Carol’s School Memoir

Carol Hazell is Sent to School

My last two posts have been stories written by my mother about her mother, Carol, who was sent from St Vincent so she could go to school in England.  This post is a transcript of the earliest document I have, my grandmother’s memoir of those years.  My mother referred to it as a journal, but I, with 30 years of teaching high school English behind me, think that it was more of an assignment, or perhaps a hobby project.  It was obviously written to be read by others (nothing negative is ever said, everyone is described as ‘so kind’), and it is written after the fact, not immediately as a journal would have been.  After all, her reactions to daily life would have gone into the weekly letters the 15-year-old sent home.  The memoir shows little personality- she describes the sights, the landscapes, the theatres, from a correct Edwardian (teen) perspective, (her favourite description is ‘very fine’- church services, architectural details, acting, sermons…) and only occasionally does the real Carol emerge- as when she and her brother see the Royal Mail ship in port, and she wants to get on board and go home!  There are a few red pencil annotations, but whether this was commentary by a teacher or an older Carol re-reading her work is unknown.  Often the lefthand side of the book has been left blank for illustrations to be added, but only a few postcards are present- her holidays are recorded in a separate photo album, labelled Hickling or Littlehampton, showing young people swimming, bicycling, boating, and picnicking.  And it just stops!  There are detailed descriptions of the funeral procession of King Edward VII and the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, but she fills the book with accounts of visits to some of London’s sights- nothing about leaving her school, or any of the formalities- graduation, academic achievements, certificates- that are important today. 

Here, then is her memoir, 1909-1912, in her own words, underlinings, spelling, grammar, and exclamation marks.  My interpolations can be found in italics and square brackets, occasionally to add a correction I just couldn’t let pass, or to explain blanks where West Indian insects have eaten a hole in the exercise book and the word is unknown. 

Memories of England

I have now been here two years and since then I have seen many sights of London which shall never fade from my memory.

I arrived in England on June 1st on a wet rainy day & I thought London unspeakable, but since then I have changed my mind as I find it can be fine in England.  For the first fortnight we stayed at “Glenroy” Hotel, while staying there I saw many sights, among which were the British Museum, and the White City and the Crystal Palace.

The White City I enjoyed very much, I went on everything & I had a lovely time, but I was very disappointed in the Crystal Palace.

Streatham College for Girls

On the 15th of June I was taken by force! to school, I was very reluctant to go as I did not know what an English school was like but when I got there my feelings quite changed, everyone was so kind to me.  The school is a lovely old building, situated on the High Road, it dates from the time of the Stuarts.  The “Assembly” room is an Adam’s room, most beautifully decorated in that style, also the staircase is one of the “Seven Wonders of the World”!!

The grounds are lovely, with two tennis courts, and a beautiful pergola at the end over which the sweetest roses climb, but the thing I like best is the mulberry tree.  We have the most glorious oak hall which Lady Tate (Our “Fairy Godmother”) gave us.  It is the best Hall that any school possesses in the whole of England, and it goes by the name of “The Amy Lefroy Hall”.  

I did not do anything exciting the first half term I was at school, when I arrived I was put in the Lower IV which was  very big form of 32 girls.  The term flew very quickly & before we knew where we were Exam- week was upon us, but I did not do any as I had the painful experience of haveing my adenoids removed, which was a little worse than exams!!!!!!!!

The Summer Holidays 1910  [Although I’m pretty sure it was 1909, she describes the King’s death the year after]

The Holidays came & then I was bundled off to the country.  I spent the first week at Houghton in Hunts. which is a pretty little village situated on the river Ouse.  I had a most enjoyable week, boating and bicycling, I then returned to London, where I spent a week with my Father & Fred, we spent the whole week in sightseeing, I went with my brother to the Tower of London, and Westminister Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, my father also took me to a couple of theatres, after my week was up, I had to say goodbye to my father, & then I left for Hickling in Norfolk, where I stayed for the rest of the holidays, I stayed at the Vicarage with the Crosses, there I had a lovely time, when I arrived I did not know anyone, but I soon got to know them all, they were all preparing for their bazaar which was to come off the next day.  I helped the girls, at the fruit stall, to sell, altogether we got £8 at our stall.

