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Lt. Col. Robert Story - Diary notes 1888
Notes from Robert's diary by MN D-W
Jan - Aug 1888
"The year finds us at Winnal - Floré has been in bed for nearly 5 months - payer has been offered up for her in the churches ever since November 13th when she became much worse. She is suffering from rheumatic neuralgia of the spine which we all fear is only the fore-runner of her olf complaint. Vida is winderfully well & so is Louie but for her attacks of headaches - she keeps house for us. I am almost ruined having received just £300 from my property last year. But for my mother's generosity I could not remain here. I am naturally rather pulled down by all this trouble."
Jan 1st, "Floré a good deal better and able to sit in a chair for about ½ hour. Morn service at the Cathedral with Vida. Hyde and Brooke called and I went up with them to see Hyde's workshop. There was good skating on the moors. Even service at St. Lawrence." A new cook and housemaid came the next week, then on the 12th Robert heard from his mother thet Evie was home, so he went to Salisbury Lodge the next day to see him. While there he also visited his old friend Liebick and his wife. Frank & George Begbie came to say that their drawing room mantelpiece had just been burned owing to the curtains catching fire. He stayed nearly a week visiting old friends, having a cyst cut out of the top of his head, and going to Bristol Zoo to see the chimpanzee. At dinner one night "Evie made all the ladies try some of his chewing tobacco & made them all very queer." He also went to a rather poor pantomime with Florie & Evie.
19th. "Took the 10.08am train & came home - curious political discussion with a violent Radical in the train. Found Floré alittle easier. Called on Mrs. Kitchin about getting a governess for Vida."
20th. "Stayed in bed till 1pm. Cut some of the glass for the frame but broke 3 sheets. Floré sent for Richards who found rhat her cancer has broken out again." He thought she had an additional spinal complaint. Robert & Floré sent a joint letter to Mrs. Bush, and Robert tried the new game of Ludo. He also carved a bracket for Evie, made a picture frame and turned a table top. A Mlle Hardy came to be Vida's governess. Mrs. Bush and Evie came to stay, Evie only for 2 days.
In Feb Mr. Bush came and stayed in rooms, Floré dictated to Robert her wishes about the disposal of her property after her death.
10th. "Got up steam and sawed up the wood for the lean-to tomato house I am making. A quantity of Stratton's calves got into the garden and did much harm. Made some window boxes for Harman. Bessie the cook brought an improper character into the house and when I told her she must go - she and Bessie left the home with her. I at once engaged Mrs. Baker as temporary cook. Got to choir practice just as it was over."
Robert wrote a list of all Floré's jewelry to be kept for Vida, this takes two pages in the back of his diary. He wrote to Os enclosing a letter from Floré bidding him farewell.
20th. "Got up steam and cut out a small portion of the tomato house & turned a couple of finials for it. Evie and Mother came to stay a few days. Very cold weather frost and snow & north & north-east winds for the next few days."
March 1st. "Drove with Evie & Louie to Fisher's Pond and skated for about an hour but the ice was very bad." At home Robert was making a library table of oak with turned legs and some window boxes. On the 9th he went to London to see the aunts and his tailor, then on to the Chantry, Ingatestone (where Lou lived?). then on to his mother's for a week while Evie was still there. When he returned home he busied himself with the mortises for the table legs and continued glazing the tomato house. He also advertised for a new governess for Vida, who distinguished herself on April 1st by falling down and spoiling her new coat. Mlle Hardy was still about, she took Vida out to tea, but new governesses were being interviewed all the time (I think she was in failing health). Florie, Charlie, Louie & Arthur all visited this month.
On 23rd Robert packed up and went to Barnet where he took rooms in Sgt Bevan's house & was on duty in the Barracks. Here he stayed till the 10th June, going home for a night or two or up to London now and then. On the 10th he heard that Floré's Dr. Richards was dead. The 15th was their wedding anniversary. A letter came from Os sending £25 and he got Floré some flowers and an ice-box.
