SD1012. Mary Elizabeth Graham-Clarke to Samuel Moulton-Barrett (brother)
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 353 (in part).
Frocester
June 18th 1839–
My dear Sam
John having returned only two or three hours ago from Oxford we have just executed, the power of Attorney to you– I am therefore preparing to depart for Kinnersley tomorrow having already stayed here longer than I wished or find convenient– In the midst of packing I must address you a few lines of farewell and tender you my best wishes for your welfare in Jamaica—& I hope from some details in our Paper to day that you are likely to find the state of things there rather improved since you left it– I shall be very glad to commit our interests to your care and am greatly obliged by your kind offers of doing whatever you can for us. Mr Atkinson is I find laid up with a broken arm therefore we have not heard any thing more lately of his going to Jamaica tho’ from all I can gather I believe that he has made his fortune there & may only be returning to wind up his affairs previously to settling in his native Country– In which case perhaps he might have recommended Mr Hutton or some other person but we have anticipated this– White Hall Pen & Mt Tirzah are both I believe in Westmoreland & therefore I trust at no very inconvenient distance from you—at least I believe those who have hitherto had the management of them have been quite as far or farther from them– W. Hall has had always been considered a good property when well managed tho’ rather subject to dry weather being near the Sea– We have known it bery productive for many years altho from the neglect of our Agents a great portion of the returns have not been remitted to us but supposed to be lost in bad debts– Our late Agent Mr Williams for a time gave us great satisfaction but after Mr Plummer’s failure took place there was a great declension in our income from thence—he was evidently in Mr Plummer’s interest rather than ours, of which I can not give a great proof than his allowing Mr Lumley’s estate to be sold (for which they were both Exors) without giving us notice of it—altho’ he had himself obtained Judgement on it for the large sum it owed us– I understand from Mr Atkinson that Mr Williams, was in such a state of suffering for years with Cancer in his face—that he was incapable of attending to business therefore these properties were really in the hands of his relation a Mr Grant who suffered a drunken Bookkeeper & Overseer to live there on very high salaries totally neglecting every thing—& the great cause of the unprofitableness of W. Hall is stated to have been that little stock was brought in, their numbers were daily diminishing—altho probably there were Cattle & horses round them which did not belong to us– Mt Tirzah was formerly a Sugar plantation which Mr Parkinson had only just established when he died– I presume he meant to enlarge & improve it– They tell us its situation is rocky– Mr Allen advised its being converted into a pen—& for some years it paid pretty well—of late years it has served merely as a jobbing pen—& Mr Atkinson told us that whenever the Apprenticeship term ended it wd be of no further use keeping up any establishment there—it is therefore now wholly neglected—tho’ Mr Hutton suggested that it might again be a pen if we laid out 3 or 4 Thousand pounds on it in fences &c which of course we are neither able nor willing to do & if it is allowed to be unclutivated it will I understand run into Bush and require much to bring it round– We have not given our consent to any proposal for selling– It is evident from Mr Atkinson’s account that Mr Hutton wishes to have W. Hall for himself & I have little doubt he might intend turning that other estate to his own benefit in some way. You will I know give us your candid opinion of both these places—& tell us the most prudent plan for us to pursue, so that we may not be too heavily taxed to put them in tolerable order & yet not to sacrifice the interests of those who succeed us– I hope I have not been too prolix in all this detail but as I could not have the pleasure of seeing you when your Uncle started off for London I am anxious to give my statement lest he shd have forgotten any thing– John is lying asleep on the Sofa having travelled all night from Oxford—he leaves us again this evening for Gloucester as he proceeds early tomorrow morning to Ross to play at a Cricket Match to which Leonard & some Oxonians are going– John wd have written to you by this conveyance but he is too weary after his recent fatigues at Oxford to have many ideas– I go home tomorrow—your Uncle John proceeds to Bristol in order to learn what is to be done respecting the Railroad the bill for which has passed both Houses of Parliament—he comes on to K. from Bristol– I was glad to learn you were all well & I hope this warm weather is favorable to Elizabeth’s going out on the Sea as I hear she is so much better– I have no time now to add more than our best loves & wishes to yourself & to all your family in Wimpole St repeating my wishes for a prosperous passage to Jamaica– Believe me my dear Sam
yours ever affectely
M. E. G. Clarke
Address, on integral page: Saml Moulton Barrett Esqr / Wimpole Street.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
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