Kathleen to Jack, Victoria BC, September 12, 1891

BCARS
A1E Or3 Or32.2

My dear old Jack

I wonder if you have been having good sport & enjoying yourself, & hope you are having fine weather, it is simply pouring with rain here, & has been wet since Tuesday, it must stop soon I think. Carry Cornwall stayed here for ten days & it was rather hard to amuse her as there was not very much going on. We went to Sir Matthews tennis last Friday, it was rather damp & cold there. I played one set with Mr. Stanhope & we were beaten. Then we drove to Fairfield to see Uncle Joe, & I drove Mrs. Snowden home. Carry and I had rowed up to her place in the morning to get a rug that had been left there, the night of the pic-nic. On Saturday we went down by train to a Cricket Match at Esquimalt, the band played & and a good many people were there, the trains were hot & crowded coming back, so we walked the whole way home fancy Mother doing that! the little Middie, Mr Hodges came to dinner & we had music and bagatelle, he was very pompous, which amused us. That evening the American lady Mrs. Hitchock had a pic-nic at Curtis’ Point – she was most cold. The pic-nic was given in honour of the American naval officers, & the people who were there say they were rather dreadful specimens. The steam launch towing the boats did not pass Point Ellice until 7.30 p.m. & they made huge bon fires on Curtis’ Point & sat round them singing songs it must have been very dark & cold, though they had two cords of wood sent up there for the bon fires. We here the refreshments were very light & Mr. Vowell tells us Captain Jones returned home in a very dejected mood. I suppose he was hungry! A few mornings ago Carry & I rowed up to the Thomsons & go flowers & then went down to town to shop, by the time we reached Jones boat house, it was raining fast & we thought we should get very wet but by the time the shopping was finished it was beautifully fine, & we enjoyed the row home very much; & felt dreadfully hungry for lunch. Little Mr. Drummond came up on Sunday and stayed till 11.Ocl. train it was a nice fine day. Sir Robert Arbuthnot & Mr. Vowell called & Mr. Newton & McEnnery came & went to Church with us in the evening. The Admiral & Mr. Graham have returned from their shooting & finshing expedition. I believe they had very fair sport but the Admiral says the weather was too fine. Nelly Drake has just telephoned in a very excited state of mind to say they have just received a telegram from Brian today he is to be here very shortly and Victoria is all on the tip toes of excitement over Jessie Dunmuir’s wedding. I hope very much that she will have fine weather.

Now dear old boy I must stop. Take good care of yourself & Father. Your ever loving sister

C.K. Stanhope (*1)

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*1  2020 – Given that this letter is written from Kathleen to her brother Jack, it is likely that her usage of “Stanhope” as her last name is a tongue in cheek reference to her courtship with Harry. They were not married.

 

Back to 1891 Correspondence

This collection of letters has been digitized from an earlier transcription project and is for informational purposes only. This transcription has not been verified against the originals. Researchers interested in these letters should consult the original documents housed at the BC Archives.

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