People featured: 3
Collection: Twining Family
Item Number: MS 39930, Vol.II, 318-319v
Repository: British Library
Summary: Ann reports to her grandmother that she has seen a battalion of soldiers on the road to Yarmouth. She then describes how a group have taken a small open boat to board the ship, the Scorpion. She is sick before they get half way to the ship, as are others in the group. One observed it was too rough for the ladies. She discusses children in the family and ‘merry girls’ in the neighbourhood, including those who grow ‘fat’ and ‘thin’.

People featured: 5
Collection: Heddin, Martha
Item Number: ACC/1360/099 [5]
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Comparing their various disorders and lamenting their inability to walk, discussing some ruffles purchased for Miss Patty, and providing an update on the sad case of Jacky’s Uncle.

People featured: 3
Collection: Heddin, Martha
Item Number: ACC/1360/099 [1]
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Apologising for writing but it is a sad thing to be at so great a distance from each other, describing Mrs Morgan’s daughter's difficulties with the gout.

People featured: 0
Collection: Anderson Papers
Item Number: Add MS 82676/1-3v
Repository: British Library
Summary: A long letter. Christina has been left by David with their new daughter Ann, ‘the sweet innocent’, who is being bottle-fed by the nurse. Christina’s mother is with them and was caring for Ann before Christina woke up. Miss Maitland has visited and has a ‘fund of humour’; she is a relief for a wife who has just been parted from her husband. She hopes he will find a strong magnet to bring him home back from London. His absence makes her indifferent to everything except Ann. She was considered beautiful but now worries about her appearance in public. She adds a note on interior design. She has addressed the letter to St Germains, where she is, and adds a note below this, ‘Mind your...

People featured: 0
Collection: Anderson Papers
Item Number: Add MS 82676/8-9v
Repository: British Library
Summary: She knows he is as anxious about their daughter Ann as she is, and reports that she is doing well. She went to see a group of women and reports at length on the changed appearance and clothing of Miss Lucy Johnstone, who is no longer elegant and beautiful but ‘a Masculine figure’. She has been taking bark twice a day and thinks it does her good. She is worried for his health. Ann sends ‘many a Kiss’.

People featured: 0
Collection: Anderson Papers
Item Number: Add MS 82676/4-5v
Repository: British Library
Summary: David’s letter has been a cordial to her ‘drooping spirits’. Their daughter Ann is well but her wet nurse is ill so she will be weaned. Christina has been worried about Ann but now has no fears. She urges David to take care of himself for their sake.

People featured: 5
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36491_366-367v
Repository: British Library
Summary: Elizabeth reports that Richard had a fall from his horse and has been confined for two weeks. Nancy has been confined [in an institution or is pregnant?] and Elizabeth is concerned about the rent due. She begins and ends with concerns for her children. Richard (‘Dick’) then writes. The final sheet is damaged.

People featured: 4
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36491_407-408v
Repository: British Library
Summary: Elizabeth writes a page to her son, describing her experience of old age, with an emphasis on the cold weather. She ends with the hope he will look after his health. Richard then writes on the remaining three sides, describing a meeting he has with a Miss Townsend, ‘a wonderful Girl’. He is surprised to find her riding horseback in poor weather. They continue together, occasionally breaking into a gallop. He ends with updates on acquaintances and instructions to his brother.

People featured: 2
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36491_387-387v
Repository: British Library
Summary: She apologizes for not writing and reassures him she has not forgotten him. She counsels him on his health, thanks him and the tea and is pleased he liked the cake she made. The woman he has enquired about is married. Richard (‘little Dick’) adds a short note asking George to acknowledge two parcels he sent last week.

People featured: 3
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36491_98
Repository: British Library
Summary: Elizabeth has worried about her son’s health until the post arrived; she misses him. She hopes they will meet and enjoy each other’s company. She is intending ‘to gad about’.

People featured: 4
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492_303-303v
Repository: British Library
Summary: She has been unwell and is weak with a bad cough. His brother is also ill, and she is sorry to hear George is ill, too. She has heard that Richard looks very thin.

People featured: 1
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/7
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. She hopes that they will be able to advance some money to Ann Lynsdale’s mother. They hope to stay in good health and ‘escape doctors’.

People featured: 1
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/4
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Ann is considered ‘too indolent’ for school and has a sore leg.

