From Alexander Bryce about the 2 Lace Veils

From Susan Perry Ertsgaard comes a letter that will interest the descendants of Eliza Esdaile.

Here's my transcription of the letter:

Ghent 12th June

My Dearest E.

     I was favoured about 10 days since with your last from B. Street (which as before had crossed mine on the road?) I rejoiced to ? you were in good health & spirits tho with a great House unlet on your hands. If this however have no worse effect than rendering you a stone lighter it is hardly to be regretted. And as in the case of not letting your House you will have less money to eat or drink  there will be no reason to fear you should become clumsy again. By the bye this a a (sic) very awkward expression and I wish I could substitute en bon point but there is not room should I scratch out the other so you must suppose it done and forgive me the rudeness which that you may do the more readily. I must inform you that I have now in my writing case two most beautiful veils, the handsomest that Brussels produces for you & Louisa. They were selected by no less a Personage than the Marchioness of Fressignies ci devant dame d'honneur to the Empress Marie Louise, who bought all the Brussels lace for her marriage with Buonaparte so you see you have arrived at great honour & distinction by having such a Servant. Now however that I have procured them I am somewhat puzzled how to dispose of them till I return as I am just setting our for the Sambre & Meuse where I shall be for a month. I am afraid to carry them about with me. I therefore believe I shall them (sic) at Antwerp with a Friend till I can bring them over myself unless I learn That It would be safe to forward them in a letter one at a time Under cover of General Ma??? when it might be taken for a plan or drawing. This I should like best, as you might wear them sooner. But for goodness sake take care of bushes brambles & romping any of which would ruin them forever. Yours is 6/4 according to your directions. So much for veils which I hope will be of some avail to you & Louisa when you receive them.

     I have been here now a near a month but leave it I hope to morrow. but I fear I shall no have the pleasure of seeing you till Septm. In the mean while I shall expect to hear that you have let your House in Town & are Sentimentalizing at Bogner by moonlight where I wish I was with you.

I remain my Dearest E.

Ever yours

B

I'm adding some observations about this letter.

According to the United Service Magazine's memoir of his funeral

http://books.google.com/books?id=rAocAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA365&dq=%22sir+alexander+bryce%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JFxyVNnBCceogwSrsoLADA&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22sir%20alexander%20bryce%22&f=false

 Alexander Bryce was in the Royal Engineers (army, not diplomatic corps). 

     Napoleon had fallen in April 1814. Any time after that, his wife's staff would be called "ci devant" + former title. Alexander Bryce was commissioned to report on the condition of fortresses in the Netherlands in 1814, so this letter could be from around that time. 

     Marie Louise's dame d'honneur had been the Duchesse de Montebello, I haven't figured out who the Marchioness of Fressignies (have I mis-transcribed?) might have been, but Maire Louise had quite a staff guarding her while Napoleon was in power. Maybe the lace shopper was one of those ladies rather than the actual dame d'honneur. 

     The 6/4 must be 6 shillings 4 pence, the price of the veils, which a historical currency site translated as $25 2014 U.S.  I think he has to be careful about sending them because they would be heavily taxed. Even respectable people bought smuggled lace in 19th century England to avoid the taxes.

     Bryce married Emily Porker in 1818. Eliza Esdaile and her brother-in-law George Glasgow both named Bryce executor of their wills.

I have two things to say about the accompanying note.
1) Where did LAT get the "Elizabeth Monteath" thing? Do any of you cousins know?  She seems to be Elizabeth Green as far as I can tell. She names her brother, Thomas Green, in her will. And her brother-in-law George Glasgow married Magdalene Green; and
2)Regarding "her first was the Duke of Kent", what about the Royal Marriage Act of 1722?

George Edward Thomas Portrait

This lovely pencil portrait is from Lynn Fraley. Here's the inscription on the back:
Father of Louis A Thomas
George Edward Thomas
Born September 30, 1800
Died December 28, 1877
Buried Bedford Cemetery
George Edward Thomas was the youngest son of Richard Thomas
A lineal descendant of Sir Thomas Remmington
Owner of large estates in Yorkshire, England

The inscription is written in my grandmother's hand. She was Kathryn Pilkington Thomas (1895-1969), Louis A Thomas's daughter-in-law and the wife of Marion R. Thomas (1895-1965).

George Thomas married Eliza Esdaile's granddaughter Katherine Eliza Grant. Besides Louis Albert Thomas, they had John Valpey Thomas and Katherine Louisa Margaret Thomas, neither of whom had children.

