Plas Newydd and Mary Gosling
On Mary Gosling’s birthday (February 2nd), I posted a “brief history” of this Smith & Gosling project on my Ladies of Llangollen web. Why? it was while searching for contemporary reports on Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler that I found Mary Gosling’s diaries!
So, a belated “hey, check it out!” –> for those inquiring minds who would like to know how this project began…
Just Launched: Ladies of Llangollen
A quick post to alert readers that I’ve begun to ‘repost’ some fascinating research that actually introduced me to Mary Gosling. It was a visit to Llangollen, and a purchase of a small ‘history’ about the lives of its Ladies, Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler, that caused me to find my first diary: Mary’s travel diary, now owned by Duke University. There’s not much there at present, but please visit: I’ve a ton of information to share.
Check it out at ladiesofllangollen.wordpress.com
Erin go bragh
…Éirinn go brách… Ireland forever!
The following words are those of Margaret Fountaine (published in Love Among the Butterflies):
“…then we were off, speeding across Holyhead Harbour out into the open sea…. We amused ourselves… by rampaging all over the boat, A strong breeze was blowing so we left our hats in the cabin for safety. The sky was almost cloudless, blue in the sky above, blue in the rolling water below. Close to the side of the boat, with my hair in long shreds streaming in the wind, I leaned forward straining my eyes to catch the first glimpse of the Irish coast.”
Margaret, in 1890, was 28 years old. When I first travelled to Ireland, along that same route — Holyhead to Dún Laoghaire, arriving as dawn (and an autumn mist) rose over the intensely-blue waters — I was about 23 years old.
Mary Gosling travelled to Ireland in 1821, when she was 21 years old; it was the culminating landing of a trip that brought the Gosling family (“Papa, Mamma, my Sister and myself”) from Roehampton, through Shrewsbury, to Chirk and North Wales, then a boat ride across to Ireland. On September 9th, they “arrived at Howth eight miles from Dublin at three o’clock, after rather a rough passage of seven hours. We went to Dublin in the Mail coach and arrived at Morrison’s hotel in Dawson Street at five o’clock.” Mary reports “we were all very ill” during the sea journey. Emma, who received a letter from her dear friend, passed similar news on to Aunt [Mrs Judith Smith, of Stratford] in a letter dated 28 September: “We have heard again from the Goslings they have been in Ireland, but suffered so much from sea sickness both in coming & going that it has in a great degree spoilt their enjoyment, they say that those who cross the water as they did in steam boats suffer more from sickness than in any other way.”
This Irish part of the trip was most curious when I first read it. (This 1821 diary was the very first piece of this research! and I had NO idea who Mary was, never mind what her ‘Papa’ did for a living). Mary accompanies Papa “to see the Bank, the exterior of which is very handsome forming a very fine object almost in the centre of the City with Trinity College…. We saw the whole process of making bank notes, which is all done by steam engines and is very curious.” She then goes on to describe the process: what is done with and to the paper; the printing of notes; the finishing and “signing” — “which must be done by hand”. Knowing the identity of William Gosling — a banker, with his own ‘family’ firm — it all makes such perfect sense; for who, but a banker, could gain such immediate access to the making of currency!
They toured a little of the island, then headed back to Dublin — where they again see the process of “making money” on September 17th. They prepared for a return to England the following day, going to Holyhead: “We got up at half past four…we had a very favorable passage of seven hours and a half though very ill all the time”. Their return was leisurely: they arrived at Roehampton on October 6th, “well pleased with our six weeks Tour. We travelled all together 845 miles.”
I Want to Read…
…DIARIES and LETTERS!
It occurred to me that blog readers might be interested in a bit of “hmmm… what’s she raising money for??” explanation. (see the Austen Book Raffle posts).
I’m more than happy to bend a few “eyes” (and ears) about my research project! (As friends and family know, to their detriment…)
To start at the very beginning: I visited Northern Wales — Llangollen to be exact — and was just ENCHANTED with the story of the Ladies of Llangollen, Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler. I began collecting “first-hand” information, and posted it on my website. Surprisingly, there was abundant material! Though much found was of the second-hand, mythic variety, there were some great finds.
One “find” was a Duke University diary. Once belonging to MARY GOSLING, the diary turned out to contain several trips – to the English coast, to the battlefields of Waterloo, and a certain trip to Ireland that took the Gosling family through Northern Wales. And — wait for it! — they visited with the Ladies! Were shown around Plas Newydd (the home of the Ladies of Llangollen; now a museum), in fact!
But who were these GOSLINGS??
(And, by the way, Mary hadn’t much to about the Ladies, other than what was already known about them – ie, how they dressed and how they never travelled far from home.)
With the internet, I struck gold. Found a series of diaries written by Lady Smith, the 2nd daughter of William Gosling of Roehampton Grove, a banker. Now, in Mary Gosling’s diary, there was a man who brought his family to see Bank of Ireland currency MADE. Who, other than a banker, would have the ability to go that? And Mary had them departing from “Roehampton”!
But, without seeing these later diaries of Lady Smith’s, it was mere supposition that Mary Gosling = Lady Smith.
