BIB_ID
421059
Accession number
MA 1352.223
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1850 November 24.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
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.
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Sunday afternoon / Twenty Fourth November 1850."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Westfield Lodge / Brighton."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Sunday afternoon / Twenty Fourth November 1850."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Westfield Lodge / Brighton."
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
Reporting that the Police had captured the "...wretched girls who robbed the Home;" adding "After thinking about it, I have adopted the following course, which I hope you will deem the best that such circumstances will admit of. I think you may desire, if possible, to give the case no additional notoriety, by the introduction into it of my very notorious name. I have therefore possessed my Solicitor (who is a very shrewd, intelligent person) with the facts of the case, and requested him to send some one from his office with Mrs. Morson tomorrow, to ensure its being properly and concisely stated. I have made him acquainted with my part in the business, and explained to him why it may be best not to refer to me unless there should be some positive necessity - which I consider most unlikely; all the property stolen being Mrs. Morson's. No unnecessary sensation will be made, and I have made him perfectly understand the bearings of the circumstances all through."
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