Anna Beddoes to Davies Giddy, c. 30 July-1 August 1803
August 1st
Your sister Anna has not forgotten you, though it is a very long time since she told you so. no indeed she has not, nor ever can, she would be a most ungrateful creature if such a thing were possible – Before the birth of my little boy [1] (who by the by is inclined to be nothing but skin and bone like his mama) I was for a great while so incapable of every trifling effort, so low spirited and so very good for nothing that it was lucky for you that I did not make you a sharer of my foolish melancholy – but now that I am well again, I must try to be equally so in mind or else I know neither you nor dear Mary [2] will love me, and <then> indeed I should have some rational cause for unhappiness. – Dr B. got your letter from Calenick, [3] and it gave me great pleasure to hear such good account of the amendment your tour has produced on the health of the whole party, I long to see how you all look, and what delight it will give me to shew you my little Anna, I shall say no more on this subject though I feel a great deal [4] –
A gentleman living in Yorkshire has written to ask Dr Beddoes whether he can undertake so long a journey, as he has a son whom he cannot well remove, and on whose case he wants to consult him, Dr B. intends going, and very much wishes me to accompany him, and a most obedient wife he would find me, were not Emmeline upon the point of giving us a nephew, [5] and not not very certain as to the exact time, and I could not bear the thought of leaving her at such a moment, she who would do any thing in the world for me, and actually considers me before herself – most probably this happy event will take place before the time Dr B has fixed for his jaunt, if so little Anna & big mama accompany him – I will tell you a great deal of your blue eyed friend Maria [6] when I see you which I suppose will be soon after Dr B returns from Yorkshire – She came very unexpectedly to see us when I was first beginning to regain my strength [7] – she is neither in good health or spirits, but still pretty, and interesting I must say no more till I see you – for you know if I tell all these things now, I shall have nothing to say to you then, and in that case you would as lief be excused the pleasure of a silent meeting – I do not know whether you had much intimate acquaintance with Mr Reynolds, with his character I am sure you had –, he is [8] at last fallen a victim to his unfortunate habit of drinking, [9] and his poor sons are sent to quaker’s schools where all they had formerly learned will probably be lost [10] – Since this letter was begun poor Emmeline has presented her Husband with a very nice large little girl who made her mama suffer so much that Mr King was much alarmed about her, I believe for sixteen hours she was in dreadful pain, but now she is safe, & most happy will she be with her little treasure – She has borne all with the greatest patience & fortitude, though she told me to day, that she wished herself dead a thousand times – What name of three letters can you find for the child, this is a problem for you, and your sister to resolve – but I know you neither of you will succeed [11] – your little Anna is far from strong, I had hoped to have shewn you a very pretty child, for so she has been called by many people here, but she is quite pale, and her face so disfigured by different accidents that at present their [MS torn] nothing remaining but a very sensible little countenance – her little brother is a nondescript we can’t tell what to make of him yet – Dr B. is going on successfully with the Institution, [12] crowds of poor people flock there twice a week, 300 patients have attended for this last month – by this means new remedies are tried, & the results stated in a book kept for that purpose so that good and bad is fairly detailed, this is regularly done by a Irish medical man of the name of Scully, who executes Dr Bs plans as punctually as he would himself or more so – I must tell you no more or I shall have nothing left you know, so give my kind love to your sister and believe me yours truly – Anna
Address: Davies Giddy Esq / Tredrea / Marazion / Cornwall
Postmark: Bristol / AUG 3 80
Endorsement: 1803 / Augst 1st
Notes
[1] Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–49). Anna’s first son, born on 30 June.
[2] Giddy’s sister Mary Philippa.
[3] Calenick is a hamlet about a mile south of Truro. It was then the centre of tin smelting in Cornwall, featuring ten reverbatory furnaces. Giddy had a scientific interest in geology and mineralogy; he and Beddoes had visited several tin and copper mines on a geological tour of the county they made in 1791.
[4] Anna was to pay a visit to Giddy at his home, Tredrea, near St Erth, Cornwall.
[5] In the event this was a niece, Zoë King, born 31 July 1803. She lived until 1881.
[6] Maria Thompson.
[7] After the birth of Thomas Lovell Beddoes.
[8] Is has been written as a correction over ‘has’.
[9] William Reynolds (1758–1803). Reynolds, born into a Quaker family, was, from 1796, partner with his half-brother Joseph in the Madeley Wood and Ketley ironworks, Shropshire. A successful industrialist, he developed canals in the Shropshire coalfield, exploited a local source of bitumen, and invested in local potteries and glassworks. He had studied with Joseph Black and retained an interest in chemistry. A steady friend, he backed Beddoes’ pneumatic experiments with the considerable sum of £200. He also encouraged James Sadler, Beddoes’s Oxford-based assistant, in his efforts to develop steam engines. He fell ill in 1795 and his life was feared for. In August 1802 he came to Beddoes for treatment, staying at the York Hotel, Clifton. He died in Shropshire on 3 June 1803.
[10] Reynolds had three sons, William (1790–1807), Joseph (b. 1793) and Michael (b. 1794). None of them survived to adulthood.
[11] Zoe was then a most unusual name. Emmeline’s second child was also given a Greek name: Psyche.
[12] Beddoes remodelled the Pneumatic Institution in 1803 as the Preventive Institution – aiming at preventing infectious diseases spreading among the poor of Bristol, as flu did in that year, by providing medicines, treatment and advice. He employed William Scully of Tipperary, an MD of the University of Edinburgh, active 1777–1818. In 1804, the Institution, now named the ‘Medical Institution for the Benefit of the Sick and Drooping Poor’ opened second premises at Little Tower Court, Broad Quay, in Bristol’s docks.