Letter from Lady Catherine Ashburnham to Rupert Gunnis

The letter commences with a poem 'Up the garden path; verses by a grateful but fever-stricken step GGGGG daughter' [CA] based on the marriage of Henrietta Stanley, widow of the Ist Earl of Anglesea, who married the Ist Earl of Ashburnham, and had a daughter, Henrietta. CA had to leave Wroughton because she developed a malerial [sic] or flu attack, and had to race home because conditions were impossible; lodgings in a semi-detached council house with no hot water or catering finished her off. Helen is getting on well, but her mother is looking battered. They hung great-grandmother Charlotte in her absence, but does not like her. Enjoyed RG's visit with the de Lisles very much. An Italian friend and her husband are coming to visit; Josephine says that RG plans to visit with a military big-wig. The letter probably pre-dates AMS 6732/1/59 (references to CA's illness and the visit of the military big-wig, presumably General Young)