Identity area
Reference code
HOUG/DC/3/9/14
Title
Letter from Harriet Maria Gordon Smythies to Lord Houghton
Date(s)
- 31 Jan. 1873 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
4 ff.
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Vernon House, Ventnor, Isle of Wight. - Writes on advice of Lord Clanricarde, a family friend; has small annuity but must otherwise support consumptive son by writing; will Houghton assist her application to the Literary Fund? Has received £200 from the Fund over 22 years; describes her literary output; was first encouraged by 'The great genius whom the Nation mourns' but latterly he felt his differences with the Fund would harm her interests; lost a great friend in Robert Bell; was born to affluence but has suffered through an imprudent marriage; 'but for the Muses [I] must long since have perished of grief and want'.