Pièce 15 - Letter from Margaretta Statham to Lord Houghton

18 ff.

4 Woodchurch Road, Claughton, Birkenhead. - Houghton has previously received a volume of poems by her husband [Francis R. Statham] and must sympathise with his present suffering; own evidence of her husband's true nobility of character makes present stigma the more astonishing; his endurance of public prejudice argues great self-knowledge; his complete honesty as to life story; Matthew Arnold and the Deans of Chester and Westminster have faith in his abilities; believes Houghton's support will help him regain public esteem.

Enclosed: account by Francis Statham of his early career in Liverpool, failure in business and circumstances of his criminal conviction for removing a large sum of money from the country; offers medical explanation of former mental condiion, now alleviated by a happy marriage and devotion to literature. Copy letters from J. S. Howson, Dean of Chester (13 Jul. 1874), Henry Percy Smith (7 Sept. 1874), and P. W. Clayden (20 Jul. 1874).