Unlocking the Mary Hamilton papers

Single Letter

HAM/1/9/97

Letter from Sir Edward Hamilton to John Dickenson

Diplomatic Text

[1] [2]
My Dr. Mr. Dickenson --
      I hastened to Your
Door immediately on
my return Home and
opening Your Melan=
=choly & distreʃsing Note
      I am most fully aware
I can not tender you any
consolation that can
in the least mitigate Yours
& the sufferings of Sir Willm.
& the rest of your Amiable
Family -- It has been one
of those UnExpected Qwerkes
of Providence;[3] to Afflict
                                                         a


large & happy Family[4]
that very rarely occurs
& I most Sincerely trust
my Dr. Sir, that you will
resign Yourself to Gods
decrees, Although out
of the course of Nature;
& that he will give You
strength of Mind & Body
to sustain the Severe
loʃs of One, who was not
only Esteemed but beloved
by all who knew her
A change of Air will be
Absolutely neceʃsary for
all Your & Your People
as well for Health as for their
Spirits -- the more Varity
in the Scenery the better --


-- this I found of the Utmost
Service on the loss of my Dr.
Child[5] -- I propose quitting
London for a Tour on the
Rhyne Sunday morng.
with my Family; but You
may Command me never
-theless -- If I can be of the
least Service to You or Yours
In this I most fully Aʃsure
You my Wife & Daughter
Join, as well as in the
feelings of the most deep &
Sincere Regret at Your ir=
=reparable loʃs -- An Early
change of Scene will be
Most desireable, Under such
Misery, & how Ever distant
I may be from You & Yours,
                                                         be Aʃsured


My Dr. Sir -- I shall Ever
take a lively Interest in Every
thing concerng. Your Dr.
Grand Children --
      With the United regards
of my Family --
                                                         Believe me
                             My Dr. Sir
                             Your very Sincere
                             & Afflicted Friend
                             E. Hamilton

38 Nott. Pl.[6]
Tuesday Eveng.

(hover over blue text or annotations for clarification;
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)


Notes


 1. This letter is rather an outlier in the archive, only recently having been dated to 1837. Presumably it was kept in Hamilton's papers rather than Dickenson's as marking the death of their beloved only child, Louisa. ‘E. Hamilton’ is almost certainly the eccentric ex-naval hero Sir Edward Hamilton. Dickenson noted in his diary (DDX/274/29 p.164) that he ‘called at [...] Sir Ed. Hamilton’ on 10 February 1836.
 2. In this hand it is not always clear whether or not an initial capital is intended, especially with M, m.
 3. Dickenson's diary shows that Louisa had been unwell since at least late April 1837, and that they had remained in London rather than decamping to Grundisburgh Hall in Suffolk, as they normally did around 18 June (Anson 1920: 48); her death is recorded on 25 July 1837 (see DDX 274/29 p.240).
 4. Lady Louisa and Sir William Anson had seven children (Anson & Anson 1925: 334).
 5. The Peerage (p.7740) records Sir Edward as having one living daughter and one living son in 1837, having lost both a daughter and a son in 1833 and 1836, respectively.
 6. The address of ‘Sir Ed. Hamilton’ is confirmed as ‘38 Nottingham Place, New Road, Marybone’ on the back of HAM/1/20/224. It is five minutes' walk from the Dickenson-Anson house at 32 Devonshire Place.

Normalised Text


My Dear Mr. Dickenson --
      I hastened to Your
Door immediately on
my return Home and
opening Your Melancholy
 & distressing Note
      I am most fully aware
I can not tender you any
consolation that can
in the least mitigate Yours
& the sufferings of Sir William
& the rest of your Amiable
Family -- It has been one
of those UnExpected Quirks
of Providence; to Afflict
                                                         a


large & happy Family
that very rarely occurs
& I most Sincerely trust
my Dear Sir, that you will
resign Yourself to Gods
decrees, Although out
of the course of Nature;
& that he will give You
strength of Mind & Body
to sustain the Severe
loss of One, who was not
only Esteemed but beloved
by all who knew her
A change of Air will be
Absolutely necessary for
all Your & Your People
as well for Health as for their
Spirits -- the more Variety
in the Scenery the better --


-- this I found of the Utmost
Service on the loss of my dear
Child -- I propose quitting
London for a Tour on the
Rhyne Sunday morning
with my Family; but You
may Command me nevertheless
 -- If I can be of the
least Service to You or Yours
In this I most fully Assure
You my Wife & Daughter
Join, as well as in the
feelings of the most deep &
Sincere Regret at Your irreparable
 loss -- An Early
change of Scene will be
Most desirable, Under such
Misery, & how Ever distant
I may be from You & Yours,
                                                         be Assured


My Dear Sir -- I shall Ever
take a lively Interest in Every
thing concerning Your Dear
Grand Children --
      With the United regards
of my Family --
                                                         Believe me
                             My Dear Sir
                             Your very Sincere
                             & Afflicted Friend
                             Edward Hamilton

38 Nottingham Place
Tuesday Evening

(consult diplomatic text or XML for annotations, deletions, clarifications, persons,
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)



 1. This letter is rather an outlier in the archive, only recently having been dated to 1837. Presumably it was kept in Hamilton's papers rather than Dickenson's as marking the death of their beloved only child, Louisa. ‘E. Hamilton’ is almost certainly the eccentric ex-naval hero Sir Edward Hamilton. Dickenson noted in his diary (DDX/274/29 p.164) that he ‘called at [...] Sir Ed. Hamilton’ on 10 February 1836.
 2. In this hand it is not always clear whether or not an initial capital is intended, especially with M, m.
 3. Dickenson's diary shows that Louisa had been unwell since at least late April 1837, and that they had remained in London rather than decamping to Grundisburgh Hall in Suffolk, as they normally did around 18 June (Anson 1920: 48); her death is recorded on 25 July 1837 (see DDX 274/29 p.240).
 4. Lady Louisa and Sir William Anson had seven children (Anson & Anson 1925: 334).
 5. The Peerage (p.7740) records Sir Edward as having one living daughter and one living son in 1837, having lost both a daughter and a son in 1833 and 1836, respectively.
 6. The address of ‘Sir Ed. Hamilton’ is confirmed as ‘38 Nottingham Place, New Road, Marybone’ on the back of HAM/1/20/224. It is five minutes' walk from the Dickenson-Anson house at 32 Devonshire Place.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Sir Edward Hamilton to John Dickenson

Shelfmark: HAM/1/9/97

Correspondence Details

Sender: Sir Edward Hamilton

Place sent: London

Addressee: John Dickenson

Place received: London (certainty: medium)

Date sent: between 25 July and August 1837
notBefore 25 July 1837 (precision: medium)
notAfter August 1837 (precision: low)

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Sir Edward Hamilton to John Dickenson, relating to the death of Dickenson's daughter, Louisa.
   

Length: 1 sheet, 301 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.

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: 29 July 2024

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