Details
CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1816-55)
A lock of Charlotte Bronte's hair, enclosed in a small mourning envelope, accompanied by a 3pp. letter from Annie J. Muchison, Lady Moridon, to Miss Nissall, dated Queen's Hotel, Cheltenham, April 19th '89, stating: "I had a letter from Miss Nussey the other day, in which she enclosed some of Charlotte Bronte's hair, to be divided between my sister, Miss Murchison, & yourself, & which I am sure you will be pleased to posssess ...," and suggesting that Miss Nissall write to Miss Nussey to thank her (severed along folds), in original envelope with superscription; together with Ellen Nussey's reply to Miss Nissall in a 3¼pp. letter, dated Fildhead-Birstall, Leeds, Ap. 24th '89, remarking: "you are much too good expressing yourself so kindly & flatteringly as you do ... I always let these tokens roll from me to the honour of my dear departed friend CB -- There I can rest them & be glad for her sake. It always delights me to learn your literally [sic] peoples' apprecitaion of the Brontes -- they are more given to expressing themselves than we are -- and their early training advances their social faculties into greater exercise -- yet as far as I have had personal acquaintance the American ladies are just as soft mannered as higher class ladies in England ....," in original envelope addressed to 26 Clarendon Road, Leeds.
Charlott Bronte and Ellen Nussey had met as 15 year old girls at school. After Charlotte's death, Ellen's husband, Arthur Bell, forbade her to sell or give away any of her extensive collection of letters from Charlotte. According to Shorter, it was only in 1889 that she began slowly to part with her "letters and memorabilia." It appears from her letter to Miss Nissall that the latter was American, though living in Leeds. Early this century, the lock of hair was purchased by the American writer, Julia Magruder, the niece of the civil war general, Bankhead Magruder, who regarded Charlotte Bronte as an influence on her own work. The lock of hair subsequently remained in the United States, passing into the the hands of the McBlair family of Virginia and Missouri, and was recently recovered from an old shoe box in San Diego, California, after the death of James McBlair.
A lock of Charlotte Bronte's hair, enclosed in a small mourning envelope, accompanied by a 3pp. letter from Annie J. Muchison, Lady Moridon, to Miss Nissall, dated Queen's Hotel, Cheltenham, April 19th '89, stating: "I had a letter from Miss Nussey the other day, in which she enclosed some of Charlotte Bronte's hair, to be divided between my sister, Miss Murchison, & yourself, & which I am sure you will be pleased to posssess ...," and suggesting that Miss Nissall write to Miss Nussey to thank her (severed along folds), in original envelope with superscription; together with Ellen Nussey's reply to Miss Nissall in a 3¼pp. letter, dated Fildhead-Birstall, Leeds, Ap. 24th '89, remarking: "you are much too good expressing yourself so kindly & flatteringly as you do ... I always let these tokens roll from me to the honour of my dear departed friend CB -- There I can rest them & be glad for her sake. It always delights me to learn your literally [sic] peoples' apprecitaion of the Brontes -- they are more given to expressing themselves than we are -- and their early training advances their social faculties into greater exercise -- yet as far as I have had personal acquaintance the American ladies are just as soft mannered as higher class ladies in England ....," in original envelope addressed to 26 Clarendon Road, Leeds.
Charlott Bronte and Ellen Nussey had met as 15 year old girls at school. After Charlotte's death, Ellen's husband, Arthur Bell, forbade her to sell or give away any of her extensive collection of letters from Charlotte. According to Shorter, it was only in 1889 that she began slowly to part with her "letters and memorabilia." It appears from her letter to Miss Nissall that the latter was American, though living in Leeds. Early this century, the lock of hair was purchased by the American writer, Julia Magruder, the niece of the civil war general, Bankhead Magruder, who regarded Charlotte Bronte as an influence on her own work. The lock of hair subsequently remained in the United States, passing into the the hands of the McBlair family of Virginia and Missouri, and was recently recovered from an old shoe box in San Diego, California, after the death of James McBlair.