HAM/1/11/29
Letters from William Antrobus and Lady Cremorne (formerly Dartrey) to Mary Hamilton, and covering note to John Dickenson
Diplomatic Text
Monday Morng. 31st. Octr.
My dear Madam,
I wish I could
write a Letter that would delight your
tender Heart, but alas! you must
prepare yourself for one of a very
different nature -- Sir William Wake
has had a severe fit of the Gout, &
is now no more -- He was relieved
from his Miseries on Saturday about
11 O'Clock or Later in the morning.
Lady Wake & her Son & Daughter came
got here from Banktop yesterday
evening, & met her friend Lady Cremorne
at Mr Berwick's House.[1] I leave it to
her to tell you how Lady W. is -- I met
them at Hodsden[2] to prepare them for
the worst, & slept in the same with
William, whose Afflictions have shewn
themselves in the properest manner,
& whose Conduct has been exemplary
indeed. The Miʃs Wakes are as well
as one could expect -- Dear Charlotte
was the only one of his family who was
with him. She is a wonderfull Child.
Expreʃses have been sent to Mrs. Fenton
& Mr Baldwin Wake, & as much has
been done as the time would admit.
Your's most sincerely
W. Antrobus
Kind Comps to
Mr. Dickenson[3]
[4]
I cannot my Dr: Friend, let this go
without sending one Line to tell you
that our Dr: Friend, is resigned &
tolerably composed -- I shall be con-
=stantly with her, 'till She leaves
this & then I shall take her to Chelsea
'till She can settle about where
She will go. I have so many Letters to
write for her upon Busineʃs that
I cannot add more than that
I am -- truly yours
PCremorne
I fear this will affect you much,
but I beseech you not to give
way to too much grief for our dr
Friend, She is as well as I cd
have hoped. --
Mr. Wake desires me to tell you
with his kindest Love that he did intend
to fill up the Sheat himself, but that
having been but just let blood, he
hopes will not expect it. -- He will
write to you by tomorrow's Post.
He is now tolerably well, & making
himself more so than he really is that
he may be of use to his Mother and
Sisters -- God bleʃs you --
▼
▼ ▼
My Dr: Sir --
Pray read this Letter & shew
it when you judge proper to Dr: Mrs:
Dickinson[5]
Yr: faithful & Obliged
PCremorne[6]
[7]
Lady Cremorne and
Mr Antrobus
Oct: 31st: 1785[12]
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Notes
1. Possibly James Barwick, who lived in Waltham Cross and was acquainted with the Wake family.
2. Hoddesdon was a coaching stop on the route between London and Cambridge, about 6 miles from Waltham Abbey.
3. This postscript appears to the left of the signature.
4. The remainder of the letter is in the hand of Lady Cremorne.
5. This covering instruction to John Dickenson begins at the bottom of the page, below the address.
6. Moved the second part of this instruction here from top of page.
7. The address is in the hand of William Antrobus.
8. Manuscript figure ‘6’, probably noting the postage of 6d to be paid, appears at the side of the address and is written 3 lines deep.
9. Moved address here from middle of page, written vertically.
10. Postmark. A Bishop mark showing receipt of the letter at the post office on 31 October.
11. The remains of a seal are below the address, in red wax.
12. Moved annotation here from middle of page at the left of the address, written upside down.
Normalised Text
Monday Morning 31st. October
My dear Madam,
I wish I could
write a Letter that would delight your
tender Heart, but alas! you must
prepare yourself for one of a very
different nature -- Sir William Wake
has had a severe fit of the Gout, &
is now no more -- He was relieved
from his Miseries on Saturday about
11 O'Clock in the morning.
Lady Wake & her Son & Daughter
got here from Banktop yesterday
evening, & met her friend Lady Cremorne
at Mr Berwick's House. I leave it to
her to tell you how Lady Wake is -- I met
them at Hodsden to prepare them for
the worst, & slept in the same with
William, whose Afflictions have shown
themselves in the properest manner,
& whose Conduct has been exemplary
indeed. The Miss Wakes are as well
as one could expect -- Dear Charlotte
was the only one of his family who was
with him. She is a wonderful Child.
Expresses have been sent to Mrs. Fenton
& Mr Baldwin Wake, & as much has
been done as the time would admit.
Your's most sincerely
William Antrobus
Kind Compliments to
Mr. Dickenson
I cannot my Dear Friend, let this go
without sending one Line to tell you
that our Dear Friend, is resigned &
tolerably composed -- I shall be constantly
with her, till She leaves
this & then I shall take her to Chelsea
till She can settle about where
She will go. I have so many Letters to
write for her upon Business that
I cannot add more than that
I am -- truly yours
Philadelphia Cremorne
I fear this will affect you much,
but I beseech you not to give
way to too much grief for our dear
Friend, She is as well as I could
have hoped. --
Mr. Wake desires me to tell you
with his kindest Love that he did intend
to fill up the Sheet himself, but that
having been but just let blood, he
hopes will not expect it. -- He will
write to you by tomorrow's Post.
He is now tolerably well, & making
himself more so than he really is that
he may be of use to his Mother and
Sisters -- God bless you --
▼
▼ ▼
My Dear Sir --
Pray read this Letter & show
it when you judge proper to Dear Mrs:
Dickinson
Your faithful & Obliged
Philadelphia Cremorne
John Dickenson Junior Esqr
Taxall
near Chapel le Frith
Derbyshire
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers
Item title: Letters from William Antrobus and Lady Cremorne (formerly Dartrey) to Mary Hamilton, and covering note to John Dickenson
Shelfmark: HAM/1/11/29
Correspondence Details
Sender: William Antrobus and Philadelphia Hannah, Baroness Cremorne Dawson (née Freame)
Place sent: Waltham Abbey, Essex
Addressee: Mary Hamilton and John Dickenson
Place received: Taxal, near Chapel-en-le-Frith
Date sent: 31 October 1785
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from William Antrobus and Lady Cremorne (formerly Dartrey) to Mary Hamilton, written in two parts, and addressed to John Dickenson for him to break the news. The first is from Antrobus, who writes that Sir William Wake has died after a 'severe fit of the gout'. The second is from Cremorne, who says that she will be staying with her friend [Lady Wake], and who in a covering note asks Dickenson to show it to his wife 'when you judge proper'.
Dated at Waltham Abbey.
Original reference No. 28.
Length: 1 sheet, 407 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).
All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.
Acknowledgements: Transcription and XML version created as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1.
Transliterator: Christine Wallis, editorial team (completed March 2020)
Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library
Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 28 February 2022