A FOUR-PAGE AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by the British General and Literary Figure SIR EDWARD BRUCE HAMLEY to Mrs. Mary Ford widow of Richard Ford who wrote the popular "Handbook for Travellers in Spain".
1892rif. 35628Bournemouth: January 19th 1892. 1892. Very good. - Over 160 words penned on 4 sides of a folded sheet of creamy white paper the letter measuring 7-1/8 inches high by 4-1/2 inches wide. In his letter penned from the Mount Dore Hotel in Bournemouth England Sir Edward Bruce Hamley first expresses his appreciation for the kindness Mrs. Ford has shown his niece and for her having inquired concerning his health. He responds that "though my health is very well restored yet the disorder in my chest causing sometimes much shortness of breath still continues and disables me for active exertion." He goes on to relate that when he came to London to see Dr. Kidd over the Winter he was "much the worse for it". "I have faired till Easter and shall not till then attempt to stay for any time in town." Having previously thanked Mrs. Ford for the information regarding Mrs. Curzon Howe's Chambers" he is concerned that he might be advised to go out of town and "It would therefore be rash to take the responsibility of permanent chambers at present." Hamley goes on to say: "I hope that you and the Ambassador Mary Ford's step-son are pleased with his transfer - As you are fond of travelling . and when you get there you would be pleased indeed with the scenery of the Bosphorous - April is I should say the best month". He is glad to hear that Mrs. Mary Ford thinks well of his "niece's miniatures". Lacking for space Hamley returns to the margin of the first page to express his closing wishes vertically overlapping the opening sentences of his letter and signs himself "Edward Hamley". Folded for mailing with some very minor faint foxing. Glue stains along the edge of the last page and a thin strip of paper along the left edge of the first page slightly obscures Mrs. Ford's name which is penned vertically in the left margin. Apparently the letter was once tipped into an album. Very good. Sir Edward Bruce Hamley 1824-1893 served in the Crimean War. He was professor of military history at the Staff College Sandhurst from 1858 to 1877 and was Commandant of the College from 1870-1877. He was chief of the commission for the delimitation of the Balkan and Armenian frontiers 1879-80 and commanded a division in the Egyptian war of 1882. He was promoted to General in 1890. Hamley was Member of Parliament for Birkenhead from 1885 until his death in 1893. In addition to works on the Crimean War and his military manual "The Operations of War" Hamley was a short-story writer and poet a translator of French verse and the author of a novel "Lady Lee's Widowhood". The letter comes from the autograph collection of Mrs. Mary Ford widow of Richard Ford who wrote the popular "Handbook for Travellers in Spain". The autograph collection known as the Pencarrow Collection was formed from the 1850s onwards largely by Mary Ford in her long period of widowhood. Richard Ford's son and thus Mary Ford's step-son Sir Francis Clare Ford GCB GCMG PC 1828-1899 was an English diplomat. After serving as a Lieutenant in the 4th Light Dragoons he entered the diplomatic service first serving as Secretary of Legation in Washington D.C. He was appointed Secretary of Embassy at St. Petersburg and subsequently transferred to Vienna. He represented the British government before the Halifax Fisheries Commission and then went on to serve as Minister to the Argentine Republic to Uruguay and similar posts in Rio de Janeiro and Athens. He served as Ambassador to Spain and acted as British Commissioner in Paris to settle the Newfoundland fisheries question and at the time of this letter in 1892 was appointed to Constantinople and later to Rome. His service was highly regarded and he was rewarded with appointment to the Privy Council in 1888. Bournemouth: January 19th, 1892. unknown
