Letter from John Forbes' family to Mr John Forbes
Information
Title - Letter from John Forbes' family to Mr John Forbes
Record type - Archive
Original Reference - RHS/Col/3/5/28
Date - 10-17 Nov 1822
Scope & content - Written from Dukinfield by John Forbes [senior, John Forbes' father], Ann Forbes [Ann or Annabella Forbes, John Forbes' sister], James Forbes [John Forbes' brother] and George Forbes [John Forbes' brother]
The letter has been folded and addressed to Mr John Forbes. The seal has been partly broken, tearing a hole in the paper
John Forbes [senior] writes to him 'not without emotion', remembering happy days spent together and referring to his son's last letter from nearly five months ago; they heard from Mr Sabine [Joseph Sabine, secretary of the Horticultural Society of London] that Forbes had arrived safely at the Cape of Good Hope [South Africa], and they are expecting a letter from him; he will continue the letter later, as Forbes' brother George has brought a letter from Forbes, dated 21 Aug from Simon's Town [South Africa], 'and now a general joy prevails our family'; he thanks God for Forbes' good health and for the family's health; he is pleased to hear of the good relationship between Forbes and his 'worthy captain' [William FitzWilliam Owen, captain of HMS Leven], and hopes Forbes will be 'circumspect to maintain that good friendship'; he hopes Forbes continues to 'frequently peruse' his books, especially his Bible and catechisms; Forbes should let them know when he might return home; George's apprenticeship will end 2 Jun 1823; becoming a 'journeyman printer' is now a 'good for nothing business, as they do print by steam', and with 'a little more schooling' George would be able to acquire a more profitable job; James is looking much better but 'as George observes, your mother [Elizabeth Forbes] is tender betimes, myself get more tender & unfit for hard labour'; he is, however, much better than when he was at Mr Smith's [John Smith, owner of a nursery garden in Dukinfield] shop, and not having much to do and James being ill had brought them sorrow; it does not seem as if he will have much to do in the coming winter: 'you may be assured no family from the oldest to the youngest are more anxious or endeavouring'; James' wages are 10s[? possibly 18s] per week and 2s 6d for 'ladings [?larding] & potatoes[?]'; they are looking forward to a part of Forbes' salary, the £25 he will have earnt by the following January, 'to straighten us up a little'; he asks if Forbes should write to Joseph Sabine about this
Ann Forbes thanks Forbes for 'the kind manner in which you noticed me in your two last letters'
John Forbes [senior] has finished reading 'Mr Campbell's Tour in South Africa 1819-20' [John Campbell, 'Travels in South Africa, undertaken at the request of the London Missionary Society. Being a narrative of a second journey in the interior of that country', 1822]; based on that he does not think it safe for Forbes or anyone to venture into the interior, 'without a sufficient guard & wagon to carry provisions and to sleep in at night'; Campbell mentions several people losing their lives in the region: 'pray, John, be careful in exposing your life'; he has recently seen Mr and Mrs Smith [John and Mary Smith]; Mrs Smith is very poorly but the rest of them are well; he has probably previously mentioned the 'termendios [tremendous]' three months last spring, when after a fine May, June brought four or five weeks of severe drought, but rain in August brought a fine harvest and fine crops on good lands, although bad on 'clay lands'; he thanks providence for abundance in their land, 'flower' [flour] selling from 36 to 38 shillings per load, 1s 18d down, good bread from 1s 4d to three half pence per pound, good beef from four to six [shillings] per pound, potatoes from five to seven shillings per load: 'this is the doing of the Lord'; cotton trade is going well, especially spinning; the spinning and weaving mills are being enlarged and built to work by steam, so that the 20,000 weavers are 'nearly annihilated', their low wages still lowering; 'I am sorry to hear of the miserable state of the Cape Colony [South Africa], I think that they might soon relived [?relieved] from America were they permitted & had money to purchase'
James Forbes has read his brother's and father's letters: 'their sentiments are much my own'; he thanks Forbes for his 'iterference [interference] in my behalf'; he is in much better heath, 'scarcely ever feeling the pain in my side', since getting into the open air; he likes his job, apart from the low wages, which he 'must try to mend'; many people think he 'could not be at a better situation for learning the substantial part of gardening', which Forbes had said he must attend to in going to London; he would like to embrace the opportunity, but that it may be better to learn forcing first, as it is an essential part, 'and to go there without knowing what one was about would look ridiculous', as he doesn't know where he will be placed; he will write more another time
George Forbes [writing on 10 Nov 1822]. They are writing now, even though they are expecting a letter from Forbes from the Cape [Cape of Good Hope, South Africa], as they have calculated that Forbes will not receive this letter until Feb 1823, and he thinks Forbes will want to hear from them; they received Forbes' letter of 30 May 1822 on 29 Oct 1822: 'I need not inform you of our joy on its arrival'; before that they received a letter from Joseph Sabine, informing them of Forbes' arrival at the Cape, 'and the pleasing information that you were still in good health'; he is pleased to hear that the tropical climate agrees with Forbes; the family is 'much in the same state' as the last time they wrote, but their father will write more about that; their sister continues in the same employment, 'very much against our inclination', but she has grown to be 'a very nice and good girl', and is 'getting more than any other in the house'; he is sorry to say that their mother's health is not as good as formerly, with 'fits of a colical complaint' and attacks of wind in the stomach, 'sometimes very alarming'; their father and James will write themselves; weak stomach is his only trouble; he hopes the letter will find Forbes 'in good health and successful'. [He continues the letter on 17 Nov] They received another letter from Forbes; he thanks Forbes for following his request to collect him some newspaper from the different places; their last letter was intended to reach Forbes at Madeira [Portugal]; James 'takes the kaleidoscope', but he is sorry to say that Forbes' friend has not sent them any newspapers and wonders why that is; they will write again around Christmas, if they do not hear from Forbes before that; their mother gives Forbes her best wishes as she is unable to write herself at present, but will write in future
John Forbes [senior] copies a note from the Liverpool Mercury about storms the previous winter in which 2,000 ships and 20,000 men perished on the European coasts, of which 250 ships and 2,560 men were lost on the Danish coast alone
Extent - 4 page letter (1 sheet)
Repository - Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library
Copyright - Orphan work
Credit Line - RHS Lindley Collections
Usage terms - Non-commercial use with attribution permitted (CC BY-NC 4.0)