BLACKWELL FAMILY KITTY BARRY [ESTECOURT, ROLAND] Estcourt, RowlandBirmingham 2 July '10 Dear Miss Barry Many thanks for your interesting letter of the 14th June & the enclosures which we have all read with pleasure. I could have wished however that you had not marred it by the concluding remarks. I was always brought up in suchrighteous horror of what my parents called "waiting for dead peoples shoes". They rightly judged that "expectations" not only ruin the soul of the individual but curse our civilisation, undermining the manhood and womanhood of the race. A friend of mine – Dr. Johnson once told me that he had remembered me in his Will, and I promptly asked him to remove the bequest. The Knowledge made me uncomfortable and tended to mar our friendship. I think that I and everybody else always regarded you and [?] [W.?] as one in the matter of any property so that her death made no difference to you in that respect and therefore a note of jubilation on undivided possession grates on the feelings. – We were all surprised at [W's.?] desire to be buried at Kilman although we know how she loved that land. But it seems so strange that she did not desire to be buried at Bristol or near her sisters or near her parents in U.S.A. "Their graves"are severed far & wide by mount & stream & sea" always sounded such pathetic lines. You know them in Mrs. Hermans "Graves of a household". I suppose Kilmun will always now be a hallowed spot for you. I have never been exactly there, but I know the Firth of Clyde & always loved its brightness & I love mountains also. Perhaps I shall make a pilgrimage to Kilmun some day. I do not know Mrs. McKingsley & Dr. Yellowlees. But I suppose Miss Jebbs was there. I am glad such a nice article appeared in the Times. There is nothing new in it to me of course. I knew everything & more than is there written. Yours very truly R. Estcourt [*1906*] Weymouth 14 May '6 Dear Miss Barry In writing last week I meant to have asked you if you have any news of Mrs. Hickman. She used to write often to Constance &occasionally they had a few days in London together which brightened Constance up marvellously for the entertainment was of an order which I could not supply and so I was very grateful to Mrs. Hickman, as Constance otherwise has a rather sombre and worried (by me) life. Lately we have heard but little. Some time years ago I attended the hearing of a prosecution of Alan at [Swanage?] for infringement of Motor Car Act (at earnest request of Mrs. A. and gladly on my part) but since then the silence has been [generally?]broken, and I think his escape on that occasion was a good deal due to me. We are having glorious weather although rather too abrupt in variations of temperature. Kindest remembrances to all Yours sincerely R. Estcourt Yours just to hand. We may trust that Mr. Poole is in a happier sphere. It is saddest for those he leaves. I am in perfect sympathy with [Klanki?] over the bells. What an enlightened dog! Pat him for me.[*R Estcourt*] Gayton 2 March 25 Dear Miss Barry The seaweed has arrived & I enclose P.O. for 10/6, thanking you very much for your trouble. Little Consic (we call her Consic to distinguish her from her mother) was delighted with your letter & present. Shekeeps showing the dogs' photographs round. I did not go to London. We have had no rain here but it is snowing & freezing again. Our house is very full just now as my wife's brother is here as a convalescent from typhoid. He is picking up very rapidly Her mother & two sisters have also come. It sometimes makes me feel a little lonely in the world, to have a house of my own & none of my own people ever here. Even my old friends never come to see me. The old world in which I lived so long seems passed away, only just now & then I [?]meet someone & can hardly remember where we left off. You can understand that I look forward rather hungrily to having you & the Doctor (& Dr Burr) here presently. And yet - life passes swiftly - too swiftly - & happily. It is rather as if I had married & emigrated - for the Atlantic would [surely?] have separated us more. Yours sincerely Rowland Estcourt [Constance?] will write you later Gayton 22 Feb 95 Dear Miss Barry It has occurred to me & I have mentioned it to our local doctor & he thinks it a good idea to steep sea-weed in the bath which little Consic uses. Of course it is not equal to real sea water, but we havenoticed how when at the sea side she seems to benefit from "washing a bit of sea weed" as she calls it, an occupation which fills most of her time on the shore. Do you know some old sailor who would collect & dry some clean sea weed for me?- by "clean" I mean not gathered near the sewer outfall! A sack would hold a great quantity of dry sea weed pressed in. If so, he might send it by rail addressed to me at Blisworth station to be paid on delivery & I could send him a postal order for his labour in collecting. The weather has been so terrible here that Constance has not been able to get out, but she[*Rowland Estcourt] hopes to return Mrs. Hickman's visit soon. I shall be so glad for her to see more of Mrs. Hickman. The lilac trees just show signs of budding. A week of soft weather would bring them out. They were in leaf early March last year & we had such a magnificent display of colour. The temptation proved too much for many passers by. I have put in 24 choice rose trees since you were here & hope for great results. We are busy pruning the fruit trees now the frost has broken. Love from Constance & [??] Your sincerely Rowland EstcourtMr. Estcourt was a pleasant man. I had not met him before, but liked the little I could see of him in the few days of bustle which preceded the marriage. He was not quite free from the somewhat barrister fault of being too argumentative; but it is perhaps a little difficult to slip off in private the armour which must so often be worn in public. Lottie however was exceedingly proud of his quick repartee, his readiness in finding out and holding up to public view the weak point in his enemy's harness, and the clever way in whichhe could turn and twist things so as to make wrong seem right, and vice versa. A Mother's Idol. By Lydia Hope, 1882 [*From Miss Barry Blackwell's notebook*]