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Donald Henderson Clarke - The Housekeeper's Daughter
Avon Books 503, 1953
Cover Artist: unknown
"She was curvey and careless, and lived down the hall."
(from - Wrigley's 1918 British Columbia Directory) - WILMER - a post office and mining town on west bank of Columbia River, 70 miles south of Golden, and 4 north of Windermere Lake, in Columbia Provincial Electoral District. It was named after Wilmer Cleveland Wells (1840-1933) a rancher and lumberman who founded the place in the late 1890's.
The highest temperature officially recorded in Canada was at Wilmer, British Columbia: 115º F on - 19 June 1911.
The "Peterborough" Post Office was established - 1 May 1900; name changed to "WILMER" Post Office - 1 May 1902, possibly as required by Post Office Department, to avoid duplication with the much larger community of Peterborough, Ontario. A 1907 Marriage Licence was issued at Peterborough (BC Archives), but by WW I the community was well known as Wilmer. The WILMER Post Office closed - 19 March 1969.
Distributing point - Cranbrook and Golden
LINK to a list of the Postmasters who served at the PETERBOROUGH and WILMER Post Offices - www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/postal-heritage-philately/...;
- sent from - / WILMER / JUN 10 / 08 / B.C / - split ring cancel - this split ring hammer (A1-1 / first hammer) was not listed in the Proof Book - it was most likely proofed c. 1902 - (RF C).
Message on postcard reads: "Pon my Honor" (upon my honor) you might write once in a while - was expecting to hear all the old songs but am not going out now. It's a shame to take the money. A. W. G.
This was most likely sent by - Ada Winnifred Griffiths - she was a school teacher in Wilmer, B.C. in 1908 - she married Frank Bogden Hume - 24 March 1909 in Wilmer, B.C. - LINK to an article about her mother - images.findagrave.com/photos/2020/148/121305164_4db393c1-...
Ada Winifred (nee Griffiths) Hume
Birth - 26 Sep 1878 in Victoria, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Death - 23 May 1968 (aged 89) in West Vancouver, Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Her husband - Frank Bogden Hume (b. 5 September 1883 in Galt, Ontario - Died of Wounds (Shrapnel wound, right breast) at No. 3 Australian Casualty Clearing Station. Wounded October 27, 1917 and died from those wounds on - 31 October 1917) LINK to article - Wilmer's Hume Brothers fought side by side - issuu.com/columbiavalleypioneer/docs/vol7issue45/16
Addressed to: Miss Edna Laing (Lang) / Enderby, / British Columbia
Edna Jessie Lang
Birth - 14 Aug 1888 in Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan, USA
Death - 14 Nov 1972 (aged 84) in Kelowna, Central Okanagan Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Burial - Enderby Cliffside Cemetery, Enderby, North Okanagan Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
She was never married / her occupation was a housekeeper
Her father: John Lang
(b. about 1861 in Plympton, Lambton, Ontario, Canada – d. 23 October 1894 in Port Huron, St. Clair, Michigan, United States)
Her mother: Elizabeth "Lizzie" (nee Mack) Lang / Reeves
(b. 27 September 1868 in St. Marys, Perth, Ontario, Canada - d. 9 August 1955 in Enderby, British Columbia, Canada)
She married John Lang - 27 Sep 1887 in Plympton, Lambton, Ontario, Canada - after his death she married Arthur Reeves - 16 December 1908 in Enderby, British Columbia, Canada. Arthur Reeves was a Pharmacist who owned the "A. Reeves-Drugs" Drug Store in Enderby.
LINK to a photo of Edna Jessie Lang and her mother Elizabeth Reeves (Back row, left to right: Edna Lang, Earl Douglas, Flossie Mack, Elizabeth Reeves, Pete Mack, Isabel Mack. Middle row, left to right: Walter Mack, Irene Mack, Janet Mack, William Mack. Front row, left to right: Janette Mack, James Mack, Mary Mack) - arcabc.ca/islandora/object/enderby%3A3420?solr_nav%5Bid%5...
Italian postcard by Casa Editrice Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 660. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn, Roma. Mae Murray in The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925).
American actress and dancer Mae Murray (1885-1965) had her breakthrough on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Follies. Her film debut was in To Have and to Hold (1916). Murray became one of the biggest stars of Universal, often directed by her then-husband, Robert Z. Leonard. At the height of her career, she decided to found her own company with director John Stahl. While the films were successful, critics didn’t like them, because of her exaggerated emotions and her costumes. In the early 1920s, Murray started acting at Metro (later MGM). Murray’s most famous role was that in Erich Von Stroheim’s The Merry Widow (1925), co-starring John Gilbert.
Mae Murray always said to be born as Marie Adrienne Koenig in Portsmouth in 1885. The incorrigible Murray however loved to reinvent her past. Michael Ankerich, who wrote a well-documented biography about her, has found in the City of New York birth registers that she was born in New York as Anna Mary Koenig. She was the second-oldest child of Joseph and Mary (née Miller) Koenig, both children of European emigres. In May 1896, Joseph Koenig died from acute gastritis due to his alcoholism. To support the family, Mary Koenig took a job as a housekeeper for businessman Harry Payne Whitney. Ankerich has also made intensive research on the beginnings of Mae’s career, trying to set the record straight. Mae made her Broadway debut in 1904 in the chorus of 'The Sho-Gun'. In 1908 she became a chorus girl at the Ziegfeld Follies. Among her many dance partners was the young Clifton Web in 1914. Murray replaced Irene Castle in Irving Berlin’s 'Watch Your Step' for one week at the end of January 1915. Later in 1915, she became the leading lady at Ziegfeld. Her first number immediately stunned the star-studded opening night audience. People screamed and threw flowers at her feet on the stage. Mae soon became accustomed to her own celebrity, the companionship of high society, and the attention of millionaires anxious to be seen with the latest toast of Manhattan on their arms. In September 1908, in Hoboken, New Jersey, while she was appearing in the Follies of 1908, Murray married William M. Schwenker, Jr., the unemployed son of a brewery-supply dealer, who cut off his son's allowance upon news of the wedding. The pair divorced in 1910. In 1916, she married former dancer and future Olympic bobsled champion Jay O'Brien. They divorced in 1918. Adolph Zukor signed her to a screen contract with Paramount. Her film debut was in the silent adventure drama To Have and to Hold (George Melford, 1916) with Wallace Reid. In the following years, Murray acted in a string of box office hits, including The Dream Girl (Cecil B. DeMille, 1916) with Theodore Roberts, and A Mormon Maid (Robert Z. Leonard, 1917), in which she played alongside then-actor Frank Borzage. Director and producer Robert Z. Leonard became her third husband. With Robert Z. Leonard, she joined Universal to open her own production unit, Bluebird, and Leonard directed most of Murray’s films in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Many of their films, contained dance sequences that were designed especially for her. In 1919, she paired up with friend and former dance partner Rudolph Valentino in The Delicious Little Devil (Robert Z. Leonard, 1919) and Big Little Person (Robert Z. Leonard, 1919). These 'silent musicals' were usually constructed on a framework of light romance or comedy set in exotic locales or historical settings. The elaborate decor and magnificent costumes enriched the visuals. Their success made Mae Murray into one of Universal's biggest stars. Mae became a defining example of silent film excess. She was promoted in all the fanzines flaunting the lifestyle expected of Hollywood royalty, spending her millions on jewelry, motorcars, racehorses, couture. In 1922, 'The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips' started acting at Metro (later MGM). With husband Robert Z. Leonard and M.H. Hoffman, she had founded Tiffany Productions (1921-1933). Murray and Leonard signed with Louis B. Mayer to make films for Metro under the Tiffany label. They made eight films together, showcases for Murray’s extravagant and florid performance style. After Circe the Enchantress (Robert Z. Leonard, 1924), Murray and Leonard parted. They officially divorced in 1925. While her films with Leonard were successful at the box office, the critics didn’t like them, because of her exaggerated emotions and her over-the-top costumes. Her overacting, lifting up her nose and showing her teeth, was parodied by Marion Davies in the delicious comedy The Patsy (King Vidor, 1928). Although Murray’s presence can be considered excessive and baroque, her fans called her 'The Gardenia of the Screen'. She pleasurably perfumed and intensified audience experience of her 'silent musicals', of which the scores were performed by large orchestras in the movie palaces in the cities, while smaller venues used giant Wurlitzer organs. Her many fans revelled thus in her colourful performances. Her most famous role is The Merry Widow (Erich von Stroheim, 1925). John Gilbert plays a prince, who must woo the now wealthy dancer he once abandoned in order to keep her money in the country in order to keep it from crashing economically. The reception for the film was superlative. Critics praised the artistic choices, such as the colours in the wedding sequence at the film’s end. Mordaunt Hall in The New York Times: "The Widow is, of course, impersonated by Mae Murray, who demonstrates true acting ability in this effort. Hitherto she was like a top, and one seldom caught much more than a flash of her face. Here she stands still; she wears her costumes with a full realization of their splendor." The Merry Widow boasted the largest box office for any Hollywood studio in 1925 and would remain the most successful film both Murray and von Stroheim ever made.
