Letters of Mary Hobhouse to her family in England, 1858-1864

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File 4

Content Summary:

Most of the letters were sent to her sister-in-law, Eliza Hobhouse. There are also a few letters to Harriet Brodrick, Mary Hobhouse (the wife of Arthur Hobhouse), her cousins Augusta and Louise and other relatives. Some of the original letters are missing, but there are typed transcripts of all the letters. The subjects of the letters include the voyage to Australia, her stay in Sydney, first impressions of Nelson, requests for medicines, a piano and other goods, the colonial clergy, the difficulty of finding congenial company, news of the family in England, the first meeting of the diocesan synod (August 1859), the move from lodgings to her own home, servants, Edmund's meetings with Maoris, cooking, household duties, visits to Motueka, Edmund's tours of the diocese, the garden and orchard, the church school, Rev. R.H. Codrington, books, daily routines, descriptions of her house, the climate, conflict with the Maoris in Taranaki, her children Edmund and William, travels in the country, the distribution of clergy in the diocese, the provincial synod (Feb. 1862), relations with Bishop G.A. Selwyn, illnesses, visitors to the house, the diocesan synod (Oct. 1862) and Edmund's declining health (June 1864). Of the 74 items, 22 are undated or incomplete fragments of letters. Many of them deal with purchases of books, prints, clothes, drapery, groceries, flower seeds and other goods undertaken in England by Eliza Hobhouse on behalf of Mary Hobhouse. There is also a letter from Sarah Selwyn (Auckland) to Eliza Hobhouse (9 Aug. 1847) relating to the health of Selwyn's father and an explanation to accompany a map of the diocese of Nelson (1861).

(74 items).

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