It was Whit Monday on 21st (Bank Holiday).
22nd. "Worked till 3pm. entering up defaulters sheets and the result of yesterday's holiday, only 2 cases of drunkeness the rest absence." He collected the parrot from the taxidermist! He heard that Lou had another baby girl and that Vida had taken ringworm.
Robert transferred to Aldershot on June 10th (North Camp). The next week he went home by train and rode a borrowed horse back the next day starting at 8.30am and getting to camp at 6pm. - "Pleasant lunch at the Swan Hotel, Alton - number of businessmen were there who had come in for the market."
21st. "Parade morn. Heard from Mother that Floré was much worse, Took the 12.54pm train home - found her much worse. Telegraphed for leave to sleep at home. Sent for Harman after dinner - he said Floré might live a few days more. Louie wrote to Mrs. Bush to say that she had better come. Vida a good deal better."
22nd. "Two chickens and two ducks arrived from Barney but they were too high to use."
25th. "Took the 7.23am train & came back to camp just in time for field day on Queen's Parade. Heavy thunderstorms with rain in the afternoon. Tent pegging in the afternoon, my first attempt for 8 years - I did fairly well. WEent after for a short ride with Blackwell."
26th. "Divisional field day in the Long Valley morn.(Parade 8.10am) we were in reserve - a bugler stopped the fight by sounding the cease fire without orders: and the rest took it up before it could be stopped. Checked defaulters book after lunch. Went for a gallop with Blackwell."
Camp broke up on the 27th July after days of heavy rain and thunder. Robert took his luggage home and then on the 9th took the train back to Aldershot and rode home. He caught up with his accounts, opened a drain near the kitchen door and found a cesspool full and overflowing close by it, and gave the gardener (Harper) notice, He took Vida for a day out in Southampton on the 23rd, but the sea was too rough to do much boating. Floré became worse after a short period of being easier, and Mrs. Bush came to stay.
Aug - Dec 1888
August 3rd. "Floré does not suffer quite so much and has had short intervals of rest. Took Vida out into the meadows in the morn, and Louie and her as far as the wood in the even. In the night Mrs. Bush called up Harrington (Bush) to come to Louie who was in hysterics - he got her round very easily."
Floré was now in pain in her throat and they thought Mrs. Bush had caught ringworm from Vida but it turned out to be Herpes. Floré was on morte and more opiates and her mind began to wander. She dies just before midnight on the 22nd. her mother, brother, Harrington and Robert were with her. "Thus ends nine years of my married life." The funeral was at Winnal church on Monday 27th "present were Vida and myself, Mr. and Mrs., Louie, Harrington & Wheler Bush, my brother Arthur, Sir H. & Lady Freeling, Harman, Walker and Vandaleur from 60th & Rifle Brigade also Charlie Fryer, Nurse and servants. Many wreathes and crosses were sent - one from the poor women of Winnal Parish." There is also a newspapew cutting about the funeral stuck in the diary.
Robert had the sad task of sending off small legacies, dismantling Floré's room and sending the curtains and mattresses to be cleaned; returning pictures, books and plate borrowed from the family, and seeing prospective tenants for the house. Vida went to stay in Clifton for a day or two. Arthur stayed on for a few days but by Sept. 8th Robert was alone except for Emily (the maid) but Vida soon returned.
14th. "Got steam up and sawed up some wood for garden staging. Put an iron handle to a hammer, mended a spirit stove, & turned a couple of covers for store-room jars. Shenton came to see me and went over the house. He had lived here as a child. Stripped my boiler for inspection." The inspector came next day and presumably passed it.
17th. "Mlle Hardy came and began lessons again with Vida. Took Vida for a drive round Twyford & Otterbourne to leave cards for various people. Went after to the Deanery to see the waterwheel which has been put to pump water to the Cathedral."
