will bear to cross the Line [the Equator?] very well if properly packed and secured, what we have now on board are in excellent order I find from the Books in the Commercial Exchange here that there has only been 4 Vessels to N S Wales [New South Wales]  since last Jany that have touched here. If you are inclined to send any more Goods to this Market I can only say I will use every exertion to make it answer to your purpose and as the Capt is waiting of me to go on board must conclude  with kind love to Aunt & Cousins and I remain Dr Cousin Your ever aff cousin F Atkinson

P.S. over

I took a parcel of Skins in the way of Barter for some Draperies here which Mr Whiston will forward to you pr the Luna or first vessel with the particulars of each kind & I trust you will make the most of them for me and cr [edit] me for the same they are of more value for [the] Horns being to them. I only wish a market price ..

 

Transcription Fourth Letter

I do not have a letter from Francis Atkinson after his arrival in Hobart but I do have this which shows that he arrived:

Addressed to: Messrs Scurr & Atkinson 5 Newmans Court Cornhill London

Datelined: Birmingham November 11^th 1823

Postmarked BIRMINGHAM NO 11 1823   London arrival mark 12 NO 1823

Docketing note:  1823 Smith Walker & Horton Birmingham 11 Nov Ansd (enclosed) 14 ~

 

Messrs Scurr & Atkinson

Gentlemen

A few days ago we had the pleasure of receiving an order from Mr Francis Atkinson of Hobart Town van Deemans land which he wishes us to forward to your care for shipment without delay, subject to a credit of 6 Months, or rather 12 Months but 6 Months interest added to the Invoice. The terms we have not the least objection to but we beg leave to state to you our invariable rule not to do any trade in a foreign country unless we can be furnished with a responsible guarantee in our own. Probably you would have no objection to accept our bill for Mr F As shipment as heretofore. We cannot say the amount of the order but we think it will not exceed £300 [equivalent to about £32 000 at 2026 prices per Bank of England inflation calculator]. We wait the favor of your reply & are

Gentlemen         Your obliged Servts    Smith Walker & Horton

Copy of the Reply added to the original letter:

Messrs Smith, Walker & Horton     London 14th Nov 1823

Gentm

The firm of Scurr & Atkinson being dissolved your favor of the 11^th has come into my hands & in reply thereto I can only say that having no advice from Mr Francis Arkinson of Hobart Town, I know nothing of the Order to which you allude. Should I receive any directions from him on the subject, or be enabled to give a more satisfactory answer to your letter I will let you know. I am &c F.A. [Francis Atkinson]