Mae Murray's fourth husband was ‘Prince’ David Mdivani, a Georgian man of minor aristocratic roots, whose brothers Serge and Alexis married actress Pola Negri and the heiress Barbara Hutton respectively. The father of the 'marrying Mdivani' trio, later admitted that he was the only Prince to ever inherit a title from his sons. When Mae let her prince take control over her business affairs, he ill-advised her to quit MGM. So, Murray made a scene at the studio, stepped out of her contract, and left Louis B. Mayer in 1927. Later, blacklisted by Mayer, she sorely regretted this. When the sound film came along, Mae Murray’s voice didn’t fit her image. Murray made an insecure sound debut in Peacock Alley (Marcel de Sano, 1930), a remake of her silent hit Peacock Alley (Robert Z. Leonard, 1921). Produced by Tiffany Pictures, the film was lavishly produced with elaborate sets despite its low budget. But the fortunes of Tiffany Pictures had now come to an end. In her next sound film, Bachelor Apartment (Lowell Sherman, 1931), she co-starred with newcomer Irene Dunne, Lowell Sherman, and Norman Kerry. After another RKO production, High Stakes (Lowell Sherman, 1931), she left the film business for good. At Silents Are Golden, J. Stephen Walters writes about her final films: "In these, a capable voice proves equal to sound, but the films otherwise present Mae disastrously - badly photographed low-budget productions, clearly showing her age." Prince Mdivani had spent all of her money and the couple divorced in 1934. Later, there was a nasty custody battle about their son Koran David Mdivani, born in 1927. After two years, when she finally was given custody, she was unable to care for her son due to financial and personal problems. In 1940, he was adopted by his foster family and his name was changed to Daniel Michael Cunning. In 1934, Murray returned to Broadway briefly to perform in The Milky Way. In the 1940s, she performed an act at the Times Square establishment Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub. Her dancing in the Merry Widow Waltz was well received, but she was criticised for her youthful costumes and heavy makeup application, doing all to mask her age. In 1946, she taught ballroom dancing to young teenagers at a dance studio in Los Angeles. In her later years, Mae Murray suffered from financial problems and lived in poverty. In 1959, she was the subject of an authorised biography, 'Mae Murray - The Self-Enchanted', written by Jane Ardmore. Reportedly it sold poorly. Mae ended her days in the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles. There she passed away of heart failure in 1965 at the age of 79. She only left a trunk containing clothing and keepsakes. In the early 1990s, the Dutch EYE Film Institute (Nederlands Filmmuseum) found two early Mae Murray films, which she made for Universal: The Delicious Little Devil (Robert Z. Leonard, 1919), with the young Rudolph Valentino, and The ABC of Love (Léonce Perret, 1919). EYE also found and restored Murray’s film The Right to Love (George Fitzmaurice, 1920), a Famous Players-Lasky production.
Sources: Mordaunt Hall (The New York Times), Artemis Willis (Women Film Pioneers Project), J. Stephen Walters (Silent Are Golden), Jimmy Bangley (Classic Images), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and Dutch), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Detail from a Morton Salt advertisement that appeared in the August 1937 issue of Farmer's Wife magazine. A man berates his wife to the point of tears because she didn't buy the right kind of salt. "You're just lucky I married you, you stupid bitch!"
When it rains, it pours.
Introduction.
William Julian Light has to be considered as one of the main founders of our city and state although he lived here for only three years until his death in October 1839. His vision, planning and surveying has left an indelible mark across the state. Sadly his time here was fraught with conflict, disrespect by many and ill health. He clearly knew that he was dying of tuberculosis for some time but he could not return to England so he died at his house in Thebarton. The South Australian newspaper in 1839 reported in mid September that “this highly esteemed colonist still continues in a very precarious state” and that there was little hope of recovery. When he died the government arranged a state funeral with the body carried from his home at Thebarton to Trinity Church where the service was conducted by the Colonial Chaplain Rev C Howard. Shops and banks closed for the day. The government offered £100 before the funeral to start a public memorial fund. The funeral was the largest congregation of people in the colony to that time. 423 gentlemen and state officials took part in the funeral procession and around 3,000 colonists followed. The body was appropriately interred in Light Square. Left is a
1904 painting of William Light owned by the Royal Geographical Society of SA.
Colonel William Light – his family heritage.
Francis Light, the father of William, was in the British navy and began the British settlement of Malaysia when he leased the Island of Penang from 1786. Francis Light founded the town of Georgetown and British Penang for the East India Company. Francis took a princess of Thai (Siamese) and Portuguese heritage from neighbouring Kedah as his bride whom he married in a local ceremony not recognised by the British. He had four daughters and two sons with Marina Rozells including William Light. Francis died in 1794 in Penang. Young William was born in 1786 in Penang and sent back to England for his schooling in 1792 to Theberton in Suffolk where he stayed in Theberton Hall owned by the aristocratic Doughty family. Francis Light’s Penang had a street grid pattern around a swamp, drains and a couple of hills. Church and mosque were allocated a zone with a cemetery further away etc and open ground was left around the fort and the public buildings. Undoubtedly Colonel William Light was very aware of his father’s design of Penang.
William Light joined the navy early and then the British Army from 1808-1814 when he served in Spain and elsewhere in the Napoleonic Wars under the Duke of Wellington. He was a brave leader and highly respected. When he left the Army in 1821 he married 19 year old E Perois in Northern Ireland. Her parents were probably Caesar and Mary Perois who are buried in the Londonderry Protestant Cathedral. She probably died a short time afterwards but nothing is known about her demise. He remarried in 1824 to nineteen year old Mary Bennet the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Richmond. At that time Light was 38 years old. Light and Mary moved in literary and artistic circles. Light and his wealthy bride bought a yacht and sailed the Mediterranean for several years. They finally explored Egypt. Light painted, wrote and published his work. When he returned to England on business his wife took up a new lover and the Light marriage ended in 1832. She later had three children with the surname of Light but they were fathered by two other men. William Light in 1832 began an affair with Maria Gandy who was 21 years old when Light was 45 years old. William Light returned to Egypt in 1834 to captain the steamer the Nile and it was at this time that he met John Hindmarsh and John Morphett. In fact it was in Egypt that Hindmarsh heard that Light was going to be offered the post of governor of the new colony. Hindmarsh returned to England with a letter of introduction to Sir Charles Napier, a friend of Light, who was going to be involved in the decision about the governorship and Hindmarsh put himself forward- successfully. Light was then offered the position of Surveyor-General. Maria voyaged out to South Australia in 1836 on the Rapid with Colonel Light and others as his housekeeper. Her two brothers Edward and William were on the Rapid. Another brother George who arrived in 1838 named his child William Light Gandy in 1840. Maria stayed with Light until his death in Adelaide when she inherited his estate. Her brothers stayed in Thebarton with William being the Hindmarsh pound keeper. Edward went to California and then the Victorian gold fields and was quite successful. He bought two hotels which he managed for the rest of his life. He was mourned when he died as an 1836 pioneer of SA. In 1840 a few months after Light’s death Maria Gandy married Dr George Mayo. She had four children with Dr Mayo before her own death of tuberculosis, probably caught from Colonel Light, in 1847. It was the Mayo family who inherited William Light’s land portfolio, his papers and paintings etc and they benefited from the sale and development of Lights section 1. A granddaughter of Dr Mayo and Maria Gandy was the well-known South Australia Dr Helen Mayo. Dr George Mayo became the chief surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for most of his life. He remarried in 1853.
Light – the man and his personal life.
William Light had an excellent balance of practical expertise, a good geographical eye, common sense and vision. He was a painter and writer. He kept meticulous diaries. He was known for his hard work, loyalty and commitment to his tasks in South Australia. He persisted against the wishes of Governor Hindmarsh who instigated a public meeting to have the site of Adelaide changed to Port Adelaide and the constant backstabbing and lies of his Deputy Surveyor General George Kingston and public criticism of his choice of the Adelaide site and the slow rate at which land was trigonometrically surveyed ready for sale. Unable to cope with the frustrations of his office and the lack of surveyors to speed up the work he resigned in June 1838 just before Governor Hindmarsh was recalled in July 1838. Colonel Light then established his own private surveying firm with Boyle Travers Finniss (who became in effect the first SA premier although that term was not used then). One of their major employees from the original survey team was Henry Nixon. When Governor Gawler arrived in October 1838 the survey department under the control of the incompetent Kingston was in disarray and Gawler appointed Captain Charles Sturt as Surveyor General. William Light was a religious man and along with Maria Gandy they were both among the original 32 subscriber donors to Trinity Church on North Terrace. Yet when Light was on his death bed Reverend Charles Howard of that church refused to visit Colonel Light. Colonel Light established Light Finniss and Co in July 1838 with their offices in Stephen’s Place. The new company received private commission to lay out several important SA towns namely Gawler which still has a Light Square and an Anglican Church in a central square (Orleana Square); and Glenelg which was a private town on the land of William Finke. Light’s company laid out Glenelg by 30 March 1839 with a central square (Torrens Square) for the Church of England (Anglican) as he had done in Gawler. Governor Gawler approved this town plan of Glenelg on 18 May 1839 and his wife proposed the name of St Peters for the church. Glenelg had earlier been set aside as a town reserve but it was thrown open to selection by ballot in February 1839 when Finke and others won the ballot. Light Finniss and Co also laid out the village of Marion along the banks of the Sturt River. Colonel Light died in October 1839 and Boyle Finniss returned to the public service as Deputy Surveyor General also in late 1839 under direction of Edward Charles Frome who was Surveyor General from October 1839 to February 1849. Frome reported his early work was redoing the sections around Adelaide which had been inaccurately surveyed by George Kingston.
