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The author of this 1836 letter is the subject of a recent,
comprehensive biography The Slave Master of Trinidad by Selwyn R Cudjoe
(2018), a Wellesley College professor who grew up in the shadow of the Orange
Grove estate in Trinidad and who is descended from slaves who had laboured
there. William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850) settled in Trinidad in 1802 and
became a dominant figure there until his death in 1850. He was a leading
activist in defence of slave-holder and then post-slavery interests; the
mansion at Orange Grove was his home. When slavery was abolished in 1833/4 Burnley
successfully claimed compensation for the loss of over 1100 slaves according to
the University College London database. He travelled extensively in the USA,
Great Britain and Europe to further his and what he saw as Trinidad’s
commercial and political interests.
But in this letter from Antwerp he is writing to his wife,
Charlotte neé Brown (1782-1858) in Paris. She lived there or in London,
refusing to live in Trinidad. By 1836 the couple were becoming estranged,
partly in consequence of Wiliam’s infidelity, and though this detailed 1500
word letter is polite it is also obsessive and pedantic and contains few signs
of affection or interest in Charlotte. In contrast, Burnley is much concerned
with the future education of his teenage younger son, nicknamed Humy. That son,
Joseph Hume Burnley (1821 – 1904) - named after Joseph Hume MP to whom
Burnley’s sister was married - clearly benefitted from the German education
chosen for him; he joined the British Diplomatic Service and among other postings
served as British Chargé d'affaires at Dresden.
Provenance: a collection of European business and personal letters dated
before 1850, sold in an English auction 2024.
Antwerp Friday night 28 Oct 1836
My dear Charlotte
I received your letter of the 21st at Brussels
where I arrived on Monday the 24th. It surprises me to hear that
your weather has been so unfavourable at Paris, on the Rhine it continued
beautiful and only began to rain on my arrival at Brussels and today it is
perfect winter, the therm: having fallen from 60 down to 48 and I am writing in
my bed room by a famous large fire of Belgian Coals – the first time I have
found the necessity to order since I left England.
Immediately after I wrote to you from Frankfurt, I went to
see Dr Becker [ Dr Karl Ferdinand Becker 1775-1849] at Offenbach
principally for the purpose of learning from him whether his son in law at
Oldenburgh was disposed to take pupils as Joe Hume [? Not entirely clear but
if so then Joseph Hume] had informed me that he did not think Dr Becker
would suit Humy [ his son, Joseph Hume Burnley born May 1821] as
he thought him (Humy) too old for the junior school and too young for the
senior establishment where they are treated as young men and allowed to study
or not as they please – the Doctor only being able to give them an hour in the
day. But when I was there, which I was three times dining and spending the
evening with them, I was so much pleased with their whole family and
establishment that I proposed to the Doctor To take Humy into his senior establishment and allow him at the same time the
benefit of a private tutor to superintend his studies and overlook them during
the period when the Doctor cannot give his personal attention to him himself.
This is so great a deviation from the usual routine of his establishment that
he is to consider of it and let me know his determination immediately after I
arrive in London. If he does not consent I will then send him to Dr Strahl’s at
Bonn with whom I was perfectly pleased and satisfied. But the advantage at Dr
Becker’s of there being 4 or 5 very gentlemanly lads there whose tone and manner, both by themselves and
with the Doctor pleased me so much that I think Humy would reap great benefit
both by emulation and imitation by being placed with them and acquire more
manly habits than he is likely to do with Madame Strahl and her two daughters –
the sons being so much younger than him – at the same time the whole concern
seemed so unexceptionable otherwise that I shall feel no disappointment in
sending him there if Dr Becker does no accede to my proposition and feel now
quite comfortable in the idea that the object of my journey has been happily
accomplished and that there is now nothing more to be done than to carry him to
the one place or the other as early in March next as the weather will permit –
all idea of Oldenburgh I very early gave
up. The road to Bonn or Offenbach will pass from Paris to Brussels through
Liege and Aix la Chapelle to Cologne which is close to Bonn – Offenbach is
further up the Rhine, the whole distance in steamboats through the most
beautiful parts of the river, making a delightful excursion and passing close
to Wiesbaden and several other German Baths now much frequented. Frankkfurt is
a pretty nice place and the Hotel de Russie there decidedly the best Hotel I
