PITT-RIVERS ARBUTHNOT, Alice Charlotte.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Extensive archive concerning her unexpected death from a lightning strike during her honeymoon in Switzerland. Through copious family correspondence, this moving archive underscores the societal expectations and rules surrounding grieving in the Victorian upper class. Outpourings of shock and sorrow, accompanied by discussion of arrangements for Pitt-Rivers's burial and a memorial, contrast with a large body of material, also included here, chronicling her courtship and her joyful preparations for married life. Pitt-Rivers (1841-1865, hereafter "APR") was born in Brighton to George, 4th Baron Rivers, and Susan Leveson-Gower. Following a courtship of several months, she married Captain, later Major-General, William Arbuthnot (1838-1893, hereafter "WA") on 26 April 1865. On 21 June, while honeymooning in Switzerland, they went out walking on the Schilthorn peak. As WA reported to Earl Granville, APR's uncle, a day after the event, "I saw Alice was tired so made her sit down, wrapped her up, and left her to rest comfortably … We had gone few minutes when storm suddenly burst on us. We hurried back. Alice was struck dead by lightning. Five minutes before she was so well." Covered in British newspapers, the tragedy shocked the family's social circle and is remembered today by a memorial near to the spot where she died.Central to this collection are many letters, written in the difficult succeeding months, from WA to his parents and Lord and Lady Rivers, for whom losing their daugh

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