People featured: 2
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/22
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Lister has brought Lynsdale to a school and hopes she will be happy and well looked after. Discussion of a brace to make her back ‘narrower’ and improve posture.

People featured: 4
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/10
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Discussion of allowance to Ann Lynsdale’s mother, and of the sickness of both the letter writer and recipient, alongside the weather.

People featured: 2
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/8
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Concerning her poor health: an apothecary’s bill, sores on her feet, and the hope that sending her to the seaside would improve her constitution.

People featured: 3
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/26
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. School has not improved Ann in education or manners, and she has come to stay with Lister instead to learn from the example of her family. People have arrived at her door claiming to be Ann’s family.

People featured: 3
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/25
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. She has been to Brompton Park House (a school where Ann may be sent) and likes it very much.

People featured: 5
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/9
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Describing a young distressed woman (Ann Lynsdale) whose mother was thought to be in an asylum. The young woman was in poor health and attended by expensive doctors. It is thought the young woman is Dr Taylour’s child, and she looks like him.

People featured: 3
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/18
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Discussion of moving Ann Lynsdale again – the lady currently caring for her plans to move. Lister is sorry to hear that James is ill.

People featured: 4
Collection: Lister, Elizabeth
Item Number: ACC/1360/730/19
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Concerning the care and education of Ann Lynsdale, ward of Court of Chancery, allegedly illegitimate daughter of Dr John Taylour. Discussion of the care and schooling of Lynsdale, who briefly stayed with Lister. Lister is sorry to hear that James is indisposed.

People featured: 7
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/163
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: She is concerned and sorry for Maria after the shock she has suffered. Maria’s latest letters had lamented her father’s poor health. Their mother is not well and has gone to Bubnell for a week with Kate. Their father is much hurried because of business affairs. She discusses recent local dances and confides that all their spirits have of late been low. She herself has been bored but dedicated to looking after her parents.

People featured: 5
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/121
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: She is able to write because a friend has now left. She reports that their mother is ill but is going to Bubnell for a little quiet. She discusses an impending visit this afternoon from a friend’s ‘little girl.

People featured: 5
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/104
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: She reports that their mother has improved after a quiet week. She is pleased James is in better spirits. He has reported ‘curious accounts’ of their father’s household management since they have been away – he is not as well suited to that as their mother.

People featured: 8
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/94
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: Elizabeth Longsdon has missed her son but is relieved he is now safe. She writes with news of family (including his sister's health) and giving him a list of people to call on. He is to ask Miss Morewood to accompany him to choose a visiting gown for his mother in plain sarcenet silk or handsome printed muslin, or even cotton.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/81
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: "My dear Sir". Their daughter Katharine has been unwell. She and Katharine had a very pleasant dip in the sea this morning and she regrets there will only be another one or two. Mrs Morewood feels no better, neither from the air or sea bathing. She wants to leave and does not expect to stay beyond Monday week 14th at most. Mrs Wright will not be here until Monday or Tuesday and they want a few days with her. If alone Mrs Longsdon would have felt it her duty to their dear girl to stay a full two months because she is now fast gaining strength. She adds a note on Sunday, saying she fears Elizabeth's health will suffer from confinement to the house and urges her husband to take her...

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/161
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: She is anxious about her husband, but satisfied to know that John and William are doing all in their power to ‘tranquilize’ their father given the recent unpleasant business. Elizabeth cautions John to take care of his own health, too. She has gone to Bubnell at father's request to meet him there, and is now staying for 2 or 3 days for a rest. If his cough does not improve she urges him to wear a waistcoat of finest flannel under his shirt. She ends with concerns for her husband, who is badly affected by a cold, a journey and the ‘unpleasant business’.

People featured: 8
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/105
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: Elizabeth apologized for her ‘dull and stupid’ letter, explaining that she was not feeling well when she last wrote. She reports on some business and visits, noting that she hopes John’s father will be less hurried. She reminds John of his father’s birthday. She is sending him more shirts. She tells him that his letters are amongst her happiest moments.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/18
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: Elizabeth is pleased by William’s letter and reports that his ‘Papa’ thought it very well written. She hopes he and his brothers will be in good spirits when she see them at Christmas, and asks them to let her know if they want anything. James Longsdon adds a note to their three sons, telling them that he is also very happy to hearing they are well. He hopes they are good boys if the weather allows he will ride over to see them before the holiday.