Light - Surveying, Mapping, Military Skills and Planning.
Colonel Light between September and December examined at least six possible sites for the siting of Adelaide. He chose the Adelaide Plains after his explorations of the harbour at Port Adelaide area at the end of September 1836 but not the actual location of the city as the River Torrens had not been discovered at that time. Kingston and John Morphett and others discovered the River Torrens in November as Holdfast Bay had also been discovered. Light then favoured the current Adelaide site but the final decision was not made until December 1836. Light’s assistant surveyor was George Kingston who lied about being a surveyor and had no skills at surveying. The areas of the city which Kingston surveyed were redone by Light because of the numerous errors. Surveying of Adelaide began on 11 January 1837 covering areas north and south of the River Torrens and covering 1,042 town acres surrounded by 2,300 acres of figure eight parklands exclusive of 32 acres for the cemetery and a further 38 acres for public squares. The city lands were sold in March 1837. The areas surrounding the city area were also surveyed in 1837 and put up for public sale. All these surveys were done by trigonometrical surveying which is the most accurate and Colonel Light’s theodolite is pictured left. All started from trig point one on the corner of North and West Terraces. This was also the location of Resident Commissioner James Hurtle Fisher’s cottage and the Surveying Office occupied by Light and Light’s cottage. Both these cottages were destroyed by fire in January 1839 when Light lost most of his papers and drawings. January 1839 was also the time when Light moved into his new house on his Thebarton lands. Most of the Adelaide metropolitan area was surveyed in 1837 creating 137 sections of land each of 134 acres. Those who bought land orders in England before colonisation at the reduced price of 12 shillings per acre could then purchase 134 acres instead of the advertised 80 acre sections which were to apply elsewhere. On 18 May 1838, just over a year since the sale of Adelaide town lots, Light declared that 150,000 acres of land was ready for settlement, or almost so. They were:
69,000 acres around Adelaide; 27,000 acres at Rapid Bay; 5,400 acres at Yankalilla; 20,000 acres on Kangaroo Island; and 28,000 acres in the Onkaparinga Valley. But a month later Colonel Light resigned as Surveyor General.
Light and Adelaide.
Edward Gibbon Wakefield who had played a role in promoting the concept of the colony and had had help from the Duke of Wellington to get the SA Act passed in the British parliament hoped the capital of the new colony would be named Wellington. But King William IV was asked if he wanted the capital named after himself. He declined and asked for it to be named after his wife Adelaide. Not to be deterred when Edward Gibbon Wakefield established his New Zealand Company in 1839 his first settlement was named Wellington. It later became the capital of New Zealand. Colonel William Light was given the task of selecting the site for the new capital in line with set criteria and his own expertise. The capital had to have a nearby port, a river for a water supply and a hinterland of good arable land for farmers etc. Light discounted other sites including Rapid Bay, Port Lincoln and Encounter Bay because they did not meet all of these criteria and he chose the current site. It was a few miles from a safe port at Port Adelaide, had extensive fertile lands to the north and south, and as he had spent years in the Mediterranean he knew the orthographic effect would increase the rainfall of the Mount Lofty Ranges to provide adequate water in the River Torrens and other streams. Ground water was also available from wells and bores under the proposed city. He chose a spot safe from flooding which was a problem below the city site and also one with a zone of higher rainfall between it and the foothills. Although the site was criticised by some led by Governor Hindmarsh, hindsight has shown that Light could not have chosen a better location. He sited the cemetery below the residential areas on West Terrace and he selected North Adelaide for grander residences away from the commercial areas.
But it was his actual plan for the city which earned him a great place in urban history. He knew from his days in the British Army that grid patterns worked well. But he introduced numerous squares and an encircling belt of parklands or green space. Colonel light was a well-read educated man and undoubtedly drew on the work of previous town planners. Perhaps he drew inspiration from the planners of beautiful Georgian Bath in the late 1700s with its grand boulevards, parks, terrace houses and arcs and curves. Or perhaps he was influenced by General James Oglethorpe, the designer of Savannah, Georgia which was done in 1733. Savannah has a grid plan, with each block divided by a narrow street and with 18 town squares. The wide main street of Savannah crosses five of the town squares, whereas in Light’s plan for Adelaide the wide main street (King William Street) only crosses Victoria Square. Savannah is not surrounded by a parkland belt. Colonel light was a world leader with this brilliant idea. At the end of the 19th century Light’s ideas were used in the garden city movement in Britain and America. Serendipitously these ideas were used by Charles Reade in the planning of Colonel Light Gardens.
For my new residence. Free board and lodging, but must be prepared to do a little cleaning, gardening, cooking etc. Most importantly, must have a sense of humour. :-)
... a ghost story. Let much of the story revolve around a cemetery. Put two children, very strange children, in the story and house them in a dark, damp mansion somewhere out on a lonely moor. Have an innocent housekeeper and a nanny on hand, but give them absolutely no one they can turn to in an emergency .. unless, of course, someone dies..
If you'd like to hear that story, rent the movie The Innocents, a movie based on Henry James book The Turn of the Screw.
This from Wikipedia ...
Plot summary
An unnamed narrator listens to a male friend reading a manuscript written by a former governess whom the friend claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has found himself responsible for his niece and nephew after the death of their parents. He lives in London and has no interest in raising the children. The boy, Miles, is attending a boarding school whilst his sister, Flora, is living at the country house in Essex. She is currently being cared for by the housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. The governess's new employer gives her full charge of the children and explicitly states that she is not to bother him with communications of any sort. The governess travels to her new employer's country house and begins her duties.
Miles soon returns from school for the summer just after a letter from the headmaster stating that he has been expelled. Miles never speaks of the matter, and the governess is hesitant to raise the issue. She fears that there is some horrid secret behind the expulsion, but is too charmed by the adorable young boy to want to press the issue. Shortly thereafter, the governess begins to see around the grounds of the estate the figures of a man and woman whom she does not recognize. These figures come and go at will without ever being seen or challenged by other members of the household, and they seem to the governess to be supernatural. She learns from Mrs. Grose that her predecessor, Miss Jessel, and Miss Jessel's illicit lover Peter Quint both died under curious circumstances. Prior to their death, they spent most of their time with Flora and Miles, and this fact takes on grim significance for the governess when she becomes convinced that the two children are secretly aware of the presence of the ghosts.
Later, Flora runs away from the house while Miles plays music for the Governess. They notice and go to find her. The governess and Mrs. Grose find her in a clearing in the wood, and the governess is convinced that she has been talking to Miss Jessel. When Flora is forced to admit this, she demands to never see the governess again. Mrs. Grose takes Flora away to her uncle, leaving the governess with Miles. That night, they are finally talking of Miles' expulsion when the ghost of Quint appears at the window. The governess shields Miles, who screams at her as he attempts to see the ghost. The governess tells him that he is no longer under the control of the ghost, and finds that Miles has died in her arms.
[edit] Major themes
Throughout his career James was attracted to the ghost story genre. However, he was not fond of literature's stereotypical ghosts, the old-fashioned 'screamers' and 'slashers'. Rather, he preferred to create ghosts that were eerie extensions of everyday reality—"the strange and sinister embroidered on the very type of the normal and easy," as he put it in the New York Edition preface to his final ghost story, The Jolly Corner.
The Turn of the Screw is no exception to this formula. In fact, some critics have wondered if he didn't intend the "strange and sinister" to be embroidered only on the governess's mind and not on objective reality. The result has been a long-standing critical dispute over the reality of the ghosts and the sanity of the governess.
Beyond the dispute, critics have closely examined James's narrative technique in the story. The framing introduction and subsequent first-person narrative by the governess have been studied by theorists of fiction interested in the power of fictional narratives to convince or even manipulate readers.
The imagery of The Turn of the Screw is reminiscent of the gothic genre. The emphasis on old and mysterious buildings throughout the novella reinforces this motif. James also relates the amount of light present in various scenes to the strength of the supernatural or ghostly forces apparently at work. The governess refers directly to The Mysteries of Udolpho and indirectly to Jane Eyre, evoking a comparison of the governess not only to Jane Eyre's protagonist, but to Bertha, the madwoman confined in Thornfield.[1]
[edit] Literary significance and criticism
The dispute over the reality of the ghosts has had a real effect on some critics, most notably Edmund Wilson, who was one of the first proponents of the insane governess theory. However, he was eventually forced to recant this view under fire from opposing critics who pointed to the governess's point-by-point description of Quint. Then John Silver ("A Note on the Freudian Reading of 'The Turn of the Screw'" American Literature, 1957) pointed out hints in the story that the governess might have gained previous knowledge of Quint's appearance in non-supernatural ways. This induced Wilson to recant his recantation and return to his original view that the governess was unbalanced and that the ghosts existed only in her imagination.
William Veeder sees Miles's eventual death as induced by the governess, but he traces the governess's motive back through two larger strands: English imperialism (based on the oblique reference in the introduction to India, where the parents of Miles and Flora died) and the way patriarchy raises its daughters. Through a complex psychoanalytic reading, Veeder concludes that the governess takes out her repressed rage toward her father and toward the master of Bly on Miles.
Other critics, however, have defended the governess strongly. They point out that James' letters, his New York Edition preface, and his Notebooks contain no definite evidence that The Turn of the Screw was intended as anything other than a straightforward ghost story. James's Notebooks entry indicates that he was originally inspired by a tale he heard from Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This unconventional source, like almost everything else about the story, has generated critical commentary.