ever was in as respects beauty of the building, accommodation, meals and
attendance and at the same time reasonable – abundant Breakfast at any hour you
please with Caffé au lait, excellent Butter and eggs
for 36 Kreutzer or 1/= sterling. Dinner more abundant than you ever saw served
including positively better roast Beef than I ever eat in England with a pint
of Rhine wine for one florin 54 kreutzer or about 3/4d including
excellent desert. My bedroom 1 florin – or 2 francs per day – so that my whole
expense at Frankfurt did not exceed 10/= Stg per day. Sir Thomas Hislop [ 1764
– 1843, Lieutenant Governor of Trinidad from 1802 to 1811] and his Lady
were at the same Hotel. He was woefully fallen off, looking dottled and with
hardly a leg to stand upon. She – sharp, active and voluble to a degree to be
suffered but by such a poor miserable as himself. I hardly knew which language
she is most fluent in – English, French or German. On my return I stopped at
Wiesbaden and took a bath in the Chicken broth, which Head [slightly
unclear; a travel writer?] compares it to & which it really is not
unlike, being about the color with a greasy scum on the surface. I did not
venture to take it. I dare say it is a pleasant place in the height of the
season but every soul had left it, the shops all shut up and the whole
appearance most woebegone. The country around it is by no means so pretty as at
Aix nor to my taste the town half so handsome. The waters at Aix are clear but
some of them so hot you can just bear your finger in them. I took no Bath as
there were none in the Hotel where I put up and the country between Aix and
Liege, a ride of about 35 miles is positively equal to the finest and richest
parts of England, being covered with fields and surrounded by Hedges, and
studded all over with villas and farm houses; what can make such a difference
in the habits of the people in different places I cannot discover. I always thought
before that the farmers inhabited towns on the Continent because the Country
was so liable to be over-run with armies – but no part of Europe is more
subject to such a casualty than the Country of Liege and yet they live as we do
in England, whilst their neighbours in Brabant act as they do in France and
elsewhere with the Country open in every direction.
The weather was so bad in Brussels I saw little and did not
even go to Waterloo which is only at a short distance; as the Colonel [ who?] is now at liberty tell him I hope he will
accompany me there in March next. I saw William Drury (Mark’s son) [ William
James Joseph Drury (1791–1878) English schoolmaster and chaplain to Leopold I and tutor to his son Leopold II of Belgium.] and spent the evening with him. His
wife is a pretty, amicable woman with ten children to take care of – 4
of them only her own. They tell me that Miss Warner [daughter of Trinidad's Attorney General ? ] is positively married since
we saw her at Paris – to some foreigner and they think not a man of
fortune – so I fear that she has made a bad concern of it after all. She is a
kind sociable gay creature and would have made a compatible wife for a man fond
of company and possessing the means of enjoying it.
I arrive here at 2pm by the Chemin de Fer, which seems to
answer admirably and everybody is so well pleased with it that they are anxious
to have the one completed to Paris but this I fear will not take place in a
hurry. On Sunday I embark on the Steamer “Ocean” at 9.a.m. and hope to find
myself in London, Monday morning [couple of words lost from breaking of letter seal] letter from Maria dated 24th
when she was [ word lost from letter seal, could be "feeling"] better and I am engaged to dine with Hume [Joseph Hume MP,
1777-1855; Hume married in 1815 Maria Burnley, the writer’s sister] and the Lord Mayor on the 9th
of November. I am well pleased to have the opportunity to see one of these
dinners.
I am glad to hear Humy has got a good German master, it will
make everything much more easy and agreeable to him when he changes his
quarters. I recommend you not stand too much upon etiquette with Mrs Brevoort,
she is a sensible amiable woman of which we have not too many in our society
and with a large family of children to attend to probably does not study
etiquette herself. I heard from the McGregors [ Alexander McGregor of the
Glasgow West India Assocation? ] when at Frankfurt – they were at Vienna
and hoped in 3 or 4 weeks to leave it for Paris so that they may be with you
before I am. How long my stay will be in London I cannot until I arrive there
and see what has been done or doing at the Compensation Office [established
to make payments to former slave owners] but I shall certainly be
disappointed if I am not in Paris before the end of November as I find
travelling in cold weather by no means agreeable. It has been snowing here
all the evening – which for October seems an early exhibition - accept dearest
of kind love for yourself and Humy and believe me always yours affectionately
William H Burnley
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