We used to go sailing on the broads in the afternoons & in the mornings we all used to bicycle to the beach at Palling, which was about 2 1/2 miles for Hickling, there we all bathed, it was lovely, as we were a very large party & we had great games in the water.  Whilst I was in Norfolk my father left England for New York, where he stayed several months and then continued his journey home.  I hated the idea of being in England with out him, at first, but everyone was so very kind to me, & I liked Hickling very much, it is quite a small village situated near the Norfolk Broads , they are very nice, we used to go for long sails every day, sometimes we used to take 0ur lunch out and go sailing for the whole day.  At the end of the eight weeks, I returned to School.

I found there were many new girls and some of the old girls had left.  The first few weeks of the term, I was the only boarder at school, but I was not a bit lonely all the mistresses and everyone were so very kind to me, but soon afterwards Rina returned and Vesta came as a new girl.  The term went by quickly, I was then in the Upper IV & I had to work hard, at the half term I stayed at school, & Miss Hull took us to Masklin & Devants which was very nice & amusing, [Maskelyne and Devant’s, a magic show] we also went to the National and the Tate galleries that term, at the end of the term I had my first experience of an English Examination.  I found it rather difficult but I managed to get through.  I then went to spend my holidays with my brother at a small village near Andover in Hampshire, there we had a very quiet time, as there were no boys and girls as there were in Norfolk, there Mr and Mrs Holbrooke & their three grown up daughters.  My brother & I did a good bit of bicycling, Christmas day, was spent very quietly, Fred & I opened all our presents in the morning before the others were down, & we had quite an exciting time over it!  We went to church at 11 AM but there were very few people & the church is very tiny, one of the smallest churches I have seen in England, in the afternoon Fred & I went for a long walk, & in the evening at 7:30 we had our Xmas dinner! Turkey and ham & plum pudding, & at dessert we had crackers, which caused great excitement!  After Xmas we were invited to some dances, at Andover & I looked forward to going very much, but Fred rather dreaded it, & tried to get out of it, but at last we managed to persuade him, & we all went, we all enjoyed ourselves very much, & we went to another the next week, which was quite enjoyable, we were invited to another one but we had to return to school before it came off.  In these holidays roller skating was all the rage, so at first we went with the Misses Holbrooke to the Skating rink but just as I was getting on, one day Miss Holbrooke fell & broke her leg, so after that we were not allowed to go again, much to my disappointment!

After our four weeks were up, we returned to school, we got to London the day before school opened so Miss Hull went with Fred & myself to a play called Arsene Lupin.  It is one of the nicest & most exciting plays I have seen, & I enjoyed it thoroughly.  When I went back to school Fred came with me for the night, he liked my school and all the mistresses very much indeed, he left the next morning & the same morning we opened school, I spent the first half of the term trying to work hard.  Miss Lefroy took Rina & self to the “Blue Bird” as a treat.  I enjoyed  it very much indeed.  At Easter I went with Miss Lefroy and Miss Hull to Brighton.  I think Brighton is a very nice place and I spent one of my happiest times there!  We left here on Thursday afternoon, & when we got to Brighton we had to look for rooms, we went from place to place hunting for  rooms, I thoroughly enjoyed it, we at last found a set of rooms, they were very nice and comfortable & we then got some supper, and soon went to bed, the next morning was Good Friday, so we spent it very quietly, we went to the three hour service at twelve & we came out at about three, the service was very fine & we had a magnificent preacher called       

In the evening we went to the same church called St Paul’s, to a Lantern Service, that also was very fine.  Saturday we passed in shopping & we went to church in the evening, on Easter Sunday we went to church three times & all the services were very fine, in Brighton there are over forty Protestant churches, so we had a nice choice, we went to a different one each time.  On Easter Monday Brighton was crowded so we went for a long bicycle ride, we went right out into the country for 14 miles & passed through a good number of villages.  On Tuesday we left at about 2 o’clock & returned to school, the rest of the term seemed very short, as our half term holiday had been kept until Easter.  The first two week of my holidays, I spent at the Holbrooke’s again, with my brother Fred, we had a very nice quiet time, Fred & I did a good deal of bicycling.  One day we went to  Salisbury by train, it is a very old town & the cathedral is a very beautiful one, we went all over it, & we found it very interesting, we spent the whole day there, & went all over the town.  

