Wellcome Ms 9015 1 Wellcome 8 (Claydon copies) Ms 9015-17, 1114 pages MS 9015/1 note, 1f, pencil, HCV 1895 4 Jan "Is a gross 20" meet after 15 March List by Books signed 23 Sept House of Commons Ms 9015/2 signed card, 2ff, pen [Bundle 192] My dear Edmund Claydon New Year's Day 1895 Aunt Florence wishes you the happiest of New Years and many of them- Boy Greig Blessed Margt. thought that you would be so good as to look at the enclosed & interpret the Medical ophthalmic R. Navy numbers for us - -also to say whether you would recommend his applying to the Mercantile Navy as 'cargo-boy', if there is are such - I suppose I ought to return these documents to Mrs. Greig, the mother, ought I? ever your affectionate Aunt Florence Thank you so much for your Jackson book- What I have been able to read I like so much FN Wellcome Ms 9015 2 MS 9015/3 signed letter, 2ff, pencil Jan 4/95 Baker & Co. May his shadow never be less My dear Edmund Tho' I do not thoroughly understand Baker & Co.'s letter, I gladly engage myself to take half a "gross-is a "gross" 20?- of the first 5 & half of the "seconds". It is an experiment worth trying: tho' I have my doubts as to its succeeding in Hospitals - especially the one with a flat top o (which I believe we have chosen) on account of the difficulty of laying it down on its back till it is rinsed. I think it will succeed best among maids, & clearly poor people, provided in both cases the missis leads the way- Baker & Co. very properly offers you a "drawing to scale"- And this will give me time to ask drivers Nurses' Homes &c whether they will try the experiment. I should be most sanguine about the poor mothers at Lea Hurst, if I had a lady there now who would take pains to start it, which I have not. "Package extra"- That suits me exactly- because I presume B. & Co would for "packages extra" send a doz. here & a doz - there according to a List I should give - [I think the "seconds" will be most difficult to place - One would not like an accident to mar one's magnificent experiment] How is you Odd man? your affectionate F. Nightingale (official signature) Wellcome Ms 9015 3 MS 9015/4 incomplete letter, 1f, pencil Claydon Jan 8/95 Dearest My best wishes to Ellin on her cold drive to Buckingham & to the poor little thing which she has kept comparatively happy - & well cared for. I think we will let Dr. De' Ath come - (on Thursday at 3. was it?) He has always something important to say- and perhaps there is something pressing about Milks- How thankful that Harry is better MS 9015/5 signed letter, 2ff, pen Claydon Jan 11/95 Dearest I am thankful that you have returned alive from your dissipation- & that you are in your "right mind" about going to London to-day- Mr. Jowett used to say' The World requires a great deal more courage and a great deal more caution. The first is by no means lacking- The second is now coming into play Dr. De'Ath & I had a "go" - I wish I had seen you in your grey velvet gown last night- I was so very sorry to give up James' letters yesterday - but hope you did homage to my Conscience, which all of a sudden has begun to grow- I suppose the letters are gone?? As my Conscience - Which Mme= Mohl said was harder to keep than "a coach and four"- I suppose is beginning to grow, I suppose I must begin to pay my debts - ever your loving Aunt Florence Wellcome Ms 9015 4 MS 9015/6 {1 note, 1 letter} {perhaps envelope?} Initialled note, 1f, pen This simple beautiful little letter was read by me to self & afterwards to Harry, & by the parents, who I dare say read it to the girls. We return it with many, many thanks & the keenest interest in the good fellow & your influence over him Miss Nightingale. F.N. 18/1/95 incomplete letter, 1f, pencil {letter has border edges} Jan 14/95 James' most interesting letters returned with many thanks- It is impossible for his mother not to feel very anxious - but I think I should be less anxious than when he was horsing, & rampaging about London- He is a man now. But the places sound unspeakably dreary MS 9015/7 signed card, 2ff, pen [1:730] Claydon Jan 21/95 My dear Harry Ay de me, ay de me, for losing mother & Lettice -"Let us sit upon ' the ground & tell sad stories of 'the fate of kings'- How is your paw? Please tell father that a Thomas Tit, rather smaller than an undersized Walnut, comes to my Wellcome Ms 9015 5 windows for his luncheon, dinner & tea, but says he can find nothing which suits his digestion, (which he is obliged to be very careful of)- And he requests that a mutton bone, with a good deal of nutriment upon