On the 22nd Robert took Vida and Emily to stay at Trelawne House, Drummond Road, Bournemouth. They walked on the sands, went by the steamer Monarch to Weymouth for the day (very hot) and went round the Isle of Wight in another steamer.
26th. "Went by steamer to Swanage and bt train to Corfe Castle which I had not seen for 14 years. Left Vida and Emily on the beach while I walked to Durleston Head and saw the caves of Tilly Whin, the stone globe 10ft in diameter representing the Earth, the lighthouse and castle. The whole place is laid out with roads etc. as a great land speculation by one Birt of the firm Mowlem & Birt who have spent about £500,000 on it. Took the 6pm steamet to Poole and thence got home by train about 9pm." They moved lodgings to Beresford, Southecote Rd on the 24th and went to Swanage by steamer for lunch at the Ship Inn, to Weymouth again and to Portland.
They went home on Oct. 6th and started looking at houses to let. Robert went to visit his mother at Clifton on the 24th, she had Fran, Charlie and Mary Reid at home. He returned on the 27th and Vida met him at the station.
On Nov. 5th there was a procession in Winnal and Robert set off some fireworks to amuse Vida. Next day he took her up to London where Dr. Smith at Christ's hospital pronounced her ringworm quite cured. "Lunched at Mrs. Pyes, Vida having hers separately as her clothes had not been disinfected."
7th. "Wrote to Mrs. Bush to request her to write to me and not to my servants for information about Vida and to my mother to tell her what I had done."
11th. "Morning service at the Cathedral with Vida. Wrote to Mrs. Bush to break off all connections with her on account of the way she has treated me. Wrote also to Wheler & my mother."
14th. "Mother sends me a copy of Mr. Bush's letter breaking off all relations between the two families. Harry Freeling called. Took Vida up onto the golf ground and played with Harry Freeling whom I brought home to lunch. Tried the experiment of making a carrot grow in hollow turnip."
On the 23rd he joined the golf club, At home he was busy making a mount for an ostrich egg for Joyce (a man's surname) and painting the water cans and sorting letters and papers. He took Vida to Wombwells managerie & saw the animals fed.
On the 28th he spent the evening in Southampton, the only comment is written in Hindustani.
29th. "Played golf with Harry Freeling. Lay down after lunch. The servants were rather frightened by noises apparently coming from the cellar. It turmed out that Henry was supposed to have killed a pigeon but it was not dead and was fluttering in the larder - this was probably the cause of the noise."
December 4th. "Corrected and sent away the proofs of Master Travers and also sent to Nelson & Son 'Adventures of a Leech'. Dined with the Brookings and met there a Miss Schoch partly Dutch and partly Italian."
Robert and Vida went and said goodbye to their vicar Rev. Kitchin who was going to America. There is a newpaper report about the increase in cancer stuck in the diary. Robert played golf a lot and made a ladder of oak with turned rungs.
12th. "Played golf with Harry Freeling. Heard fro my mother about the Bush difficulty - explained the state of affairs to the Freelings. Went to Dr. Hartman and got him to cut the end off my uvular which was much congested and elongated." Not surprisingly he had a sore throat for several days.
14th. "Thick fog, went up to the golf course but did not play. Turned the base for Joyce's second egg stand and did some of the fretwork. Wrote to Burnett & Sons about letting the house, and to Ireland enclosing £1 for Sgt Winter's widow. Went to the Guildhall to hear The Don by Tooles Company in the evening. Vida finished be term on the 19th, on the 24th "Put the plate in the cellar. Took the 1.06pm train with Vida & Emily and came to Clifton. My mother, Fran and Charlie form the family party."
Xmas day was very wet. They went to church, and Vida went to the Bush family in the afternoon. After Xmas they stayed on some days, going for long walks over the moors. Robert went for a long ride and got very stiff.
(we have a copy of Schumann's song 'The Two grenadiers' given to Robert by Charlie that Xmas)
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