Another day we went to Southampton & we went to a theatre called

It was very nice and interesting, we went all over the town & Fred took me to the docks, I felt very much tempted to go on board the Royal Mail & go home! but Fred held me back & would not let me go!!  Another day we went to see a play “Miss Hook of Holland” in Andover which was lovely, it was a music play & we all went mad over the music!

When our two weeks were up. Fred had to go back to school, so I went for the next week to Gloucestershire.  I stayed with Vesta Mackie at Chedworth Vicarage, it is one of the prettiest places I have seen in England, the village is situated in a valley with hills up each side, the village is a very old one & the church is built in the Norman style, it has a chained bible in it & many other great reminences.  

Up the valley there are large woods with lovely thick trees, & on the ground there were sheets of primroses, we used to go for lovely long rambles through the woods.  Just a little way up the valley there are the old remains of an old Roman Villa which was only discovered a few years ago, it was discovered by some men who were ploughing it had been covered by the earth & no one had ever known it was there.  I found Chedworth very interesting & I enjoyed my stay thoroughly, all the Mackies were very kind to me & such nice people.  When my week was up Vesta & I returned to school, much against our wish!  We had been at school just a few days when we heard of the sad death of our dear King Edward VII.  It was on a Saturday morning the 6th May [1910] that I came down stairs & heard he had died that night, the whole of England seemed to mourn.  I went with Miss Lefroy that morning up tp London & with us came Miss Turner & Mis Hull, London was packed with people , & one could hardly get into the shops on account of the press.  Every one was grave, & sad, as you passed along the streets you saw the sad news on all the posters, as you went in the train every man was reading his paper with the sad news.  Everyone seemed to feel that we had lost one of the greatest monarchs that had ever reigned on the English throne.  We went into various shops to try to and get some black clothes, the price of all the black things had gone up & it was difficult to find anything.  Whilst we were in one shop I turned round & found the Smiths standing next to me, they recognized me at once, & as I had been invited for the weekend to stay with them, before, Miss Lefroy let me go off with them, I spent a very nice weekend, but of course it was very quiet, all blinds had to be pulled down, & everything quiet.  On Sunday we went to a very nice church St Bartholomews quite near where the Smiths lived  a very fine sermon was preached by the Rev Bernard Shaw.  Chopin’s funeral march was played at the end of the service, everyone almost was in mourning & the church was very dull and sad.  I returned to school on Sunday afternoon, & we started school again on Monday morning, that whole week in London was very quiet no Theatres or anything were going on.  I went with Miss Lefroy on 18th to see the procession of the King’s funeral, [which was actually on the 20th of May] we had seats at the Treasury in “White Hall” Street we had a magnificent view, & I think it is one of the greatest & yet most solemn sights I have ever seen.  We had to wait a good while before the procession came, the crowd down below on the sides of the streets was a dense mass the police-men had a great work to keep the press back, the streets were lined up on each side with double files of soldiers, in their red coat uniform, when the procession arrived there was a hush over the whole crowd, & hardly a sound could be heard except for the tread of the horses hoofs.  In front led Lord Kitchener & Lord Roberts, then led some troops & behind them became the gun carriage with the coffin which was very beautifully decorated with the royal standard, & other draperies, the crown, the orb and the sceptre were on the top.  Right behind followed King George V walking with his two eldest sons on either side of him, then behind him walked all the other kings, we had a splendid view of them, as they walked rather slowly, father behind came the carriage with the Queen Mother & behind another carriage with the Queen and her children, it was a very fine sight and I would like to see it over again.  It was a great difficulty when we left the treasury, to pass through the crowd, we all had to hold on to each other’s coats & form a crocodile, I being rather short was almost lifted off my feet several times, after many adventures we at last arrived at the Army and Navy stores, where we had a very nice tea.  The rest of the term was very quiet, we put off our Empire dance, which we always have every year.

