L30/11/339/181

Letter from Mary Yorke to Lady Lucas, sent from Ely. [Typed transcript available]. Thanks for venison. The distress of the poor of Ely is particularly pressing this season, from the price of provisions and the total want of firing, as the peat is too wet for the purpose.

21 Nov 1799

From: 1799 To: 1799

The Bishop has laid out 50 guineas in coal which is sold at the poor at half the price of peat; the money they pay will be laid out on thye same terrms until it is all spent. This should last through the winter. Bread with potatoes is to be sold out at a cheap rate; to that will be added broth. The bishop will subscribe about £40 more to these schemes. Reference to a plan in Birmingham for public kitchens for cheap broth, which has been adopted in Spittelfields. Mr Waddington had received written directions from the fountain head, 'Count Romford's boilers making a very essential part of the scheme. Employment for the men this winter is out of the question while the fens are in the present state, but thye parish officers, in order to encourage industry in the women, mean to double the price of spinnery. Illness of Mrs Buller, mother of John Buller [husband of writer's daughter Elizabeth]; the writer has little hope of her recovery. General family news, including mention of the Cambridge Ball. If Lady Polwath has need of new blankets on the servant's beds, the writer would like to purchase the old.

item

Yorke, Mary,
Maddox, Mary,
Lucas, Amabel, Baroness,
de Grey, Amabel, 1st Countess,
Hume-Campbell, Amabell, 1st Countess de Grey, 5th Baroness Lucas,
Yorke, James,
Waddington, Thomas,
Buller, Elizabeth

family correspondence, general poverty, balls, charity, peat