Nat Gould

Pilsbury Grange Letter 9

Letter 9 of the Letters from Pilsbury Grange is dated 12 July 1844, and was written by Margaret Gould to her son Richard Goodwin Gould.

[[The address on the cover is:-]

Mr R G Gould
Mr Batchelors
113 New Bond Street
London

[[First page]
July 12 44

My dear Dick

Most probably before you receive this you will have seen your Cousin Sophia & heard from her, she left me very poorly tho’ I have been much worse since. I am thankful to say I am now daily getting better & hope to be quite well before the hay harvest commences which is very late this year & I fear will be very light we have had some nice rain & the [[portion missing] have resumed their usual beautiful colour but still there is not much grass –

on Monday last, Anne, Jane, & James Taylor came to see us they return to day They dined at Josephs on Wednesday to meet their father & Mother, Willie & Mr [[?] they all enquire kindly after you, I [[portion missing] from

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& pleased to see John Gilbert because I be-lieve him to be a steady good young Man – I received your & Nats letters by the same post, I meant to have reply’d to them both to day, but fear I shall find this sufficient for me to day – you will be very sorry to hear poor Bess has had a sore misfortune to lose her Fanny, you perhaps remember an old mine opposite the stone Close Style covered with thorns, it contrived to fall in there, & [[portion missing] was no depth for its head was out [[portion missing] was quite dead when found, & was got [[portion missing] a job & a very pretty black thing it was carried Bess delightfully, it would have been just the thing for you & quite in trim for you, it is a long time since we heard from William, & I have been fancying he was

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in communication with you when to come home, but you have nothing of him it seems tell Nat I will write to him soon & send him an order for tea &c – I have sent some silk by Sophia for you to get me well died [[underlined twice] black you must consult Mr Cooper or Mrs Peake when to have it done, we will attend to your shirts when we get a pattern, I should have been glad to hear you have had a good season & if your trade is good generally [[portion missing] think Mrs Gould will not go to London at present Mrs Briggs & family are at Brighton I should think it has been a very good & gay season with so many foreigners, I hope you & Nat always spend a portion of the Sabbath day together, & always go to some place of worship to give duty to God as the first of duties – have you seen Mr Dakin

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we found Mrs Richard Tomkinson a very plea–sant Woman I am glad to say
[[portion missing] Richard is so busy he cannot come to see me unless absolutely necessary – my love indeed

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say to Nat and all the cousins & pray write again if you have received Mrs Goulds spectacles from optic tell Mr Briggs they must go Dollds[[?] in St Pauls Churchyard write soon to you affectionate mother
Margaret Gould

The letter is written as two sheets sealed in the old-fashioned way without an envelope. The cover sheet is stamped with a one penny imperforate red stamp, and has a Bakewell postmark dated 13 July 1844, and a London arrival backstamp in red dated 19 July 1844.

Of the people mentioned in the letter, "Cousin Sophia" was apparently not Sophia Tomkinson, daughter of Ellen Tomkinson née Peake the sister of Margaret Gould. Instead she seems to have been Sophia Sarah Stothard, because of the mention of the Home and Colonial School in London in Letter 10. The relationship to the Peake and Gould families is unknown, and she may just have been a friend of Margaret Gould.

The Taylors are presumably the Bakewell family, but their connection with the Goulds of Pilsbury Grange is not known. John Gilbert was the Bakewell friend of Richard Goodwin Gould.

Bess was the writer's daughter Elizabeth Ann Gould 1827-1868. The curious loss of "Fanny" is reported in terms of regret rather than bereavement, so the unfortunate victim seems unlikely to have been a child. More probably it was a pet dog. Bess was not married during the lifetime of her mother.

"Mrs Richard Tomkinson" is the wife of her nephew Richard Tomkinson 1812-1876, who is the "Richard" she mentions. They were very recently married.

Nat was the writer's son Nathaniel Gould 1824-1874. Joseph would be Joseph Gould of the Lower House at Pilsbury, and Mrs Briggs was Frances Briggs née Frances Gould 1809-1887 of neighbouring Ludwell. Mr Dakin was the future Sir Thomas Dakin of London. Mrs Gould, whose spectacles were an anxiety, was probably of the Lower House family. Mr Briggs would be George Briggs 1802-1880, the husband of Frances Briggs.

"Dollds" is Dollonds, the well known and still trading firm of opticians. John Dollond 1706-1761 had entered into an agreement with Francis Watkins, who was succeeded in his business at 5 Charing Cross by his nephew Jeremiah Watkins. He became a famous optician and married Charlotte Peake. She was related to Margaret Gould (who was born Margaret Peake). So presumably Margaret Gould was recommending Dollonds as an associated firm rather than a rival business.

The identities of the other people mentioned in the letter are unknown.