My brother-in-law Carden came over to England about the middle of the term & he took me out, several times, once to the White City where we spent the greater part of the day, we went on all the side shows but the one I liked the best was the Scenic Railway, we also went on the Wiggle Woggle, the Canadian Railway, the Mountain Railway, the Flip-flap the Ferrer’s wheel, the Witching Waves and the Whirling Waters, these are a few but I can’t remember them all.

He also took me to a theatre one Saturday called “The Dollar Princess”.  It was simply glorious & the music was lovely, I had lunch with him at the West Indian Hotel, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, and from there we had a taxi to the theatre.

Soon the summer Holidays were upon us, & Fred came & stayed a week here, with me, Miss Lefroy and Miss Hull were here also.  We had a lovely week together & we were treated to a good many theatres, as it was our last week in England together, we went to “The Scarlet Pimpernel” which was very exciting I could hardly keep my seats with excitement, we all enjoyed it thoroughly I am sure, & we were very sad when it came to an end.

We also went to “Priscilla runs away” it was a very sweet play, the heroine of the play was Nielsen Terry, & she was absolutely sweet.

We went to the Palace Theatre, to see the Russian Dancers, they dance most beautifully, on the very tips of their toes, they performed many fancy dances, which were most wonderful.  For the third time I again went to the White City Japanese Exebition, there we met our cousins, & we all had a jolly time together.

I left Fred and went off to spend my summer holidays at Norfolk. Where I had an even nicer time than the last, we had dances of all sorts, one was a fancy-dress dance, we all had to get up our own dresses, I went as a Japanese girl.

At the Half Term I remained here with Miss Story & Una and we went to The Tower of London.  This Tower is one of the finest and oldest in England, it is dated from the time of King Alfred.  It is the tower where all royal prisoners were kept until after the Commonwealth.  It is now kept especially for the Crown jewels and armour, & a great part of it has been turned into soldiers barracks.

The Crown jewels are kept in the Wakefield Tower, and the great collection of armour is kept at the White Tower.

It has been the scene of many sieges and many people of high rank have been executed, Lady Jane Grey & her husband, being some of the unfortunate ones, this spot where the block used to stand is on the green in front of the the Beauchamp Tower, where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned sometime before her execution, her room is still to be seen.

We also went to see the National Gallery.  It is situated in Trafalgar Square.

The pictures are of many different types of Foreign Schools such as the Tuscan & Dutch School and the Italian School. I found the Madonnas of the Italian Schools especially fine.

There were also a very good collection of English painters, such as Turners and Reynolds.

For the Christmas Holidays I went to Littlehampton.  It is a nice sea side place, but very flat, there are some very nice walks all around where we used to go very often, whilst there, I went to Portsmouth, I went on board the “Victory”, Nelson’s ship on which he fought the battle of Trafalgar October 21st 1805.  The ship is very interesting, and has been well preserved, (most of it has been rebuilt) the spot where Nelson fell is still to be seen, & also the spot where he died, down in the Cock Pit, there is now there a very interesting saloon where there are pictures of him from his child hood and many remnants of his.

Arundel Castle.  In Arundel beautifully situated at the side of Arundel Park.  The present castle is not very old but the ruins are said to be very ancient. This castle belongs to the Duke of Norfolk, who possesses the whole of Arundel & Littlehampton and most of the places around.  The interior of the castle is very fine, nicely decorated with antique furniture, the Baron’s Hall is a very large room with two huge fireplaces, the chapel is also very fine, with beautiful ornamentations and fine stained-glass windows.  Arundel park is said to be one of the prettiest parks in England.  The Swan Lake is most picturesque, very blue with lovely green banks all round it, on one side there live a great number of peacocks, which look very picturesque strutting about.

