BIB_ID
420116
Accession number
MA 1352.352
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1854 January 4.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.9 x 11.2 cm
Notes
Written from "Tavistock House."
Signed with initials.
The letter is part of a collection, MA 1352, which consists of letters from Charles Dickens to the Baroness, to her companion Hannah (Meredith) Brown, or the latter's husband, William Brown; with 70 letters written by others to Miss Coutts or to Dickens in his capacity as her unofficial almoner; and a few others. See the collection-level record for more information.
Signed with initials.
The letter is part of a collection, MA 1352, which consists of letters from Charles Dickens to the Baroness, to her companion Hannah (Meredith) Brown, or the latter's husband, William Brown; with 70 letters written by others to Miss Coutts or to Dickens in his capacity as her unofficial almoner; and a few others. See the collection-level record for more information.
Provenance
The letters formed part of the Burdett-Coutts sale (Sotheby, 17 May 1922); they were purchased for Oliver W. Barrett in whose collection they remained until it was sold by his son (Parke-Bernet, 31 October 1951).
Summary
Informing her at length about the case of Rhena Pollard, a woman who wanted to leave Urania Cottage; describing Pollard's change of heart and how he and Mrs. Morson handled the matter, which involved reading a letter of warning to all the inhabitants of the Home; writing "I think you will approve of the wretched young creature's having one more chance in this bitter weather -- but in a just remembrance of what is due to the Home and its Supporter, I could not have given it to her, if she had been other than a stranger in London, and an utterly friendless speck in the world;" remarking the snow is two feet deep in the streets today.
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