James revised the novella heavily over the years. in The Collier's Weekly Version of The Turn of the Screw, Peter G. Beidler presents the tale in its original serial form and presents a detailed analysis of the changes James made over the years. Among many other things, James changed the ages of the children.
Jenny works in a huge private house. She wasn't given a unform, just told to look smart. She always wears a smart shirt. She chose this one today and likes it because it fits really well. She particularly likes the high 2 button ruffle collar. Her employer is always impressed with the effort she makes.
A young native woman pictured in the shade of trees in a back garden. She's a so-called Baboe, a housekeeper or nanny, as the handwriting on reverse explains – see below.
Meine Baboe (Bediente)
Achtergalerij in Pension Embong Woengoe 7
Soerabaja, 2.8.1926
My Baboe (housekeeper, nanny)
back porch of boarding house Embong Woengoe 7
Surabaya, August 2, 1926
Country of origin: Dutch East Indies
Those of you who follow these piccies will notice that the the pictures behind me have been on the floor unhung for the last three years - Oh Dear - not much chance of my making it as Housewife of the Year
Hendrickje Stoffels entered Rembrandt's household as a housekeeper and dry nurse to his son Titus in 1649, seven years after the death of his wife Saskia. Hendrickje became Rembrandt's mistress, and in 1654 she gave birth to their daughter Cornelia. Hendrickje died in 1663.
There is no documented portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels, and the identification of the sitter in this painting is largely based on the knowledge of the sitter's relationship with the artist, and the informality and affection with which she is represented. Her hair is decorated with jewels and she is shown wearing a fur wrap, with pearl earrings and a chain around her neck.
The free brushwork, particularly in Hendrickje's wrap, has led to suggestions that the painting is unfinished. Yet given that the painting is signed, it is likely that Rembrandt himself considered it finished. The meticulous execution of the subject's face, giving it greater emphasis, is a technique found in many of Rembrandt's portraits.
Source: National Gallery
Hendrickje Stoffels entró en la casa de Rembrandt como ama de llaves y enfermera para su hijo Tito en 1649 , siete años después de la muerte de su esposa Saskia . Hendrickje se convirtió en la amante de Rembrandt , y en 1654 dio a luz a su hija Cornelia . Hendrickje murió en 1663 .
No hay ningún retrato documentado de Hendrickje Stoffels , y la identificación de la retratada en esta pintura se basa en gran medida en el conocimiento de la relación de la modelo con el artista, y la informalidad y el cariño con el que se representa . Su cabello está decorado con joyas y ella se muestra llevando un abrigo de pieles , con pendientes de perlas y una cadena alrededor de su cuello .
La pincelada libre , sobre todo alrededor de Hendrickje , ha llevado a sugerir que la pintura está sin terminar. Sin embargo, dado que se firmó la pintura, es probable que el propio Rembrandt la consideró terminada. La ejecución meticulosa de la cara del sujeto , dándole mayor énfasis , es una técnica que se encuentra en muchos de los retratos de Rembrandt .
Fuente: National Gallery
Found image. It looks like this group of servants at a big house are about to have their own party in the stables. I imagine the two women in frilly caps are the parlour maids, perhaps the woman on the left is the housekeeper and the man may be the butler. One of the women in the foreground is probably the cook. And the dog is not planning on being missed out.
Estate torrida,la piccola ombra della palma è un rifugio e un ritrovo per queste donne di servizio Ucraine in Napoli (dopo un giro a o' Buvero).
Oggi con le rivolta di KIEV viene da pensare: ovvio che sono incazzati, le loro donne possono godere della fresca mite ombra Partenopea.
A loro solo divieto di protesta, divieto di Europa,botte, e freddo e gelo.
Scorching Summer, the small shadow of palm tree is a refuge and a meeting place, for these Ukrainian women houseKeeper in Naples.
Today with the cruel riot in KIEV comes from thinking: obvious who they are pissed of, their women can enjoy the mild fresh Neapolitan shade
instead to their only, protest ban, ban on entry Europe, beaten up, and cold and frost. :-))
o Buvero= la piazza e' l'ingresso dei vicoli del mercato/suk, dove si trova di tutto a prezzi convenienti
The Housekeeper’s Room in Queen Mary's Dolls' House – a typical example of the rooms provided for the upper servants, with modern furniture from Waring & Gillow and colourful wash-stand sets from the Cauldron Pottery.
The dolls’ house is the subject of a new book, The Queen’s Doll’s House, published by the Royal Collection, 25 October 2010. Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is on permanent display at Windsor Castle.
The Royal Collection © 2010, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
not for reproduction
Yesterday my housekeeper bought a new motorbike so we all went to the temple in Khok Kloy to have it blessed by the head monk. While we were there I asked him if I could come back in the morning and fly the Phantom over the temple to photograph it in the early morning light. He seemed thrilled with the idea so this morning I went down there and flew around with him standing next to me and looking over my shoulder. He had a huge grin on his face the whole time as he saw his temple from a totally different perspective.
A lovely lady I was fortunate to meet and photograph whilst traveling in India.
Photographed in natural light with a white wall of a building out of sight providing the illumination to her right side.
This is a reworked image taken from the colour original, scored third place in the
Seaford Photographic Society Portrait print competition 15/11/2013
Munnar, Kerala, South India
This small abandoned house sits in the middle of a field near Sawyerville, Quebec and this cow makes sure nobody gets too close.
Cette petite maison abandonnée se trouve au milieu d'un champ près de Sawyerville, Québec et cette vache s'assure que personne ne s'approche trop près.
Housekeeper, Quanah Parker & Wife Tonacey
Donor: Charles Britton,
Fort Sill Museum
Oct. 7, 2009
Quanah Had Word For Wives 'You Tell'em"
Legend has it that a high Washington Indian official pressed Quanah to give up polygamy & conform to the white's man law.
The Indian official told the chief, "When you get back home, Quanah, pick out the wife you like best & tell the other five they must set out."
The Comanche listened without comment.
The official repeated, "Just pick out your favorite wife & tell the others they've got to move."
"You tell "em," Quanah replied.
Quanah is buried beside his mother in the hills of Comanche County, near Lawton, Oklahoma.
An illustration of a housekeeper cleaning a home, vacuuming the home's living room.
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Askil was booked on a flight from Southampton at half nine, so to get him there in time we had to be on the six o'clock ferry. And to be on that, we had to be on the road at five to drive to Newport and then back out to East Cowes as the floating bridge does not work at that time.
So, alarm at twenty to five, finish packing, and out to the car to load up, and inching past us on the Solent was a huge cruise ship, like a Vogon Constructor fleet vessel, lit up like a Christmas tree, but the shape of a brutalist concrete block.
I was pretty sure I could find the ferry terminal without the sat nav, so we drove through the empty streets of West Cowes, then on the main drag to Newport past the two illuminated prisons, past the retail park, over the now narrow River Medina, and out of the town towards Cowes.
Not much traffic, but what there was, was in a train behind us, all heading to the ferry terminal.
We arrived at half five, the ferry had just arrived, so we waited in line to be allowed on.
The ferry was not even a quarter full, but there was a rush up the stairs to get to the cafeteria in order to get fresh food.
We joined them and had a child's breakfast, which was four items off the menu, which was two sausages, bacon and hash browns for me.
The ferry glided out of her moorings, down the river and out into open water, with only light winds, it was a pleasant crossing, and near to Southampton dawn's warm light was spreading from the south east. The city itself was only just waking up.
From there it was a fifteen minute blast up to the motorway and along to the airport, dropping Askil and his bags off at the railway station so to avoid the £2 drop-off fee at the airport.
We were not the only ones doing this.
And I was alone again.
I turned the car round, drive back to the motorway, then up the M3 as the first rays of the sun lit the Hampshire countryside.
It was going to be a fine day, and I was heading back home.
I thought it was going to be the drive from hell, getting up the M3 before eight, then along the M25 the following hour. I mean, traffic was going to be awful, right? It always is on the M25, it used to still be mad at midnight when I used to drive back to Lyneham after a weekend at home.
Well, maybe because it was half term, but the traffic on the M3 was light, and lighter still on the M25. Only hold up being the A3 junction where it is being rebuilt, even then just for a few minutes, and clear after that.
I had some time to kill, so wasn't going straight home. I was doing some crawling in west Kent before then.
First up was Westerham, so important it is mention on a junction of the M25.
Off the motorway at the junction before Clacket Lane Services, so still in Surrey. I followed the A25 through Oxted, which I supposed was still in Sussex, though was hoping there be a sign where Kent began.
Indeed, at the midway point between Oxted and Westerham, there was the welcome to Kent sign, so the crawling could begin.
Westerham is a small town, just 4,000 souls live there, and the church it situated near the green. Around which I could find no parking. But opposite, through an arch there was some public parking, so abandoned the car there, grabbed the cameras and walked over to the church, and from the churchyard, the ground fell away steeply, revealing the roofs of the town in the warm spring sunshine.
I took a shot.
The church was open, a voice reading softly in the north chapel turned out to be the Vicar, conducting a service for just himself.
When he finished, he came to speak and told me not to miss the chapel behind the organ.
However, in the tower there is a remarkable survivor, the only known representation of the Royal coat of arms of Edward VI, who ruled after Henry VIII until his death at the young age of only 15, declaring Lady Jane Grey to succeed him.