In Arundel there is also the very fine Roman Catholic Cathedral built by the Duke of Norfolk, although it is quite new it is not very [unknown] the whole length of the church there are very tall straight pillars meeting with slight curves at the top, the altar is very finely decorated with seven gold candlesticks, and other gold vessles, there is a very fine rose window which is said to be the finest of the present-day. At the bottom of the aisle.

Worthing.  I also went there during my stay at Littlehampton, I found my day here most enjoyable, I went to the theatre, the piece acted was called the “Mark of Fate”, it was most exciting, the town itself is very nice, with nice shops, and the parade on the front is very nice especially when the band is playing.

Easter Term passed on quietly, I went for the half term to the Cowes where I had a most enjoyable time.  I went to “The Merry Wives of Windsor” written by Shakespeare, it is a very amusing play, the actors were splendid the two chief ones being Lilly Brayton and Oscar Asche.

I also went to the Palladium Theatre which was just nicely opened & very large I thought it was.

On the Monday the same day I returned to school I went to see the South Kensington Museum of Natural History. There are many kinds of different animals from all parts of the world, there they have all different kinds of birds so well arranged in their nests in glass cases one would think they were living.  There are besides the animals themselves, in their real form, skeletons and animals which have only ever been found once, & of ones which have only ever been found in skeletons, the skeleton of the largest animal is there.  As you enter the museum there is a fine statue of Sir Richard Greene KCB, & an elephant in the front hall.

I went this term with Miss Lefroy and Una to Henry VIII which was acted at His Majesty’s Theatre. The scenery and the whole performance of the play was splendid, & most of the chief actors in London were in it.  The play begins first, when Cardinal Woolsey was in great favour with Henry VIII and [blank] it goes on with Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and then his marriage with Ann Boleyn, and it ends up with the sudden fall of Wolseley. It is said that this play is not at all like any other play of Shakespeare & it is not quite sure if he wrote the whole play. It is quite probable that it was finished by one of his friends, & brought the climax to an end so quickly.

My Easter Holidays, I spent at Littlehampton with Una, we had a lovely three weeks and were quite sorry when we had to return, we had a very jolly Easter with a party of about twelve, on Easter Monday we all went for a picnic up the river, and stopped at Burpham and had lunch, this is a very pretty little village on the river “Arun”; the church there is very old and it has little windows high up, where they say that lepers were allowed to sit and look on at the service.

We went during our stay for many rows up the river which were lovely, especially when we rowed ourselves.

Chichester. We all went one day to see Chichester, I found it a most interesting old town, Chichester Cathedral, it dates from 1108 when it was consecrated. This building was destroyed by fire, & a new one was erected in the end of the 12th century by Bishop Ralph.  During the civil war the town was captured by the Royalists and the soldiers did a great deal of damage to the church.  [Ah, no, Carol, it was the Roundheads who  captured and desecrated the cathedral after a five day siege.]  In spite of all attempts to preserve it, the spire & tower came to the ground in 1861, but it has since been restored. The cathedral itself is 407 feet  in length & it has double side aisles.

The town itself is well built and it consists of 4 principle streets which meet at right angles & in the centre is an octagonal cross fifty feet high, erected by Bishop Story & it is said to be one of the finest structures of its kind in England.  Chichester still retains its ancient walls, which have a circuit of about a mile and a half.  There is also another very interesting place, which is called to St. Mary’s Hospital, is said to be older than the cathedral, & was used by monks, it was afterwards turned into a hospital, now it is a home for old ladies and old gentleman, it is a very curious old building with the chapel at the end of it, this is the only one of its sort in England, there is said to be one other in Germany like it, but not so old. 

Summer Term

The year 1911 is a year which never shall be forgotten by me, for in the summer term the great event of King George V’s Coronation took place.

