My dear Mr Tyndall
In addition to your usual kindness I have received your welcome favour1 of the 2nd inst.2 the perusal of which afforded me much comfort. When we have the approval of those whose opinion we esteem there is a secret comfort in sanctioning the act we are about to perform.3 So it is with me and my dear boy,4 the separation is to us the most painful we ever felt, but, when we consider that it will be I trust for his future advantage, it would be doing him very great unjustice not to consent to his going out, particularly as he goes under very agreeable circumstances which I suppose he has put you in possession of. The persons he is going to are very extensive general merchants – two partners there5 and two in London – they are also relatives of Mr T.6 We entertain a hope that John may yet be sent to London on their business, if so we shall have an opportunity of seeing him.
I expect we shall have to part with James7 also next summer he was written for several times by a nephew of Mr T’s in Calcutta Captain Lyster8 who trades to China. When he wrote last he was expecting a freight9 to London; if he succeed in getting it he will come to Ireland and take him in his own vessel. Under these circumstances we could not for a moment hesitate, but again we dread the climate. However we have a year to think on this matter – many a change will take place in that time.
So you intend that the breezes of the next Spring shall waft you to another clime, you did not say where. How happy would I feel if it were to the Cape. What an addition it would be to my dear boy’s comfort and happiness (and, without flattery) whose society I would prize for him. I do entertain a comfortable hope that we may be all there yet and say from my heart the Lord grant it. Christina and May10 present their best regards to you, also (Mrs Cox) Mother. The last letter Christina wrote you came back under dead letter office cover.11 We could not account for it, unless that she directed it wrong. With regard to the song she does not recollect it,12 says it is of no consequence – it would be rather severe to horsewhip you for such a trifle. Many thanks for all the trouble you take in sending us so many papers. If you go to Carlow before you leave Ireland dont neglect calling if you go through Cork I need not say how happy we would be to see you. Dear Mr Tyndall will you write often to my dear boy giving him advice which I know he values and you will oblige
your sincere friend | Mary Tidmarsh. | Cork July 6th 1843 30 Merchant’s Quay
RI MS JT 1/11/3868
LT Transcript Only
your welcome favour: letter missing.
inst.: abbreviation for Instante mense, Latin for this month.
the act we are about to perform: sending her son John to the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa.
my dear boy: John Tidmarsh.
there: the Cape of Good Hope.
Mr T: Mr Tidmarsh.
James: presumably James Tidmarsh, John’s brother.
Captain Lyster: possibly the same Captain Lyster who, in the spring of 1854, was murdered onboard the merchant ship Clarissa by Sikh convicts he was transporting from Calcutta to Malacca. ‘Another “General Wood” Tragedy’, Straits Times, 20 June 1854, p. 4.
freight: the paid service of transporting goods (OED).
Christina and May: Christina and May Tidmarsh.
under dead letter office cover: The dead letter office was a division of the Post Office dealing with undelivered letters. The office had the authority to open such letters, and, if the sender’s address was included, return them.
With regard to the song she does not recollect it: not identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall0215,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 9 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0215