It did not end well.
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The tower staircase is the feature most visitors remember, a wide circular construction of timber enclosed within vertical posts. It is quite an eye-catcher and has stood here for nearly five hundred years. The church has something of a Victorian feel to it by virtue of the thorough restoration and enormous amounts of money lavished on it at that time. Yet there are earlier features of note - most importantly the Royal Arms of Edward VI. They are painted on a wooden board, not stretched canvas, and the supporters - which include a dragon (unicorns didn't come along until 1603) - are very tall and lean. In fact the lion is little more than a pussy cat with his crown at quite a jaunty angle! The church also contains some very fine sixteenth-century memorial brasses, and a consecration cross may be picked out at the base of the tower. The south chapel has a fourteenth-century piscina with a credence shelf. However, when it comes to furnishings it is the stained glass that impresses. The east window is by Holiday (1882), the south chapel east window Crucifixion by Kempe (1888) is particularly good, whilst a north aisle window is by Morris and Co. to the designs of Burne-Jones and dates from 1909.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Westerham
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WESTERHAM, USUALLY CALLED, AND FREQUENTLY WRITTEN, WESTRAM,
IS the next parish westward from Brasted, being called in Domesday, Oistreham, and in the Textus Roffensis, Westerham; taking its name from its situation at the western extremity of this county.
WESTERHAM is a parish of large extent, and like those before described in a similar situation is much longer than it is in breadth. It extends to the summit of the range of chalk hills northward, where it bounds to Cowden, and southward, beyond the sand hill, into the Weald. In the whole it is about five miles and a half from north to south, and on an average, in breadth, about two miles and a half, bounding westward to Surry. The soil is much the same as the last described parishes, adjoining to the double range of hills. The high road from Maidstone and Sevenoke, across this parish, midway between these hills, towards Surry; on it is situated the town of Westerham, a very healthy and pleasant situation, at the west end of which is a seat, which has for many years belonged to the family of Price, and continues so now; and at the east end is the church and parsonage; besides which there are many genteel houses dispersed in it. The high road from Bromley by Leaves-green joins the Sevenoke road, on the north side of the town, near the south side of which is the mansion of Squeries. The river Darent takes its rise in this parish, at a small distance southward from Squeries, and having supplied the grounds of it, runs along near the south side of the town, and having turned a mill, it takes its course north east, and in about half a mile, passes by Hill-park towards Brasted; northward from hence the land rises about a mile and a half to the foot of the chalk hills, near which, close to the boundaries of Surry, is Gasum. From the town southward, to the summit of the sand hill, is about two miles, over a very hilly unfertile soil, interspersed with commons, waste rough grounds, and woods, among which, bounding to Surry, is Kent-hatch, taking its name from its situation; and on the summit of the hill the hamlet of Well-street, and a seat called Mariners, belonging to Mr. Stafford Whitaker; from whence, down the hill, this parish extends two miles further southward into the Weald, where, near the boundaries of it, is the estate of Broxham; the soil over which is a stiff clay and deep tillage land. The abbot of Westminster, in the 25th year of king Edward III. obtained the grant of a market, to be held weekly here on a Wednesday, which is still continued, and is plentifully supplied with all sorts of provisions; and a fair yearly, on the vigil, the day, and the day after the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, being Sept. 8; (fn. 1) which is now, by alteration of the style, held on the 19th and the following days, for bullocks, horses, and toys.
In the year 1596, the following astonishing scene happened in this parish, in two closes, separated from each other only by a hedge, about a mile and a half southward from the town, not far from the east side of the common highway, called Ockham-hill, leading from London towards Buckhurst, in Sussex; where part of them sunk, in three mornings, eighty feet at the least, and so from day to day. This great trench of ground, containing in length eighty perches, and in breadth twenty-eight, began, with the hedges and trees thereon, to loose itself from the rest of the ground lying round about it, and to slide and shoot all together southward, day and night, for the space of eleven days. The ground of two water pits, the one having six feet depth of water, and the other twelve feet at the least, having several tusts of alders and ashes growing in their bottoms, with a great rock of stone underneath, were not only removed out of their places, and carried southward, but mounted alost, and became hills, with their sedge, flags, and black mud upon the tops of them, higher than the face of the water which they had forsaken; and in the place from which they had been removed, other ground, which lay higher, had descended, and received the water on it. In one place of the plain field there was a great hole made, by the sinking of the earth, thirty feet deep; a hedge, with its trees, was carried southward; and there were several other sinkings of the earth, in different places, by which means, where the highest hills had been, there were the deepest dales; and where the lowest dales were before, there was the highest ground.
The whole measure of the breaking ground was at least nine acres; the eye witnesses to the truth of which were, Robert Bostock, esq. justice of the peace; Sir John Studley, vicar; John Dowling, gent. and many others of the neighbourhood.
In the spring of 1756, at Toy's-hill, about a mile and a half eastward from the above, a like circumstance was observed, in a field of two acres and an half, the situation of which was on the side of a hill, inclining towards the south; the land of which kept moving imperceptibly till the effect appeared, for some time, by which means the northern side was sunk two or three feet, and became full of clefts and chasms, some only a foot deep, others as large as ponds, six or eight feet deep, and ten or tweleve feet square, and most of them filled with water. Part of a hedge moved about three rods southward, and though straight before, then formed an angle with its two ends. Another hedge separated to the distance of eight feet, the southern part, which was on a level before with the rest of the field, after this, overhung it like a precipice, about the height of twelve feet; and the land on each side, which had not moved, was covered with the rest, which folded over it, to the height of six or seven feet.
Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, late bishop of Winchester, was born in this parish, in the year 1676.
General James Wolfe was likewife born here, on Jan. 2, 1727. He died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, the conqueror of Quebec, and an honour to his profession and his country.
THIS PLACE, in the reign of William the Conqueror, was in the possession of Eustace, earl of Bologne, and it is accordingly thus entered in the general survey of Domesday, taken in that reign, under the title of Terra Comitis Eustachii.
Earl Eustace holds of the king Oistreham. Earl Godwin held it of king Edward (the Confessor) and it was then, and is now taxed at four sulings. The arable land is ...... In demesne there are two carucates, and42 villeins, with 7 borderers, having 30 carucates. There are ten servants and one mill of five shillings, and 16 acres of meadow, and wood sufficient for the pannage of 100 hogs.— In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth 30 pounds, when he received it 24 pounds, and now 40 pounds.
This place came afterwards into the possession of the family of Camvill, called in Latin, De Cana Villa, the ancestor of which came into England with William the Conqueror, and bore for their arms, Azure, three lions passant argent, which coat still remains carved on the roof of the cloisters of Christ church, in Canterbury.
It appears by the second scutage, levied in the reign of king John, in the 2d and 3d years of that reign, that Thomas de Camvill then held this place of the honour of Bologne, as did his descendant, John de Camvill, in king Henry III.'s reign.
Roger de Camvill, son of Walter, a younger son of Richard de Camvill, founder of Cumbe abbey, held it in the same reign. He left issue an only daughter, Matilda, who married Nigell de Moubray, but died without issue, soon after which it came into the hands of the crown, where it remained till Edward I. by his letters patent, in his 20th year, granted the manors of Westram and Edulnebrugg, now Eatonbridge, the manor paramount of which parish has long been esteemed only as an appendage to this of Westerham, with their appurtenances, together with other estates, to Walter, abbot of Westminster, and his successors, for the performance of certain religious duties, for the repose of the soul of his queen Alianor, in the abbey there, and at the same time the king granted several liberties and free warren in all the de mesne lands of the manors, hamlets, and members of them, and the next year the abbot brought in his plea for these liberties (fn. 2) within the hundred of Westerham, and had them allowed to him. (fn. 3)
In the 27th year of that reign, the king granted a confirmation of these manors to the abbot and convent, with several more liberties within them. (fn. 4)
In the 1st year of the reign of king Edward II. the abbot of Westminster again brought his plea for certain liberties in Westerham, Edelinebrigge, &c. which were allowed him.
In the 9th year of king Edward III. the abbot had a fresh confirmation of these manors from the king, and in the 25th year of that reign he had a grant for a market and fair at Westerham.
In the 20th year of king Edward III. the abbot of Westminster paid respective aid for two knights fees, which he held in Westerham, and Edelnesbregge of Robert de Camvill, and he of the king, as of the honour of Bologne.
King Richard II. by his patent, in his 17th year, confirmed these manors, with all manner of liberties, to the abbot and his successors, with whom they remained till the final dissolution of that abbey, when they were, with their appurtenances, by an instrument under the common seal of the convent, in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. surrendered, together with the rest of their possessions, into the king's hands; who, by his letters patent, under his great seal, in his 32d year, for certain considerations therein mentioned, granted, among other premises, these manors, with all their members, rights, and appurtenances, lately belonging to the above monastery, to Sir John Gre sham, to hold in capite by the service of the 20th part of a knight's fee, paying yearly, for ever, the rent of 9l. 6s. 9d. sterling in his court of augmentation.