The Coronation

On Thursday, June 22 the splendid ceremony took place, we did not see anything of it  this day, but we heard that it was very fine. That evening we went out on the roof of the house, and all around the sky was aglow, from magnificent bon-fires which were burning all over England, to the glory of their new king.

On Friday, June 23, the great procession through London took place we all went to see this, we had a fine view in Borough Road.  There was great excitement the whole of that day, we had to have early breakfast, and rush off to catch the train, when we got to Borough Road there was a great crowd on the side walks and soldiers lined up on each side of the streets.  By the help of a policeman, we managed to push our way through the crowd, and we at last got to our room, which was most comfortable with two windows, & a balcony, it was well furnished with easy chairs & a sofa, and a piano, which was a great joy to us whilst waiting.  Although we had to wait quite a long while before the procession appeared, we none of us got tired of it, we had our lunch during that time, & we played and sang, and eat sweets, the seething mass below a great amusement to look upon also, it was a very enthusiastic crowd but after waiting a long while they got rather tired so when ever anyone passed down the course they cheered most violently, it did not matter who it was if even it was the dust-men.  The soldiers were also very amusing to watch, when it rained some of them perhaps three in number tried to shelter under one cape, the consequence was all their Busbies got soaking wet, & they looked somewhat like drowned rats.

At last at 12:15, there was a hush over the crowd and the soldiers were called to atention, and the first of the great procession at last arrived, they being the colonials, when the West Indian Guards passed by, I cheered until I was quite hoarse and waved my scarlet ribbon frantically. 

After the continual tramp of many soldiers and horses, their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary, appeared amid tremendous applause and cheers, which was renewed by the enthusiastic on-lookers the whole way down the street, especially when they passed our window, & our hearty cheers rang out and our brilliant ribbons waved forth. The King and Queen seated in their open state coach drawn by 8 cream horses, looked charming, smiling at their enthusiastic subjects as they passed them. The Queen was beautifully dressed in a white satin robe trimmed with pale blue, and a hat with blue ostrich feathers to match, on her knee she held a lovely bouquet of pale pink carnations, but what was the most remarkable thing of her attire was The St. Vincent Sunshade which lay by her side.

The King looked very magnificent in his uniform with the “Order of the Garter”  & various medals on.  After the procession had ended which was about a mile long, we finished eating what was left over from the lunch, and then we packed up our traps, & departed our happy abode.  Some of them returned to the Shrubbery, but I went with Rina & her Mother straight up to Huntingdonshire where I had a most enjoyable weekend, it rained a great deal but in spite of it, we managed to get quite a great deal of bicycling.  

At the end of this term I went with Miss Hull and Una to see ‘A Mid Summer’s night dream” at His Majesties Theatre, it was very well acted Laura Cowie and Maud vessel being the chief female characters, & Basil Gill the chief male.  The scenery was all very beautiful and also the music.

This summer, 1911, I went with Miss Dart and the Symonses, to France.  It was on a Monday morning we left here & went first by cab & then by train to Tilbury Docks, there we left in the steam ship “Kingfisher”, we were 12 hours in crossing, but it was a lovely  voyage, & no one felt much the worse for it, we girls sat on deck & eat most of the time.  We stopped at Margate on the way, that last we arrived Boulogne, it seemed very strange to me at first to here the foreign tongue all around one, & and they spoke so quickly, & there were such crowds of people all around.  I found out after wards that the crowd was on account of Market day.  After seeing about our boxes we took a tram to Wimereux, where we stayed.  This is a pretty little Seaside Place about 3 miles out of Bologne, we stayed at Hotel Belle Vue, very nice comfortable little hotel. We did a great deal of bathing sometimes twice, and sometimes three times a day.  We went to Bologne several times, and went over the town, it is very old, the cathedral is very old with beautiful pillars, the ancient walls around the town are very picturesque, the Normandy peasants are all over the town and in the markets, all this adds to its picturesque scenery.  In the museum there are many ancient relics, among which are Napolians hat and sword, which he used during his great victories. 