it, should be hung up for his special refreshment- ever your loving Aunt Florence Are you going to Father's lecture tonight- you & Ruth? MS 9015/8 {2 letters} signed letter, 1f, pencil [1:673] Jan 26/95 Mr. Battersby will come tomorrow (Sunday) at 4.15 unless he hears "to the contrary" Will this suit you? & Ellin? Thanks, my dear Edmund, for your letter Aunt Florence Would Ellin come & see me, without hurrying herself, for a bit before starting this afternoon? initialled letter, 1f, pencil Dearest blessed Margaret God be with you & dear Lettice every moment- I hope Vol IV is not going with you- ever your F Jan 21/95 Wellcome Ms 9015 6 MS 9015/9 signed letter, 2ff, pen Claydon Jan 27/95 [1:673-74] {lines through printed address:} 10. SOUTH STREET, PARK LANE. W. Dearest blessed Margaret We are expecting you home. The house looks like a 'spelonca' without you. But Ellin is efficient maternally. We look upon the first stage of Convalescence not as an eagerness to do, but a willingness not to do. So may it be with dear Lettice. The sea housemaid! We know there are Sea nymphs, Tritons, Sea Serpents, Amphilrite & all her maids. But you have discovered the Sea housemaid, who sweeps up the snow, the foam, the shingle, shavings & paper, & deposits them in her dusthole, the Hotel, & your bow window - Harry Lloyd came [1:716] last evening, as you know. And as he was moping in his own room, I asked him to visit me. "O," says he, "Ellin is "getting quite dissipated"- "Ah", says I, in a tone of extremest melancholy, Wellcome Ms 9015 7 "She is not like you & me, quiet, steady people, who always stick to our work, & never go stravaging about the country after balls & parties". 'Stravaging"- What's that? Stravaging is __ stravaging It's a word of high antiquity, before the time of Dictionaries - probably derived from the Phoenician. Stravaging is Harry Lloyd- & Harry Lloyd is stravaging. But - no more nonsense now- [end 1:716] Only heart's love- to you & Lettice ever your affectionate Aunt Florence I've got a formal letter- offering me the "first Hony.- Membership” of the "Matrons’ Council". Good luck- What fools we be! MS 9015/10 initialled letter, 2ff, pen [1:674] Claydon Jan 30/95 Thank you very much, my dear Edmund, for your note & your newspapers- I should have asked to see you, but- I have a conscience "Tho' you may not think it"- And that tells me, that, as you are in the midst of experiments Wellcome Ms 9015 8 (not, I hope, explosions) to-day & are going to-morrow to Lettice which will delight her, I may not. Please don't say that Margt- looks "every inch an authoress", in her pretty gown- The hat of an "authoress", especially of a female journalist, is hideous to behold- the profile of her figure is ridiculous to contemplate- Say rather that Margt- is "every inch" a Saint & a hero, a genius & a heart - And her beautiful gown was 'according'- ever your affectionate Aunt Florence There are 3 or 4 blackbirds looking so miserable on the snow on the lawn now- I favour them as much as I can on my balcony- But the sparrows & the starlings drive them away- Could you give them something meat-y somewhere? F.N MS 9015/11 signed letter, 1f, pencil May I see you to-day? Feb 1/95 Dearest You were so good in enquiring how I was getting out of my scrape that I venture to ask whether you approve the enclosed. Or shall I write it again? 2 "Lord Kerry" (in Mr. Jowett's original letter) is the "big fish"- Raison de plus for that passage going out. For I think that is the present Ld Lansdowne 30 years ago- & the rest of the passage is like what he is still. ever yours Aunt F. Wellcome Ms 9015 9 MS 9015/12 initialled letter, 2ff, pen Dearest I hope you have good news of all I can't say, if it were not for the honour of the thing, that I can uphold the "thaw." ever yours F. I have looked over the 4 portraits you sent me to identify- The only one I know that has not a name is M. Mohl in pencil by Hilary Bonham Carter (very like) - (2.) I was also looking over yesterday some sketch books which you kindly sent up- There is one, not very good, scratches of Shore & his sister Bertha, & their childish sayings, age 2 or 3 & age 4 or 5, when they lived with us, by Parthe, I think [You could always tell Hilary's masterly stroke, even in a scratch-] There is another book with two water-colour sketches of Lea Hurst "in a poetical mantle", very good; by "Aunt Patty", my mother's eldest sister- And also some pencil sketches of the Middle Hurst, the high ground opposite Lea Hurst, where the cows always went to bed, & I have so often sat.