[Thomas Waters, R.M., to his wife, Elizabeth]
Addressed to Mrs Capt. Waters R.M., King Street,Woolwich, Kent
Birmingham April 1840
(Postmarked 23 April 1840)
My dear Wife,
My Wednesday’s note, in answer to your letter of the day before, was a hurried one, and I had a good run besides, in hopes I should have been in time to send it by Serg.t Hartley and then probably you would have had it the same night, but I was too late and I immediately took it to the Post-office to relieve your anxiety as soon as possible- It gives me great uneasiness to find that your health is so indifferent and that you suffer so much, I wish very much that you would at once acquaint Mr Butler with your situation, you would be wrong to defer it, he may be able to give you some useful advice and if he cannot, at least, it will be no worse and you then will have done what is right, and I am particularly anxious that you would as soon as possible suit yourself with a good nurse upon such an occasion, and your critical state of health, we must not stand upon expence, in such a case saving is losing, it strikes me that Mrs.Webber’s mother would be just the person for you, she is comfortable looking, and near at hand, do not defer anything that is necessary to health, and life, too long, we owe it to our children to take the best care of ourselves that we can for them. It must have been a very great annoyance to you your bill being returned for want of being properly endorsed but
however we live and learn, and shall never have done learning while we live, it seems to be the nature of Reason that we should progress or be so unfortunate as to retrograde, which, the Almighty
forbid. You did right to make John’s friend welcome, I shall be happy for John to have his friend or friends down whenever he thinks proper. You can learn from Mrs. Meheux what sort of nurse she had, I hope Mrs. Meheux is doing well- I am very glad you got a satisfactory letter from Thomas, I hope he will find himself by-and-by on his proper Element, that is to say in the situation which will make him happy it seems to me that he is where his morals are not likely to be contaminated, he appears to be with orderly people and to have some attention shown him, I think it is much better for him to be where he is to learn seamanship, than to be in an East India going ship where there is less opportunity to learn for when once he is a thorough navigater he will be fit to command a ship in any part of the world, you see, he likes the crew as well as the Captain, which shows that he has met with some attention from them, and then I have no doubt he will have a friend in the Boatsteerer- Flour does appear to be falling, I should not wonder if bread gets a halfpenny cheaper- If there is any thing that I can buy here for you or for the young folks let me know, any time, and I will endeavour to get it and send it when I have an opportunity- Easter monday I got up at 1/2 past 12 and walked to Kidderminster and arrived there at 1/2 past 5 in the morning 18 miles from my Lodgings, you may suppose that, but few people were up so early and I had a plenty of time to look about before I could get any breakfast, I was surprised to find what a shabby looking place it is, it has only two churches and not one handsome street nor any elegant building that I could see. the new church is very well, and the old church has been a fine one, business, there, is very dead, it is generally so this time of the year but more particularly so now than usual, there are no steam looms, I was told that steam looms were not found to answer in that line, I was in one of the factorys, the weaving machinery is very different from any thing I have seen before, the weaver requires a person to assist in the machinery, there are different sorts of looms for different sorts of carpeting I saw people weaving what is termed Brussels carpeting. there are, I was told, sometimes upwards of
seventeen hundred looms at work in Kidderminster, but I could not learn that there was any other sort of manufactory in the place, spinning of course excepted, and even the yarn and twine manufactured into carpeting is brought, a great deal of it, from Yorkshire. there appeared to be no new building going on or any sort of improvement, nor any villages near of any consequence, in short, it appeared a flat place altogether, although a very rugged one, it was a beautiful morning, at 4 oClock the hares were running about, the birds singing, the wood pigeons cooing, and the Cuckoo I heard repeatedly,- I was back again at my Lodgings before 3 in the afternoon- Mary has my warmest regard for her attention to her Mother.
Remember me kindly to all the children- I remain
Your Affectionate Husband
Thos. Waters