St. Paul’s Cathedral

May 6, 1912

We went to St. Paul’s for the service of the Accession of George V and afterward we went over the cathedral. The building from outside is very fine, with huge pillars all around, and a large massive dome in the centre. The ground plan of it is in the shape of a Latin cross at the centre of which is the Dome.  After the dome  the chief feature of the building is the west front, with its noble portico divided into two storeys like the rest of the structure, with large columns, above which is an entablature decorated with very fine sculpture. 

The interior of St Paul’s is as much impressive; it is divided into two massive arcades, supported by huge pillars; and two aisles.  The roofs are vaulted and the windows are placed between the curves of the vaulting.

Below the drum of the Dome is the well-known Whispering Gallery, it is so called from the great distance from which whisper may be heard.  We sat at one side of the gallery and heard our guide whispering on the other side. We then went from the Whispering Gallery off to the stone gallery around the outside of the dome where we had a magnificent view of the whole of London.  The staircase from the top of the dome is very long and winding, I amused myself by counting the number of steps, there were three hundred and seventy five. 

In the choir there is much fine carving, and seperating the choir from its aisles is some exquisite iron work.  The great reredos, known as the high altar, is made out of marble and enriched with other stones and gilt, on it there are carvings of the life of our Lord, on the very top which seems a great height up is the Nativity.

Behind the high altar is the Jesus Chapel, the altarpiece contains a copy of Cima’s “Doubting of St. Thomas.

The Pulpit under the dome, is made of marble of many colours.

There are many monuments, in the body of the church, one very fine memorial in white marble and bronze, was that of the Duke of Wellington.

Another very fine one, was that of Lord Leighton, and behind his monument there are some fine carvings, in memory of the officers who fought in the battle against Russia.

Ocean Park Maine rightAbove the door of the south aisle there is Wren’s plain memorial.& upon it is written some Latin by his son.  There is the painters corner, where lies the memorials of Turner and Reynolds etc. There is also the Poet’s Corner, where there are memorials all the famous poets. 

Busshy Park & Hampton Court, 

May 11th 12

This park is one of the prettiest I have seen, when we entered the gates we could see you streatching for miles the beautiful Chestnut avenues, and in the centre was a drive with many ‘moters and carriages, we walked up one of the avenues on the right side, when after a while we sat down under a large chestnut tree and eat sweets, after that we went on and we came to a lovely pond with a fountain, which made you long for a drink of water, then we got to the Great Iron Gates, which lead you into the grounds of Hampton Court.  They also were most beautiful, and we went into the maze where we had some most exciting times, we lost our way several times, but after many attempts we managed to get out, then we walk onto the palace itself. We first went into the Great Hall where there are some of the most beautiful tapestries on the walls, the entrance to the Great Hall is supposed to be the Ghost’s Walk, where there is sometimes seen a ghost of a girl walking without a head.  We went into some other rooms of the Palace, and then we went and saw the wonderful grape tree which is over two centuries old, it is a magnificent vine, and it seem to have millions of bunches of grapes on it. The palace is a very fine looking building from outside the view of the West front is splendid.

Westminster Cathedral 

May 13th 12

The Cathedral from outside is not at all an attractive building to look at, it is built of a redish brown stone and has a very tall a narrow spire which can be seen for a great distance round.  It has just lately been finished building, when I came three years ago it was not nearly finished, but now it is quite complete, and when you enter you at once feel the difference of the inside to the outside it is most beautiful, everything very simple, and nothing very gorgeous, The High Altar is all carved in marble with the most beautiful pillars and engravings, and the altar itself has six very fine gold candlesticks. All along the side aisles of the church, there are little chapells for all the saints, some of them are very fine.  The chapel for St Patrick was very fine the altar was all made out of shamrocks carved out of marble it seemed.

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is the finest of the chapels, most beautifully decorated, a service was going on in this chapel while we were there, but it was soon over the electric ligh(t?) (high?) decorations are wonderfully arranged over the top of the altar.