In Great Britain, the
technology which made possible the production of cheap, machine-made envelopes
was developed in the 1840s, also the decade in which postage stamps came into
general use. The habit of early stamp collectors was to tear stamps from
envelopes which were then discarded. The letter enclosed might be kept but for
future readers the identity of the “Dear Sir” or “Dear Mother” might be lost
forever; the envelope would have answered the question instantly. By the end of
the Victorian period millions of envelopes had been binned in pursuit of the
most popular of the century’s many destructive hobbies.
Prior to the 1840s
letters were sent as folded sheets of paper (now called entires) with
the addressee’s name written on the outside. There was no stamp to tear off
and, usually, no sheet to discard though sometimes a letter might be enclosed
within a wrapper and might also be separated from the contents.
It requires little
knowledge to conclude that the name and address on this entire letter of 31
January 1827 makes it worth looking at more closely. Dr Keate lives on in the
book of records as the headmaster who on just one day succeeded in flogging
eighty Etonians.. Who would write to such a man and what might they write
about?
The contents are
cross-written and when transcribed come to a Microsoft total of 1082 words.
They begin “Dear Sir” and close “Your faithful humble servant W.G.Broughton”.
He was Dr Keate’s curate in the Hampshire parish of Hartley Wespall where the
letter was written. Dr Keate was a
pluralist, awarded this particular living in 1818 by the Dean and Chapter of
Windsor and held until his death; he is buried inside its parish church, a prominent
tomb much polished. His son succeeded as Rector.
The curate begins by
reporting on the discharge of his duties:
previous to leaving home
I made an adjudication of the 30 blankets and though they did not arrive until
after my departure Mrs Neville distributed them according to my directions.
This was before the cold weather set in and from such of the poor as I have yet
had communication with I have received very grateful acknowledgements to you
for your charitable consideration of their wants.
Both vicar and curate
were High Church Tories who accepted that they had duties to the deserving poor.
Married with two children living, Broughton also had duties to his family; he
was conscious that lack of funds had obliged him to forego an Exhibitioner’s
place at Cambridge in favour of a job in London with the East India Company.
Only an unexpected legacy from an uncle enabled him much later to enter
Pembroke College to study mathematics, graduating in 1818 at the age of thirty.
In the same year he took Holy Orders and married a childhood sweetheart. He has
been at Hartley Wespall since then.
But now he is leaving and
the rest of the letter runs through the arrangements he is making or suggesting
to Dr Keate. As for his replacement, he offers several names but concludes by
recommending Mr Procter despite the fact that the Bishop (of Winchester) is
against him, suspecting Evangelical tendencies, a canard which Mr Procter
repudiates:
As the best mode of
disproving the charge brought against him, and of undeceiving the Bishop, he is
about to publish by subscription a Volume of Sermons, which will explain his
real sentiments.
Mr Procter got the job
but did not last and I cannot promise you that he published any Sermons. But Mr
Broughton did and, more importantly, in 1826 had published a reluctant defence
of the view (supported by the methods of the new German philology) that Bishop
Gauden and not Charles the Martyr was the author of the EIKON BASILIKE. This
impressed the equally reluctant Bishop of Winchester who then offered Broughton
the curacy of the parish of Farnham, equipped with a fine residence and grounds
being prepared for the bishop’s own eventual retirement. Broughton accepted and
is about to leave Harley Wespall..
Farnham is just sixteen
miles from Stratfield Saye and Broughton was soon introduced to the Duchess and
then to the Duke of Wellington installed there by a grateful nation. Wellington
was impressed by this new but no longer young curate and as Constable of the
Tower of London added the chaplaincy there to Broughton’s portfolio. In 1828 Wellington
– now Prime Minister – told the Colonial Office that the Reverend Broughton was
just the man needed to replace the outgoing Archdeacon of Sydney. Broughton,
who had never travelled farther abroad than the East India Company’s London
offices, accepted. The salary of £2000 per year promised financial security for
his family and offered some compensation for what would be a long and still
hazardous journey. He became the first (and only) Bishop of Australia and a
significant and controversial figure in the history of the colony, the subject
of a full-length biography by G P Shaw (1978) – on which i have drawn - and
more recent discussions focussed on his involvement in policy towards
Aboriginal populations.
He died on a visit to
England in 1853 and is commemorated in Canterbury Cathedral with a chest tomb
on which he lies as if a medieval knight at rest from his labours; an exact
copy can be found in Sydney’s Anglican cathedral.