The family of Gresham is said to have been so named from the village of Gresham, in Norfolk. John Gresham of Gresham, gent. lived in the reigns of king Edward III. and king Richard II. His son, James Gresham, was of Holt, in that county, and was twice married; by the first marriage he had John, who succeeded him at Holt; and William, who was of Walsingham Parva, in Norfolk. John, the eldest son, had three sons; William, who succeeded him at Holt; Richard, who was afterwards knighted, and lord mayor of London in 1537, whose second son, Sir Thomas Gresham, by his industry in trade, rose to great credit and riches, and built the Royal Exchange. And Sir John, the third son, had the grant of the manors of Westerham, &c. in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. as above mentioned. They bore for their arms, Argent a chevron ermines between three mullets pierced sable. (fn. 5)
Sir John Gresham was of Titsey, in Surry, sheriff of London in 1537, and lord mayor in 1547. He died in 1556, having been a good benefactor to the poor, as well in London, as elsewhere, and was most sumptuously buried in the church of St. Michael Bassishaw, in London. (fn. 6) At his death he was possessed of the manors of Westerham and Eatonbridge-stangrave, which he held of the queen in capite by knights service, and also of the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge. He was twice married, but he left issue only by his first, five sons and six daughters. Of whom William was his eldest son and heir, and John was of Fulham, in Middlesex, and was ancestor to those of Fulham, Albury, and Haslemere, in Surry; as to the rest I find no mention of them.
William Gresham, esq. succeeded his father in these estates, and was of Titsey, in Surry, and afterwards knighted; (fn. 7) he died at Limpsfield, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth; in whose descendants, resident at Titsey, all of whom had the honour of knighthood, this estate continued down to Marmaduke Gresham, esq. who was advanced to the dignity of a baronet on July 31, 1660, and died possessed of this manor of Westerham, with that of Eatonbridge, alias Stangrave, with their appurtenances, being greatly advanced in years, at Gresham college, in 1696, and was buried at Titsey. (fn. 8)
Sir Charles Gresham, bart. his great grandson, died possessed of this estate in 1718, and was succeeded in it by his eldest son, Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who, about the year 1740, sold this manor to John Warde, esq. of Squeries, in this parish, who died possessed of it in 1775, and his eldest son, John Warde, esq. now of Squeries, is the present owner of it.
There is both a court leet and a court baron held for this manor.
SQUERIES is a manor here, which gave both surname and seat to a family who resided at it, as appears by antient evidences, as early as the reign of king Henry III. when John de Squeries was possessed of it, and bore for his arms, A squirrel brouzing on a hazel nut, which coat was formerly painted in the windows of Westerham church.
His descendant, Thomas Squerie, possessed this estate in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VI. in the 17th year of which he died possessed of it with out issue male, leaving two daughters his coheirs; of whom Margaret, the eldest, married Sir William Cromer of Tunstal, in this county; and Dorothy, the youngest, married Richard Mervin of Fontels, in Wiltshire; and upon the division of their inheritance, this estate was allotted to Sir William Cromer, whose descendant, William Cromer, esq. (fn. 9) possessed it in the beginning of the reign of king Henry VIII. when by some means it came into the hands of the crown, (fn. 10) and that king, in his 36th year, granted, among other premises, this manor of Squeries, a messuage, called Painters, now an inn, known by the sign of the King's arms, and other lands in Westerham, to Thomas Cawarden, to hold in capite by knights service.
His descendant, about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, alienated this estate to Michael Beresford, esq descended of a family seated in Derbyshire for many generations, who bore for their arms, quarterly, first and fourth, Argent, semee of cross croslets fitchee sable, three fleurs de lis of the last within a bordure gules; second, Argent, a bear salient sable, muzed and collared, the cord wreathed over the back, or, third, Party per chevron argent, and or, three pheons sable; he left by Rofe, daughter of John Knevit, esq. several sons and daughters, of whom Tristram, the third son, was ancestor of the present Marquis of Waterford, and the others of this family in Ireland. George, the eldest son, succeeded his father at Squeries, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Cam, of London, afterwards remarried to Thomas Petley, of Filston, by whom he had several sons and daughters; of whom Michael Beresford, the eldest son, was of Squeries, which he alienated to George Strood, esq. afterwards knighted, who passed away this seat, with the estate belonging to it, to Thomas Lambert, esq. the parliamentary general; and he soon afterwards conveyed it to John Leach, esq. (fn. 11) whose son, Sir William Leach, sheriff, in 1667, sold it in 1681 to Sir Nicholas Crisp, of Hammersmith, who had been created a baronet in 1665, and bore for his arms, Or, on a chevron sable five horse-shoes argent, nailed of the second, (fn. 12) and his son, Sir John Crisp, bart. about the year 1701, sold it to William Villiers, earl of Jersey, whose son, William, earl of Jersey, passed it away by sale to John Warde, esq. and his son, John Warde, esq. died possessed of Squeries in 1775. He left by the daughter and sole heir of Charles Hoskins, esq. of Croydon, in Surry, who was his second wife, his first being the daughter of Mr. Gore, two sons, John and Charles, the eldest of whom in 1781 married Susannah, sister of James, viscount Grimston, and the youngest married in 1784 the daughter of Arthur Annesley, esq. of Oxfordshire, and one daughter, who in 1783 married Sir Nathaniel Duckenfield, bart. He died in 1751, and was succeeded in this seat by his eldest son, John Warde, esq. before-mentioned, the present possessor who resides in it.
There is a court-baron held for this manor, which pays a fee-farm to the crown of seventeen shillings per annum.
GASUM is an estate in this parish, lying at the foot of the chalk-hill, which was antiently possessed by the family of Shelley; one of whom, Thomas Shelley, in the 46th year of king Edward III's reign, settled it by his will on Thomas, his son; whose descendant, about the latter end of king Henry VI's reign, demised it by sale to John Potter, who bore for his arms, Sable, a fess ermine between three cinquesoils argent, whose descendant, in the next reign of king Edward IV. purchased another estate at Well-street, near the summit of the lower ridge of hills in the more southern part of this parish, of the heirs of Cothull, which estate had formerly had proprietors of its own name; one of whom, William At-Well, was in the possession of it in the 35th year of king Edward III. as appears by an antient court-roll of that date.
This branch of the family of Potter was descended from John Potter, who held lands at Dartford, in the 12th year of king Edward II. (fn. 13)
After the purchase at Well-street, they resided there, and continued possessors of it till the reign of king James I. when Thomas Potter, esq. of Well-street, died possessed of it, leaving an only daughter and heir Dorothy, married to Sir John Rivers, bart. of Chafford, who procured an act of parliament in the 21st year of that reign, to alter the tenure and custom of his lands, those of Sir George Rivers, and those of Thomas Potter, esq. deceased, being then of the nature of gavelkind, and to make them descendible according to the course of the common law, and to settle the inheritance of them, upon the said Sir John Rivers and his heirs, by dame Dorothy before-mentioned, his wife.
Sir John Rivers becoming thus possessed both of Gaysum and Well street, joined some years afterwards with his eldest son John Rivers, esq. in the conveyance of Well-street to Mr. Thomas Smith, of London, scrivener; who about the year 1661 alienated it to Robert Whitby, whose son, Samuel Whitby, in 1664 passed it away to John Bridger, esq. who left two daughters and coheirs, one of whom married with Mr. Francis Ellison, and the other sister dying without issue, he in his wife night became intitled to it, their son, Mr. Thomas Ellison gent. of Westerham, afterwards inherited this estate and died possessed of it some few years ago, and his devisee is the present proprietor of this estate.
But Gaysum continued in the descendants of Sir John Rivers, till the reign of king William, when it was sold, about the same time that Squeries was, to William earl of Jersey, since which it has had the same owners as that seat, the inheritance of it being at this time vested in John Warde, esq. of Squeries.
BROXHAM is a manor situated below the sand hills in that part of this parish within the Weald, and so close to the boundaries of it, that a part of it is within the adjoining parish of Eatonbridge. It was antiently in the possession of the family of de Insula, or Isley.
John de Insula, or Isley, was lord of this manor, and obtained a charter of free-warren for it, in the 11th year of king Edward II. From this name it soon afterwards passed into that of Ashway; Stephen de Ashway obtained a licence to inclose a park here, in the 41st year of king Edward III. (fn. 14) At the latter end of the next reign of Richard II. Sir John de Clinton was possessed of this manor, of which he died possessed in the 20th year of that reign.
He had by Idonea his wife, one of the sisters, and at length coheirs, of William de Say, two sons, William and Thomas. The former of whom died in his life-time, leaving by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sir John Deincourt, a son, William; who on his grandfather's death became his heir, and by reason of the descent of Idonea, his grandmother, bore the title of lord Clinton and Say, by which he received summons to parliament from the 23d of king Richard II. to the time of his death, in the 10th year of king Henry VI. He left by Anne his wife, daughter of lord Botreaux, a son John, (fn. 15) who soon after his father's death, passed away this manor to Thomas Squerie, of Squeries-court in this parish, with which it descended, in the same tract of ownership, to Michael Beresford, who possessed it about the middle of queen Elizabeth's reign, as may be seen more fully before, in the account of Squeriescourt. His grandson, Michael Beresford, esq. of Squeries, alienated Broxham to Mr. Thomas Petley, of Filston, in Shoreham, in whose family it descended in like manner as their seat in Riverhead already described in this volume, to Elizabeth, widow of Charles Petley, esq. in whom the possession of it continues vested at this time.
There is a court-baron now held for this manor.
