CHARLOTTE HANBURY AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY EDITED BY HER NIECE ✩ London MARSHALL BROTHERS Paternoster Row INTRODUCTORY WHE HEN we first had the shock of learning that my beloved Aunt Charlotte Hanbury was suffering from an incurable malady, and that her happy, useful, vigorous life on earth must very soon be ended, it was my joy and privilege to be set free to be with her during much of the three months that remained to her. Confined to one room, sitting in a chair day and night, as she was unable to lie down, she interested herself in going over many scenes and incidents of her past history, I writing them down at her dictation. I was very glad to find that she had already written some reminiscences of her travels, friends, and work-the many things which filled her life with interest and enjoyment, and had given her opportunities of spreading blessing and sunshine into other lives, especially those of the most hopeless and oppressed. It is a simple narrative, I might almost say a jumble, of events, countries, people, sayings and thoughts, with no pretension to literary skill, but put down in her own fresh, breezy and peculiar style, which those who corresponded with her knew so well, and would prefer to have unaltered. She had often been asked to make some record of her very varied experiences, and the kind letters received from her large circle of friends have led us to decide on publishing this short memoir, assured that it will at any rate interest the many who knew and loved her. It was written in scraps, her recollections grouping themselves around persons and countries, with no attempt at chronological order; but with the help of our own memories, and of occasional diaries which we have found since she went Home, I have endeavoured to give some connection to the story. I must add how deeply I am indebted to my dear friend Miss E. Boyd Bayly, Author of Jonathan Merle, etc., for her sympathy and practical help in fulfilling this sacred trust, especially in selecting and arranging the extracts from the Diary in the second, fourth and sixth chapters. CORRIE LODGE, WIMBLEDON. CAROLINE HEAD March 1st, 1901. |