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20 Aug 09 Julius 111, Gloucester Place, London W John ______________________________________________________________________________________________
111, Gloucester Place
Portman Square. W
Dear John
Your note giving us tidings of yourself – very welcome. A change such as you are getting, altho’ attended with contretemps, let us hope will benefit your general health.
We hear from the Highlands this morning – the Birds below the usual & the River just a dribble – all this cheers us in our enforced detention ‘at home’ where, if out of sorts, I do not know with things to hand (altho’ the carpets may be up as with us & the blinds down), one is not after all the better off.
We are still ‘investigating’ results of the various treatments when the Doctors are not at sea side, doing week ends &c. Meanwhile from 13st- 11lbs down to 9-12. Their trump card in reserve, is an operation to see what it can be!
We vary the monotony by a good deal of Dog Cart & changing the horses about, & get short walks too.
Ellen & John Dawson are to see Alfred* today & the Doctor – so we may hear something reliable.
Mary* is excellent with her pen. At St Petroc’s*, health is not the strong point. Peter* really has been sitting in the garden which, let us hope, foretells improvement.
Crusader* continues to set his Father an example in matters of health, & the subject of vaccination arises.
His mother quite makes the best of it & the arrival of flowers & fruit from Amy awakens no complaints that the shady lawn is not being utilized. At present here, in showry weather, the comforts of home are not to be despised.
It is strange how very few one meets travelling who attract or are interesting. Sometimes I fancy that it must be a peculiarity of ones own – that they will not do at all.
All kind messages please from us both to Frances, & keep us au fait at your circumstances.
Yours truly
J Dyson-Laurie
20 Aug. 09
* Ellen & John Dawson are to see Alfred – Ellen Laurie, wife of their brother, Alfred, with their son John, then aged 36 years. John Dawson Laurie became Lord Mayor of London in 1940
* Mary – John Wimburn Laurie’s fifth child, who married the Revd. Dr Horlock that year
* St Petroc – Little Petherick, near Padstow, Cornwall, where his father-in-law, the Revd. Samuel Molesworth (8th Viscount) had been rector 1876-1898.
* Peter – Presumably their brother
* Crusader – His son, Waulter de Molesworth, named after a 13th Century crusading knight (a distant ancestor of Waulter's mother), was then almost 3 months old
This is Julius’ last surviving letter. He died at home, 4 months later – 10 days after his 70th birthday