HILL-PARK is a seat in this parish, which was formerly the residence of a family, called in old dateless deeds, De Valoniis, in English, Valons, by which name it was called till within these few years; after which it continued for many descents in the family of Casinghurst, one of whom, in the reign of Henry VII. conveyed it to John Islip, abbot of Westminster, who gave it to his servant, Wm. Middilton, and he much improved the building of this seat. He died in 1557, and lies buried in this church, together with Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, by whom he had fifteen children. He bore for his arms, Quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a cross patonce argent, which coat was confirmed by patent to his son, David Middleton, descended, as is there said, from those of Bletsoe castle, in Northumberland, by William Segar, anno 8 king James I. (fn. 16)
In his family it continued till the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, and then it was conveyed to Jacob Verzelini, esq. of Downe, in this county, a Venetian born, and he died possessed of it in the 5th of king James I. and lies buried in that church. (fn. 17) By his daughter and coheir Elizabeth, it went in marriage to Peter Manning, esq. of Trowmer, in the parish of Downe; one of whose descendants, in the next reign of Charles I. passed it away to Mr. Ranulph Manning of London, a branch of them, who bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron gules, between three cinquefoils of the second, in whose family it remained till the year 1718, when it was alienated to colonel Henry Harrison, who about the year 1732, passed it away to Wm. Turner, esq. and he, in 1753, conveyed it by sale to captain Peter Dennis, of the royal navy, who about the year 1766, sold it to William M'Gwire, esq. who had formerly been a governor in the East Indies; and he again, a few years afterwards, alienated it to Wills Hill, earl of Hilsborough, who having almost rebuilt this seat, and greatly improved the park and grounds about it, changed its former name of Valons to that of HILL-PARK, and afterwards resided here till the death of his lady, in 1780; soon after which he sold it to John Cottin, esq. who resided here, and served the office of sheriff, in 1787, and he still continues the owner of it.
The college of St. Peter, at Lingfield, in Surry, was possessed of a house, called Painters, in Westerham, with other lands in this parish, which were surrendered into the king's hands at the suppression of it, in the reign of king Henry VIII. and were afterwards granted, to hold in capite by knights service. This house has been for many years an inn, known by the name of the King's arms.
King Henry VIII. in his 31st year, granted to Sir John Gresham the manor of Lovestede, in Surry and Kent, to hold in capite by knights service. One of the former owners of this manor, John Lovestede, of Westerham, lies buried in this church, where his inscription on brass still remains.
Charities.
EDWARD COLTHURST, by deed in 1572, gave for decayed housekeepers lands and tenements vested in the vicar and churchwardens.
ALICE PLUMLEY gave by will in 1584, to ten poor persons, to be paid on Christmas and Easter days, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l.
JOHN BRONGER gave by will in 1615, for the use of the poor, the annual sum of 3s. 4d. vested in the same.
ARTHUR WILLARD gave by will in 1623, sundry cottages for the use of poor widows resident in the parish, now vested in the same.
JOHN TROT gave by will in 1629, for a penny loaf to six poor widows each, every Friday, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 1l. 6s.
GERTRUDE STYLE gave by will in 1635, for twenty housekeepers on Good-Friday, the sum of 20l. vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 1l.
WILLIAM HOLMDEN gave by will in 1640, for the use of the poor, land vested in the same, of the annual product of 4l. 4s.
THOMAS HARDY, citizen of London, gave by will in 1747, for the repairing his wife's monument in this church, remainder for the use of the poor, 100l. stock in S. S. Annuities, vested in the same, with six of the most substantial inhabitants, and of the annual product of 3l.
CHARLES WEST gave by will in 1765, for the use of the poor, 100l. stock vested in the same, and of the annual produce of 3l.
RALPH MANNING gave by will in 1786, for the use of twelve poor persons in equal shares, 100l. stock, vested in William Pigot, and of the annual produce of 3l.
WESTERHAM is in the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and deanry of Malling. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is a large handsome building, consisting of a nave, two side isles, and a cross isle; but being too small for the use of the inhabitants, a gallery has been erected for their accommodation in it.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the cross isle, at the west end, is a grave-stone near the south door, having the figure of a priest in brass, and inscription in black letter, for Sir William Dyne, priest, sometime parson of Tattisfylde, obt. 1567; a memorial for Bridget, daughter of Ranulph and Catherine Manning, obt. 1734.—In the middle isle, at the entrance, a stone, on which is the figure of a man, that of his wife is lost, and inscription in black letter, for Richard Hayward, and Anne his wife, he died in 1529, beneath were four sons now lost, six daughters now remain; in the pew, where the font is, a stone, with an inscription for Nicholas Manning, gent. of this parish, obt. 1723, and Mary his wife, daughter of Samuel Missenden, esq. deputy governor of the Merchant Adventurers of England, residing at Hamburgh, obt. 1735, arms, a chevron charged with a crescent for difference between three qua terfoils, impaling a cross ingrailed, a bird in the dexter point; on the south side is a mural monument, shewing that near it, in a brick grave, (which being full was arched over in 1733) lies interred Ranulph Manning, gent. obt. 1712, and Catharine his wife, daughter of Saul Missenden, esq. mentioned before, obt. 1732, erected by Ranulph Manning, their eldest son, who died in 1760; above, argent, a chevron gules between three cinquefoils of the second, and quarterings impaling Missenden; over the south door is a plain neat monument of marble, for the brave general James Wolfe, the son of colonel Edward Wolfe, and Henrietta his wife, who was born in this parish Jan. 2, 1727, and died in America, Sept. 13, 1759, conqueror of Quebec, and these lines:—
Whilst George in sorrow bows his laurell'd head, And bids the artist grace the soldier dead, We raise no sculptur'd trophies to thy name, Brave youth! the fairest in the list of fame; Proud of they birth, we boast th' auspicious year—Struck with thy fall, we shed a general tear; With humble grief inscribe one artless stone, And from thy matchless honours date our own.
In the south isle, a memorial for John Thorpe, descended of an antient gentleman's family in Kent and Sussex; he married Anne, daughter, and at length coheir of John Luck, S. T. B. of Mayfield, in Sussex, by whom he had four sons and three daughters, obt. 1703, erected by his grandsons, John and Oliver, sons of his son John Thorpe, of Penshurst, arms, quarterly, 1st and 4th, a fess dancette ermine;-2d and 3d three crescents; at the upper end a grave-stone, with the figures of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for Richard Potter, obt. 1511, beneath the figures of five boys and three girls; another with the figure of a man in brass, and like inscription for Thomas, son of John Potter, gent. obt. 1531; another, with the figure of a man and his two wives in brass, and inscription in black letter for William Myddleton, esq. and Elizabeth and Dorothy, his wives, he died 1557; beneath were the figures of fifteen children, seven of which yet remain.—In the middle of the isle, a brass plate and inscription for John Lovestede, of Westerham; on the south side a mural monument for Anthony Earning, merchant; he married the only daughter of Thomas Manning, esq. of Valens, by whom he left two sons and a daughter, obt. 1676: on the south side are two adjoining altar tombs for Thomas Manning, esq. of Valence, obt. 1695, and for Susan, his wife, daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres, obt. 1654; arms on both, Manning with quarterings; on the north side, at the upper end next the chancel, a mural monument, with the figures of a man and woman kneeling at a desk, for Thomas Potter, esq. of Westerham, who married Mary, daughter and coheir of Richard Tichbourne, esq. of Eatonbridge, by whom he left one son Nisell, and a daughter Dorothy, married to John, eldest son of Sir John Rivers, of Chafford; he married 2dly, Elizabeth, widow of Sir J. Rivers, late lord mayor of London, obt. 1611; above, the arms of Potter sable, a fess ermine between three cinquefoils, argent with impalements.— In the middle isle, are two gravestones, with figures and inscriptions in brass, for the Stacys. In the north isle, are several grave-stones, with memorials for the Dallings, of this parish, arms, on a bend, three acorns; a grave-stone and memorial for Mr. Andrew Daulinge, citizen of London, (son of Richard Daulinge, rector of Ringswold) who married Anne, eldest daughter of Mr. John Daulinge, gent. of Westerham, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, and left her great with child, obt. 1714; several more memorials for the Dallings, who by their arms appear to have been the same family as the Daulings before-mentioned; on the north side a mural monument for Mr. Thomas Hardy, citizen of London, who died in 1747, and for others of his family; near it is a brass plate fixed to the wall, with an extract from his will, relating to his charity bequeathed to this parish, which has been given above among the other charities belonging to it; at the east end is a mural monument for Mary, wife of Henry Street, daughter of Sir John Gerrard, bart. obt. 1651, and left only one son Edward.—In the cross isle, at the east end, an elegant mural monument for Thomas Knight, esq. of Westerham, obt. 1708, being clerk of the assize for Norfolk; he married first, Catherine, daughter of Mr. Crispe, of Maidstone, and secondly, Jane, daughter of Mr. Blome, of Sevenoke, but left no issue; near it another for Eleanor, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Seyliard, second baronet of that antient family, and of the lady Frances, his first wife, sole daughter and heir of Henry Wyat, esq. eldest son of Sir Francis Wyat, of Boxleyabbey, who died in 1726; she married Robert Paynter, esq. son of Allington, son of William, son of Anthony, son of William Paynter, esq. clerk of the ordnance to queen Elizabeth, and lord of the manors of East-court and Twydall, in Gillingham, he died in 1731, arms, Paynter gules, a chevron or, between three griffins heads erased of the second on a chief; or an helmet between two balls sable, with impalements and quarterings. A gravestone for the Heaths, of Leigh; another for Anthony Earning, merchant, obt. 1695; a grave-stone within the rails, shewing that Sir John Crisp, bart. paved this communion space in remembrance of Nich. Crisp, esq. eldest son of Sir Nich. Crisp, bart. who died in 1697, æt. 17, arms above, on a chevron five horse-shoes. (fn. 18)
George Strood, esq. in consideration of 16l. 14s. had granted to him, by the vicar, churchwardens, and major part of the parishioners, the uppermost part of the north isle of the church, called the organ–room, for a burying place for himself and his successors, owners of the mansion house of Squeries, to be decently kept and repaired at the cost of him and his successors for ever, which was ratified and confirmed in 1637, (the see of Rochester being then vacant) by the archbishop of Canterbury, as it was afterwards in 1640, by John, bishop of Rochester.
