C8.19 from JC Lloyd to WHI Bleek (02 June 1862)

C8.19 from JC Lloyd to WHI Bleek (02 June 1862)

Correspondence

A letter from Jemima Lloyd to Wilhelm Bleek, written in Maidenhead (2 June 1862), continued in Berkshire (3 June) and London (5 June). She received his "homelike" letter in two parts. Addressing his concerns about losing teeth, she relates her own experience and insists his soul, not appearance, matters to her, and he must not call himself ugly. Elsewhere she discusses her own "plain" appearance. She reassures him of her love, happiness and trust, despite past doubts. Jemima reports receiving touching welcoming letters and messages from his mother and siblings and her growing affection for them. Amid travel and social obligations, she delays reading Lucy's March "chronicle" and worries she wronged Fan and July by not informing them of the engagement sooner. Enclosing a letter to her father, she seeks Wilhelm's opinion before sending it, explaining why she wrote it. Jemima weighs in on when and how to announce the engagement and how they will handle judgement and gossip. Writing again in London, she is exhausted from travel and describes the mental and physical toll of waiting alone in England, navigating social duties and weighing the "great questions" between them. After consulting Dr Russell, she decides to leave for Africa soon after August. Dr Russell diagnoses her spinal condition, warning marriage in poor health risks lifelong frailty, but acknowledges her belief that separation is just as harmful. Jemima is certain she is fit for marriage and joining Wilhelm "will be the going home". She outlines travel plans in England and her Bonn visit, as well as arrangements for leaving England for Africa. She also shares thoughts on their marriage and finances, with Wilhelm's Library appointment not yet confirmed.

02 June 1862

£200, address, Africa, Anna Bleek, announce engagement, anxiety, appearance, appointment, approval and sanction, ask for consent, Auguste Sethe, aunts, Aunt Cary, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Harriet, Aunt Lizzie, back, beard, beautiful, beauty, Berkshire, birthday, body, Bonn family, Bonn visit, Boyne Hill, brother, burden, Cape, character, Charlotte Jeffreys, clothes, Cologne, condition, congratulations, consent, Coulsdon, daughter, death, dentist, departure plans, doctor, Dr Russell, doubts, drawing, dress, earlier return journey, Elizabeth Forbes, emotions, employment, engagement, engagement news, England, English family, escort, expenditure, expenses, explanantion, family, family history, Fan, Fanny, false teeth, father, father's consent, father's approval, father's influence, father's family, fear, finances, financial anxiety, fitness for marriage, forgiveness, Frances Lennon, Frances Lloyd, friends, future health, George Woolley, God, going home, gossip and misjudgement, great questions, Grey Library appointment, handsome men, Harriet Deedes, health, health risks, home, homelike, house, ignorance, ill health, indelible ink, inheritance, jaw, Julia Byron, July/Julia Lloyd, June 1862, leaving England, letter, library, little hoard, Lloyd family, London, looks different, Loui, love, Lucy Lloyd, Maidenhead, mail, marriage, marriage expenses, mental strain, Miss Mulock, money, mother, mother's family, Mr Maurice, Mr Sanderson, Mr Woolley, Mrs Ashton, Mrs Fisher, Mrs Lloyd, Mrs Ricketts, Mrs Sanderson, Natal, Natal family, Natal history, nerves, news, news of engagement, novel, obedience, offense, our mother, pain, past doubts, permission, personal history, photograph/s, plain appearance, plans, poor, poor relations, postcard, precious thing, pride, questions between them, readiness, recovery, relations, rest, return, Reverend Lloyd, Reverend Woolley, sad history, safety, sailing vessel, Sandersons, secrecy, sickly wife, sickness, sister/s, sketch, social obligations, solemn stage of life, soul, spinal condition, steamer, stepmother, Stowe, strength, suffering, suitable vessel, Susan Ricketts, teeth, telling people, Thomas Byron, threat of lifelong frailty, time, toll of waiting, travel, travel risks, trust, ugly, uncles, union, unkindness, vessel, visit, voyage, waiting, waiting alone, weak and poorly wife, weakness, wife, Wilhelm Bleek, William Lloyd, wronged sisters, Woolley

1. Note on p.60 in unknown hand referring to addendum to Jemima Lloyd's letter (probably by Wilhelm Bleek): "Last sheet of June letter now sent to make it more clear how far she may be said to have improved, as I hope she has". 2. There are photographs of the Ricketts, Reverend and George Woolley, Dr Russell and family, Mrs Fisher and the Sandersons. See Photographs and Portraits on this website.