People featured: 6
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/40
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: She sends clothing for James, and is going to Chesterfield to bring back his grandmother for a visit. She will see also his sister who was well on Monday.

People featured: 5
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.302-303
Repository: British Library
Summary: Reports that Richard is in good spirits, but Mr Joddrell and his son have both died of a violent fever. Mrs Nead’s health declines daily and she is thought to be incurable. Charlotte is not yet recovered in health.

People featured: 0
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.1-2v
Repository: British Library
Summary: George has been visiting and dining with others in London. Mr Smith’s sister is very ill. Mrs Balchen of Goodmans Fields (the brothers’ maternal cousins) has died suddenly, without any pain, her husband is very shocked. The letter ends with some financial accounts.

People featured: 0
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.129-130v
Repository: British Library
Summary: Reports David Garrick’s death. He was killed by the ‘stone stranguary’, and has been surrounded by several physicians.

People featured: 0
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.83-84v
Repository: British Library
Summary: The weather in London is extremely hot – discussion of bathing in the Thames by moonlight. A glass of ice has revived his spirits. Discusses the health of various friends and family who he has visited: Susan is dying, but John is better.

People featured: 0
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.141-142v
Repository: British Library
Summary: George sees pretty women everywhere, and has written a letter to a beautiful widow who is about to be inoculated for smallpox. Mary is better and the little girl has been inoculated.

People featured: 5
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 ff.94-95
Repository: British Library
Summary: Mentions the health of several acquaintances: Mr Kekewich has a fever, Mr Ekins has the gout, and the accountant has gone to Brighton for his health.

People featured: 5
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/2
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: He reports on the weather. The rest of the family have gone to church but he cannot travel as he has a cough (so he writes this letter instead). He gives a long description of Pompey’s [a dog] reaction to a fire, determination to find mice or rats under it, and getting ‘his mouth so full of smoke’.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/228
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: A lively letter in which the male author (in a battalion based in Northampton) regales his friend with detailed descriptions of his clothing, Commander Erskine, and tales of incidents with young women at balls: they are able to talk to the young ladies because they by behaving well in church and creating a good impression with the more senior women. He asks John to remember him to two women and others, and ends with an account of getting up at 6am and the wet weather.

People featured: 11
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/10
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: James announces his marriage to Margaret some days before, and would like to continue to hear of James Watt’s good health. Margaret sends thanks to her father and assures him she will continue to remain dutiful. Mrs Marr was at the wedding and Aunt Betty kept ‘pretty well’ when they were away. She sends gloves for her stepmother, Mrs Watt, and the two children.

People featured: 2
Collection: Heddin, Martha
Item Number: ACC/1360/099 [2]
Repository: London Archives
Summary: Introducing himself as her only remaining living relation and asking for financial help to purchase employment in a public office so he can support his wife and two young children

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/26
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: James tells his sons of a serious accident he had in late September (and which his parents had kept from them) in which he fells from his horse. He has some swelling in his ankle but is recovering. He discusses the news of peace and hopes his sons will not see peace disrupted by civil war or ‘the anarchy of foolish republicanism’. Their mother leaves a short note to John, asking for a letter from William.

People featured: 0
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/3/23
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: James Miller reports the death of Margaret, James Watt’s daughter. His spirits are depressed at the loss of ‘my delightful companion, the Mother of My sweet babbies, my best and dearest beloved wife’. He gives an account of her last days and his care for her. He is glad that James (his brother-in-law) is coming.

People featured: 3
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/22
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: Margaret has given birth to ‘a fine Boy’ and appears to be doing well. They are keen to hear from him, and also from James [Watt III], who is travelling in Italy.

People featured: 0
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/21
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: They are happy he arrived home safe. Margaret is uneasy at James’ silence. She has recovered well from the journey from England, and his granddaughter has got over smallpox and weaning.

People featured: 2
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/3/3/2/3/18
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: James is about to travel and informs his father of money he has received. His Aunt has been unwell with the megrim (migraine) but has improved.

People featured: 5
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/8/8
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: He is concerned to hear of her aunts’ poor health and sends reports on the family to Margaret. He reprimands her for the letter she wrote to her stepmother (apparently in response to a request for an account of Margaret’s expenses). He hopes she will write letters in future that will allow him to write more pleasant letters to her. A copy letter.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/59
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: His health is worsening in Manchester and he hopes a visit near home will improve his health. He expects to sail early next month and hopes the voyage will improve his health. He reports that his father is well and in good spirits. John’s cold is getting better.