TRANSCRIPTION
Hartley Wespall January
31st 1827
Dear Sir
The severity of the
weather and the state of the roads in Kent prevented my returning hither till
Saturday last and on Monday I was again on the wing to Farnham and back again
yesterday. It has therefore been out of my power to reply sooner to your letters
of Jan’y 6th and 27th. First of the first previous to
leaving home I made an adjudication of the 30 blankets and though they did not
arrive until after my departure Mrs Neville distributed them according to my
directions. This was before the cold weather set in and from such of the poor
as I have yet had communication with I have received very grateful
acknowledgements to you for your charitable consideration of their wants. From
what occurred yesterday at Farnham I have reason to think that I shall be required
to be there for the first time on Sunday February 18th . Mr Procter
who is to make way at Bentley for Mr Austen will take my duty here on that day
and the 25th. I am quite in the dark as to Mr Hadow’s [ sp?] present
intentions. In answer to the letter which arrived when you were here I sent him
an exact account of the emoluments of the curacy, house & premises, duty
&c (with which however I should have thought him already acquainted from
having lived here with me) and in an answer to a subsequent letter I replied to
his enquiries as to the probability of obtaining a supply of pupils in the
neighbourhoods. Since this I have not heard from him; but you are probably by
this time acquainted with his final decision. I have not the slightest knowledge
of Mr Kerr or of his family As however I found from the Bishop’s communication
yesterday that they are known and noticed by him I conclude they are
acceptable. This however is now unimportant, as Mr Kerr writes to me that he
wishes to withdraw his application thinking the house & premises too
extensive for a single man. Mr Dobson some times ago told me that upon the same
grounds that he should decline it even if you made him the offer. Mr Bricknell
has taken the curacy at Hartley Wintney, nor do I think that there is any
clergyman in the neighbourhood who could undertake regularly for the period you
mention. Mr Procter, whom the late arrangements at Farnham have cast out of
house and home, requests me to make you the offer of his service, for as many
weeks as you desire; that is until you have got … a permanent curate or until
it may be convenient to the gentleman appointed by you to enter upon the duties
of the parish. His charge is 2 guineas a Sunday and he will relinquish the
employment at any time at [tear in letter from when the seal was broken]
week’s notice from you. I must not omit to say that the Bishop declined to license Mr P to the Curacy at
Farnham. He assigned no reason of course; but the impression upon Mr Procter’s
mind is that his Ldship had been persuaded that he was of the
Evangelical school. This however he strenuously denies and assured me that he
had a decided dislike to their tenets The circumstance which has given rise to
the imputation he thinks can be only that he has in preaching a naturally
energetic manner (which indeed shows itself in his conversation & ordinary
deportment) and that this has attracted to church some persons who before he
came went always to chapel. As the best
mode of disproving the charge brought against him, and of undeceiving the
Bishop, he is about to publish by subscription a Volume of Sermons, which will
explain his real sentiments. As far as a single interview to be depended on Mr
Procter certainly gave me the impression that he was a man of talent &
honesty. He is one of the Bye-Fellows of Peter House; and a gentleman residing
in his parish spoke of him to me as exemplary in his moral character, in the
discharge of all his duties and especially in his attention to the poor. I have
thought it right to inform you of all I knew about him good or bad in order
that you might better be able to decide whether you would avail yourself of his
services or not. I shall see him again next Monday and hope in the mean time to
receive your answer. It was my intention to have left Canterbury last Monday
week and taken Eton on my way down to Hartley but the great fall of snow which
we had in Kent, by obliging me to postpone my departure til the end of the
week, frustrated this plan and as I expect tomorrow to have my two pupils with
me I really am afraid it will hardly be in my power to have the pleasure of
coming over at this time. If you would be so good as to make a memorandum of
any further questions you wish to ask concerning the parish I will send you the
best answers in my power. Next Sunday I
am to preach a Sermon for the Relief of the Manufacturers and the next day we
shall collect what we can in the parish. If you have not already contributed to
the full extent of your intention I should be happy to put down your name for a
small sum at the head of the list. I have not yet received any communication
from the lady you mention respecting her son. I beg you to be assured that I
have never for one moment doubted of your inclination to serve and assist me in
the matter of pupils, or in any other manner as far as circumstances would
admit and my thanks I am sure are due to you for these our good wishess. There
are a few fixtures here belonging to me: which the best way will be to have
appraised and send to you a list of them and a valuation. They are such as my
successor would most probably wish to take. I left Mrs Broughton and children
quite well: I shall be very happy to hear as good an account of Mrs Keate and
yours. With best remembrances to all I am Dear Sir Your faithful humble servant
W: G: Broughton [he uses colons not stops after his initials]
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