[MELBOURNE; LA TROBE FAMILY] Martha Browne, wife of colonial merchant Octavius Browne : entire letter to Henrietta Macartney, daughter of the Dean of Melbourne. Isle of Wight, September 1855.

A$600 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Manuscript in ink, [6] pp. duodecimo (130 x 90 mm); headed Orchard Leigh, Bonchurch, Sept. 29 , the letter is addressed My dear Henrietta , and is signed at the foot your very affectionate friend, Mrs Browne ; original folds, clean and crisp; accompanied by its original mailing envelope, addressed to Miss Macartney, care of Revd. John Brougham, Dunmore East, Waterford, Ireland , with 1d red postage stamp, reverse with circular VENTNOR / SP 29 / 1855 in blue, Waterford transit mark of 2 October 1855, and horizontal DUNMORE EAST arrival mark in black; A previously unpublished private letter which well illustrates the interconnectedness of Melbourne s colonial elite of the 1840s and 1850s, whose various ties and friendships were maintained even after they had left Australia to live in Ireland, England or Switzerland. The letter was written by Martha Swete (Cummins) Browne (1816-1893), wife of successful colonial merchant Octavius Browne (1809-1876). Her correspondent is Henrietta Macartney (1837-1919), daughter of Anglican Dean of Melbourne Hussey Burgh Macartney (1799-1894), who at the time the letter was written was visiting family in Ireland. On an early visit to Melbourne Octavius Browne had become friends with Georgiana McCrae: her portrait of Octavius, painted in 1841, is now in the State Library of Victoria collection. It was through an introduction from Georgiana, who was a close friend of the Cummins family, that Octavius came to meet his wife, Martha Swete Cummins, in

• Binding: Hardcover

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