People featured: 2
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/102
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: John is anxious as he has received no news from Longsdon and had left his mother in a ‘peculiarly delicate state of health and mind’. He gives an account of his daily routine including rising, a detailed discussion of meals and their effect on his health, exercise and a quiet life on Sunday. He adds a note saying he is pleased with the shirts from Miss W and wants others made in the same manner.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/38
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: John thanks his mother for the clothes but now needs some shirts. William’s shoes fit well. John has replied to a letter from his brother James in French.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/33
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: He thanks her for sending the clothes to himself and William, and asks for a pair of breeches for him and shoes for William. He hopes his father is in good health.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/92
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: John has returned from North America, but it is the shaking of the coach on the road to London that was the worst part journey. His father had been worried he would get fat in America, but he assures them he is as thin as he was when he left. He hopes Kate (Katharine) is recovered.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/92
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: 'John Longsdon in London [England] to his mother, Elizabeth Longsdon, saying that he is glad to hear from his father that she is well. He reached London late on Tuesday evening and today begins to feel recovered from the shaking of the coach, which was 10 times more dreadful than the roughest part of his passage. He saw Mr Gardom for a few minutes last night, and today will wait upon Mr Whateley and dine with Mr G Morewood. He hopes to see them in a few days. He is as well and thin as when he left England. He refers to his sisters hoping that Kate is quite recovered and asking if she is at Miss Bradley's and if he should call there if he passes through Chesterfield. He has not...

People featured: 7
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/8/7
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: She sent a letter to her father to London, but it did not reach him. She reports that her Aunts Marr and Betty have been very unwell this winter and they plan to go into the country for their health. She reports that her father’s friend is dead through overheating and a fever. She is sorry to hear her stepmother, Ann Watt, and Jessy have been unwell. It has been an ‘unhealthy Spring’.

People featured: 4
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/8/9
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: She replies to her father’s reprimand, what she calls his ‘Freindly letter’ with an apology. She assures him that she will pay her stepmother every attention when she comes to town. She hopes the weather and work will improve his health. She is hopeful that her aunts will remain in good health, as they have been so good and kind to her.

People featured: 0
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/3
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: She insists she will not marry without consulting him and her aunts. She will restrain her emotions in future, as they cause him displeasure. Her aunts are unwell, partly due to the weather. She reports on the death of the oldest son of an acquaintance, about which the family are ‘in great distress’.

People featured: 3
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/9/8
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: She is grateful for her father’s letter of advice, and will keep it as long as she lives. She reports on her Aunts’ health: one is ‘complaining’ and the other has gout in her stomach.

People featured: 4
Collection: Watt, James and Family Papers
Item Number: MS 3219/4/1/1/8/10
Repository: Library of Birmingham
Summary: She is happy she is no longer under his displeasure and will aim to not give him cause to be angry again. She defends her brother James’ choice to stay away longer, and assures her father that he will ‘turn out to your highest expectations’ and ease his load in business. She gives a brief reports of her stepmother’s health and that of her aunts, who have a cold.

People featured: 0
Collection: Longsdon family
Item Number: D3580/C/398
Repository: Derbyshire Record Office
Summary: Other name [Maria Lees] Maria is miserable, having been left by James without marrying her honourably. Her father is cross with her and thinks poorly of James. Her baby is being nursed by others, depriving her from from doing so herself. She implies that James cannot afford to set up his own household. She lives like a ‘dog’ and a prisoner in the house. The situation is making her unwell.

People featured: 0
Collection: Twining Family
Item Number: MS 39930, Vol.II, 227-228v
Repository: British Library
Summary: Writing to her grandson, Mary wonders if her house will be ready after redecoration and if the cook has arrived. She hopes his father will return to his apartments once the smell of paint has faded, and that his mother has returned from taking the waters at Tunbridge better for it. She discusses seeing several people and ends by hoping her son John’s leg is quite well.

People featured: 0
Collection: Cumberland Papers
Item Number: Add MS 36492 f.100
Repository: British Library
Summary: Richard described riding past a beautiful young woman on the road: she had a pretty face, dark brown hair in ringlets, and was wearing a scarlet dress. Richard was so struck be her that he didn’t want to lose sight of her, and endeavoured to find out her identity.