Alianor, queen to king Edward I. gave an acre of land, with its appurtenances in Westerham, and the advowson of the church, together with the chapels, tythes, and all other things and rights belonging to it, to the prior and convent of Canterbury, in pure and perpetual alms, free from all secular service for ever.
This grant appears, by the Chronicles of Christ church, to have been made, among other premises, in exchange for the port of Sandwich.
King Edward I. in his 18th year, confirmed the above gift, and farther granted to the prior and convent his licence, to appropriate this church, and the chapels belonging to it, and to hold the same to their own proper use for ever; which pope Celestine V. in 1294, confirmed, with the allowance of twenty marcs sterling to the vicar, out of the profits of this church and chapel; but the church not becoming vacant, this bull did not take place, and the prior and convent, in 1327, making heavy complaints of their great losses, by the inundation in Romneymarsh, among other grievances, petitioned Hamo, bishop of Rochester, for relief; who, accordingly, that year, appropriated this church, with the chapel of Edulwesbrogge annexed to it, to their use; and at the same time endowed a perpetual vicarage in this church, and a fit portion for a perpetual vicar in it, to be presented by the religious, and to be instituted by him and his successors; and he further decreed, with the consent of the religious, that the vicar should take and have entirely and wholly for his portion, the tithes of silva cedua, pannage, hay, herbage, flax, hemp, milk, butter, and cheese, wool, lambs, calves, pigs, swans, geese, apples, pidgeons, mills, fisheries, fowlings, merchandizing, and all other small tithes and oblations whatsoever, and all legacies and mortuaries to the church or chapel, of right or custom due, as well dead as living; and that the vicar should have, on the soil belonging to the church, to be chosen and assigned by the bishop, a competent house to reside in, to be built for this first time by the religious; and he decreed, that the portion of the vicar should for ever consist in the things above mentioned; and further, that the vicar, for the time being, should as often as there should be occasion, cause the books to be bound, and the vestments to be washed, mended, and renewed; and should find and provide, at his own costs, bread and wine, and processional tapers, and other necessary lights in the chancel, and ministers, as has been accustomed, as well in the church of Westerham as in the chapel of Edulwesbrege; and should, for the future, keep and maintain the buildings of the vicarage, and should wholly pay all episcopal and archideaconal procurations; and that he should sustain and take upon him the tenth and other extraordinary burthens then incumbent, or which might be imposed in future, according to the value of his portion; which, so far as related to the sustaining of the burthens of this kind, he taxed, and rated at ten marcs sterling; and lastly, that the religious should sustain, and take upon them for ever, the payment of the pension of ten shillings due to him and his successors, from this church, and all other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary, according to the value of their portion, which he valued at forty marcs.
Richard de Haute, the rector of this church, dying in 1327, the prior and convent of Christ-church were, by the archdeacon, put into the possession of it, with the chapel of Edelnesbregge annexed, in the person of Robert Hathebrand, monk of it, their proctor specially appointed for this purpose.
The rectory and advowson of the vicarage of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge, remained with the prior and convent of Christ-church till the general dissolution in the reign of king Henry VIII. in the 31st year of which, it was surrendered into the king's hands.
After which, the king granted to Sir John Gresham, the rectories of Westerham and Eatonbridge, with the advowson of the church and chapel belonging to it, and he died possessed of them in 1556, (fn. 19) as did his eldest son and heir, Sir William Gresham, of Titsey, in Surry, in the 21st year of queen Elizabeth, holding them in capite by knight's service. By his will in the 17th year of queen Elizabeth, he gave these rectories to his second son, Thomas, and his heirs male, (fn. 20) who, on the death of his elder brother, William, without male issue, became likewise his heir, and from him the rectory of Westerham, with Eatonbridge, descended to Sir Marmaduke Gresham, bart. who in his life-time gave it to his eldest son, Edward Gresham, esq. and he in the 30th year of king Charles II. procured an act of parliament to vest it in trustees to be sold for the payment of his debts.
Accordingly, Sir Marmaduke and Edward, his eldest son, joined in the conveyance of the rectory or parsonage of Westerham, with its appurtenances, to James Hudson, esq. of London, and John Steers, of Westerham, yeoman. By which word, appurtenances, the advowson of the church appurtenant to the rectory, though not intended so to do, passed with it.
After which, partly in right of his wife, and partly by purchase from the name of Steers, it came into the possession of John Bodicoate, esq. whose son, the Rev. Mr. John Bodicoate, died in 1791, and his widow, Harriet, re-married to Edward earl of Winterton, is at this time proprietor of the church of Westerham, with the advowson of the vicarage appurtenant to it.
By an antient valuation made in the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at fifty marcs. (fn. 21)
¶By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of church livings, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that the parsonage and vicarage of Westerham were two distinct things. That the parsonage house, buildings, and sixty acres of glebe land were worth twenty pounds per annum, and the tythes were worth eighty pounds per annum, and one acre and an half of glebe land worth thirty shillings per annum, all which were impropriate and belonging to master Gresham the proprietor thereof. That there was a vicarage, house, garden and backside, worth forty pounds per annum, and vicarage tythes, worth fifty pounds per annum, which was the vicar's salary, and the said Mr. Gresham was patron thereof; that in former times the vicars of Westerham had been presented vicars of Westerham, (fn. 22) with the chapel of Eatonbridge, and had hired a curate there; but it was conceived that Eatonbridge had been, and still continued sitting to be, a distinct parish church. (fn. 23)
The church of Westerham, with the chapel of Eatonbridge annexed, is valued in the king's books at 19l. 19s. 4½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 19s. 11¼d. (fn. 24)
Welcome Back housekeeper.
handmade stolen sculpture from the purple&curls series i showed at the 100%Design.
The Suspect was found after 2 hours of security and police searching at the fair area and so he was forced to bring it back.
strange moments...
see the full length,original crimereport at the Stroke.01 in Munich in October
09_2009
Photograph entitled 'The Housekeeper'.
Photograph from an album containing black and white photographs probably taken by the Honorary Hugh Annesley. The album features the Annesley family motto Virtutis Amore.
Date: c.1855
Ref: D1854/5/1/2 No. 149
Casa Francesc Cama
Location: Carrer Gran de Gràcia 77, L'Eixample district in Barcelona
Construction: 1905
Architect: Francesc Berenguer i Mestres (1866-1914)
Housekeeper Sara Smith taking out office trash in Mott Academic Building. Smith is one of the newest housekeepers on staff and I asked her what is the hardest part of this job. Smith said “This job is a lot of hard work, but I think the hardest would be during the summer while cleaning or dorms and apartments.”
The housekeeper/maid for Embassy house in My Tho, the provincial capitol of the Mekong Delta's Dinh Tuong Province, South Vietnam, in 1969, getting a break from her job. We were headed for Phung (Phoenix) Island across the Mekong River to the compound of the Coconut Monk.
This is not my domain. I'd leave this to the Housekeeper. But we had to let her go after that little incident…
Once again, Cook stepped up! She's a treasure. Her volunteering to fill the void wasn't quite as fulsome as one might prefer. One is now wondering what will come of all this! Of course the Housekeeper is was in charge of the housekeeping budget, the indoors staff, laundry, victualling, that sort of thing. What Cook meant by her stepping up was to take an inventory of what was left in the larder when the Housekeeper was let go, and make a shopping list. The way she looked at me as she passed it over, I knew not to argue. Her reasonings are irresistible, and usually framed around whether I would prefer her to do this or that, or was my preference to eat?
I got a don't look at me glance from the Butler. His keys to the wine cellar went missing about the same time as the incident… My Gardener simply showed me the dirt under his nails, his muddy boots and his plans for the Spring sowings. Besides, that girl he had down in the shed as help didn't really work out. Cook had taken one look at her and asked if she'd been interviewed for the position with a tape measure. She wasn't far wrong. But the real reason for her unavailability was something to do with what she had started growing. The gardener wouldn't say any more; just complained about his workload.
We'd had a driver. He's gone now too. I'd never navigated anywhere in my youth. It simply wasn't needed; he knew this county like the back of his hand. Mine was a careless youth. Now that's all changed. It seems I've been left in charge…
Enough musing! Nobody has spoofed my GPS, not yet, so I have found my destination according to Cook's instructions. She said it's not hard: they have trolleys, or trundlers — giggling like a school girl, she said that's what her New Zealand cousin on her mother's side had called them — and signs at the ends of the aisles. I'm feeling terribly disoriented: Asian groceries up there, toiletries, smallgoods, whatever they are, canned fish, how common, snacks, health foods…
I've been stopped in my tracks by a familiar word in an alien context! With the Housekeeper gone, who's taking care of the mail?