Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    AU10/102/1/184
  • Title
    Typewritten letter
  • Date free text
    25 September 1969
  • Production date
    From: 1969 To: 1969
  • Scope and Content
    "Many thanks for your letter re Miss Ada Eagles ... also the previous one of August 12th. Yes, the Eagles family ... or that branch of it ... has come to an end. There were 10 children ... and not one descendent! Some of them died in infancy ... some are buried in Trinidad ... Florence, Diana, Constance and Ada, and a brother returned to England ... but they were split up ... Florence to her great-aunt Mrs.Eagles (Pierre Du Sautoy's grandmother): Diana to Mrs.Eagles' daughter who married a clergyman called Du Sautoy at Ockley in Kent. Diana became very friendly with the daughter of the Manor House there, and when the latter married a Cubitt who later became the first Baron Ashcombe, and babies began to appear, Diana went to live with her at Denbies, Dorking, which I believe has now been demolished. The Ashcombes had six sons: three were killed in the First World War. Diana later joined her mother and Florence at Ampthill and lived at S.Anne's (where Miss George lived). In fact, Florence once told me she built S.Anne's for £250. When a friend of the family, a Mr.Arrowsmith, died - an extremely wealthy man - he left Pierre Du Sautoy a lot of money, and also Florence and Di. It was then that Florence offered £500 for the removal of the galleries, and the row started. Du Sautoy, who you may remember had a seat in the allery to which he claimed he had some sort of right connected with tithes, bitterly opposed it. The quarrel was never made up, though Edward, the son, called on Florence and Diana with his new wife: and later, at Richmond, Arthur rang up to ask if he could call with his new wife: but Florence was ill in bed at the time, and I was away in France. Nothing more was heard from either of them. I believe Mrs.Du Sautoy wrote to Florence on Diana's death, but I do not know if she replied. She was getting senile by then, and beyond letter-writing. The brother went to Cambridge with Pierre Du Sautoy and Willie Barton. He later married a very rich woman, and they had no children. the extraordinary thing is that Ada was always regarded by F and D as a sick woman, and likely to die at any time. And she has outlived them all! It often happens like that. Since I last wrote I have had a succession of visitors, and paid a few visits in between. I have been to Cambridge, to my friend Robert Arlen at Hythe, up to Yorkshire, and three days in London. My cousin Anne and her husband arrived from Dover returning from Spain, stayed the weekend, and took me up to Yorkshire with them. On my return, I had a letter from Satsuki Eda, the Japanese boy, to say he was in Oxford, had secured a six room flat for 10 guineas a week, and his wife and baby had flown from Japan ... and they were longing to see the Castle! So they arrived, and were here all last week. It is the first time I have had a baby (14 months) as a guest, and it was an extremely tiring week. However, my invaluable Mrs.MacLeod was a tremendous help. Satsuki and his beautiful wife Kyoko are a charming pair, and the baby, Mariko, and amusing (if sometimes noisy) little creature. Fortunately the weather was fine ... so they spent a lot of time out on the lawn, or on the beach. Kyoko read English at Tokyo University, and she was very happy going through my books. She knew quite a lot about English literature, and had even read some Conrad! I think I told you Satsuki is a Linacre College - post-graduate - for a two year course in Law. They will both fit into academic life very well. They seem to have plenty of money - they plan to go to Venice for the Easter Vacation, and Satsuki is going to acquire a car to explore England and the Continent. I have promised to visit them in Oxford in the spring, which will give me an opportunity to see my old friend Ida Huckings, whom I have not seen for some years now, though we correspond regularly, as we have done for 50 years or more! I heard on September 2nd. that my old friend Jack Hughes, Vicar of Bovey Tracey in Devon, had died. We were at Oxford together, and Cuddesdon later, and we always kept in touch. He last came here in the spring of 1968, and we hired a car and driver, as he wanted to see Dover Castle, and Walmer Castle. We lunched at the White Cliffs Hotel in Dover, and he ate everything. But his throat trouble returned this year, and it was the end. His illness followed exactly the same course as my mother's, and he had the same treatment. They do not seem to have advanced very much in throat cancer in 25 years. Did you see that my friend Laurie Brown, Bishop of Warrington, has been elevated to a Diocesan Bishopric ... Birmingham ... The "Telegraph" said he was 61: but he is actually 64. I was hoping he would come to St.Albans. Not only would it have been very gratifying (as Queen Victoria would have said) to think of him coming to Ampthill for confirmations, but he would have been returning to his native county. His father was Headmaster of a Church School in Luton. It means that I shall not be able to carry out my proposed visit to him next spring at Liverpool on my return from South America, as I expect he will have taken up residence in the episcopal palace at Birmingham - if there is a palace! He will face a challenge there - the immigration problem among others. I was very interested in your long account of your Canadian visit. Yes, I remember Joe Middleton. I was saddened by your news of Mrs.Pearson. Although she became very cool towards me on account of the B.I. business, and left the church, I always thought she was a nice woman. I always remember the nice letter she wrote to me about my mother's death. No: I never read Limberlost books. You are one up on me there! I am expecting Roy MacGregor-Hastie to ring up from Dover any time, to say he has arrived in his car from Italy. He is doind a year at Hull University as Lecturer in English. I expect I told you about the house he is building in the mountains in N.Italy, where I visited hime two years ago. Then I expect Mrs.Stavert will be coming for what she calls her annual cherishing. I thought of you the other day when I read in the paper about that horrible football crowd being turned out of the train at Flitwick and terrorising the inhabitants. Really, one opens one's morning papers nowadays wondering what appalling things are going to face one; hippies, strikes, riots, and of course always Ireland ... and this morning the Deputy Leader of the Opposition - Maudling - saying he is proud of his daughter and her illegitimate child. I remember old Sir Anthony Wingfield used to say to me that he thought the world was coming to an end ... what would he have said now?? And I have made no reference to your new Rector. I am glad it is settled at last. Yours sincerely,"
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