This George Edward Thomas was a widower when he married Kate Grant. His first wife was Mary Ann Barron. Their children were Richard and William Thomas and Mary Ann Fox.

The syntax is unclear, but if anyone owned large estates in Yorkshire, it was Sir Thomas Remmington. George Thomas was a coal merchant who listed his occupation as "gentleman" later in life, but he did not leave an estate. George's father, Richard Thomas, was a London silversmith, and no Yorkshire estates are mentioned in his will.

Sir Harry Smith Defends Eliza Esdaile's Son, William Green

At the Cape of Good Hope everything is going on peacefully and promisingly under the government of Sir Harry Smith. His Excellency left Graham's Town on the 22nd of February, previously issuing the following General Orders:--

 "Head Quarters, Graham's Town

21 February 1848

...."2. A War arising from the sudden and unexpected inroad of hordes of barbarians, is the author of various irregularities and errors, attributable to exciting and peculiar causes frequently not to be avoided, or resulting from an ill-directed zeal or timid apprehension on the part of those in some degree empowered to authorize issues; which at the time the Commissariat has no power to refuse, and the expenditure is thus augmented for the moment.

     With this knowledge, derived from experience, the Commander-in-Chief desires to express to the Commissary-General Palmer, and the Deputy-Commissary General Green, his marked approbation of their conduct, and that of the great department under their control; and they may rest assured that it will ever afford His Excellency great happiness to report on the method which obtains in this department; reflection as much honour and credit upon these officers, as conspicuous bravery in the field does upon the soldier."

The excerpt above is from

The United service magazine, Volume 57, Page 2 (Google e-book)

 By Arthur William Alsager Pollock.

The "unexpected inroad" would be the 7th Xhosa War, 1846-1847. The Xhosa were such "barbarians" that British forces fought nearly two years to temporarily subdue them. The Xhosa wars are also called Africa's 100 Years War 1779-1879.

Using Google books and search term "commissariat Green" I was able to to outline some of William Goodall Green's career in the Army as various editions of the Army List came up.

16 March 1813 appointed Deputy Assistant Commissary General
10 September 1830 appointed Assistant Commissary General
16 December 1845 appointed Deputy Commissary General

1821 & 1827 on half pay
1829 Canada
1841 Nova Scotia
1845 Newfoundland
1847 Cape of Good Hope
1850 Cape of Good Hope

Slender Link to the Titanic Disaster

HMS Conway Training Ship

The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic reminds me that I have a record of Eliza Esdaile's great-grandson's merchant navy service that may interest some cousins.

Louis Albert Thomas (1862-1948) began his naval career  on the HMS Conway, a training ship for merchant navy officers, followed by a first job on the beautiful iron clipper ship Cedric the Saxon. These first two steps were followed exactly by Arthur Rostron, the hero of the Titanic disaster, when he began his naval career just seven years later.

The records for the HMS Conway Training Ship are at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
Louis Albert Thomas
Born: 3rd January 1862
Parent/Guardian: George Thomas Esq, 2 Maidstone Villas, The Grove, Bedford
Mrs. Henry, Elm Cottage, Belgrave, Leicester
Last School: Bedford Grammar School
Admitted: November 1876 for February 1877
Terms of Admission: Fees 42 pounds, Clothing 6-10 pounds, extras 4 pounds
Left: Christmas 1878
Remarks: sailed Cedric the Saxon, Messrs. Williamson & Milligan

His school report and naval report are included in this record of his two-year training period. He was evaluated four times. His conduct was considered very good, his application and ability marks ranged from fair to very good.

We know the merchant navy didn't work out for Louis Thomas, and by 1912 when the Titanic sunk he was a practicing physician in Red Oak, Iowa. Meanwhile, Arthur Rostron was captain of the Carpathian, which he commanded into icebergy waters at top speed and rescued more than 700 Titanic passengers and crew members.

Unexplained Fondness for Bagpipe Music?

With an ancestor named Grant, we MUST have Scots blood, but do any of us have any records that link us to Scotland and the Scottish Grant clan? Our cousin the equestrian sculptor Lynn Fraley sends us one clue. It's a bible inscription that places our ancestor Katharine Eliza Grant (granddaughter of Eliza Esdaile) in Edinburgh in December 1844. If anyone can decipher the donor's name please let us know. And raise a glass of single malt to Lynn.