The main reason these Lady Smith diaries were listed online was that they were included in part of an exceptional large microfilm collection. Essex County was in PART FIVE, which I learned was a far cry from Part One — the only series owned by the closest “big” educational facility within easy driving: Dartmouth College (New Hampshire). Oh, the drive home that day was a disappointment.
Again: thankfully the internet — and online college & university catalogues — helped me track down a handful of places with the full series (or at least through series five). A trip to Colonial Williamsburg brought me within easy distance of one of those few: Old Dominion University. I’ve never seen such a lovely library! And once I found the rolls of film with Lady Smith’s diaries, I was well rewarded: There was the SAME handwriting, the same reference to “My Sister” (Mary never calls Elizabeth Gosling anything other than “my Sister”.)
I had found my girl!
Or, should I say girls — for that day I spotted my first reference to young Emma:
If I had KNOWN that in looking up some Jane Austen books I’d have found ALL of Charles Joshua Smith’s siblings, I would have saved myself TONS of digging… Alas, it’s almost a “happier” circumstance to piece the family together: 9 Smith siblings in all!
“Mr Austen, Mr Knight, and Mrs Leigh Perrot” in the diary entry above (Emma and Edward’s first child’s christening!) were the giveaways about the Jane Austen connection.
And thanks to that connection I got to see TONS of diaries and letters and memorabilia (for instance, a lock of young Drummond Smith’s hair!) at the Hampshire Record Office, when I lived in England for two months in 2007 in order to transcribe as much material as possible. For most of the time, I worked six days a week at the archive (thanks to their generous hours) and on the seventh — well, I began well: reading and reviewing the work of previous days, but it was summer and, yes, some Sundays I spent in the park near Winchester’s town hall.
I had already inter-library loaned those rolls of microfilm with Lady Smith’s diaries; purchased a roll of film with all of the existing diaries written by Charles Joshua Smith (Mary Gosling’s husband; Emma Smith’s eldest brother), which the Essex Record Office houses. Now I had a growing collection of letters and diaries by the likes of Emma, her mother Augusta Smith, her sisters Augusta, Fanny and Maria; a diary series belonging to Fanny’s eventual husband, the Rev. Richard Seymour was briefly worked on at the Warwickshire Record Office (their hours were much shorter than HRO’s…).
In short, I’ve seen much, typed a LOT, and still there is more material for me to “visit” — if not in person (expensive) then via film.
And that’s where the Book Raffle comes in. Edward Austen (later Austen Leigh) made some delightful silhouettes, and his descendent, Freydis Welland, put them together into a book, originally published by private press: A Life in the Country. The pictures are accompanied by Jane Austen quotes. The book was then published “commercially” by the British Library.
An Adventure Begins
As a change of pace, keeping in mind that it soon will be three years since I began to research this project in earnest (and this blog chalks up its second anniversary), I feel like reminiscing about my two-month research stay in Hampshire — for guess who kept diaries!
So, whenever you see my avatar (at right), the accompanying post will tell some tale of those heady days when I was living abroad, jobless but far from aimless. (My mother sees this period as one l-o-n-g vacation which drained my bank account, but that is an untruth: being a year-plus out of work did all the draining; but that is a tale best left UNtold. Who knew economic catastrophe was lurking around the next corner.)
When you work nineteen years at the same place, with little to show for your years there beyond having grown older, you come to a point when things just have to change. Never mind that two years before (in Dec 2004/Jan 2005) I had been ill with two bouts of stomach flu. You don’t eat when you have the stomach flu; you grow weak, lose weight. At one point I thought of myself as Hansel (brother to Gretel): my arm like a thin twig he might allow the old Witch to fondle in order for her to judge whether he had fattened up enough (No–).
Not feeling well for MONTHS just brought about an epiphany (call it a mid-life crisis if you like): What was I doing with my life!?
But all this was a good year in the future. In 2005 the concern was getting back my health, and enjoying three weeks in the UK with my father. We rented a narrowboat! For two of those weeks we were a household afloat. Our trip began in Shropshire, ventured across North Wales to end at wonderful little Llangollen; back to Whitchurch (Salops) and north towards Chester — where we stayed a couple days rather than continue on to Ellesmere Port. That trip alone could be the subject of a most interesting blog!
But one thing that I came away with was a devotion to the so-called LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN: Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby. I began a website about them a year after our return — but never really finished building it. Still, there are some interesting tidbits there for those interested in learning more about these women whom I believe were the greatest of friends (nothing more), and who spent their lives living as they pleased: reading, teaching themselves languages, visiting and being visited by friends. They took pleasure in their home, and in each other’s company. Pleasing oneself is how one’s life should be spent…, don’t you think?
It was while searching for first-hand information on the Ladies, that I stumbled upon MARY GOSLING. She had visited Llangollen, visited the Ladies, in 1821. Her diary entry on her meeting with Sarah and Eleanor did not contain much new information, and was initially a great disappointment. However, as time went by, I began to wonder: WHO was Mary Gosling?? — this “anonymous” person whose diary had started as an aide memoir of her travels, but which had ended up collecting dust on a shelf at Duke University.
That wondering changed my life. Stay tuned to find out how and why.
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 