21.
till you might think all London was present. Cabs also were pre-
sent, wherein moustache d swells with ladies, enjoyed the spectacle. In
the rear streets adjacent to the fire, there was a tumultuous assemblage,
low Londoners, harlots plying their vocation, firemen incrusted with ice,
and uproar. Braidwood s nephew had lost his life, a stack of burning
timber falling upon him. I spent two hours at the fire, and then
through the biting cold homewards.
17. Saturday. Out in the afternoon; called on Annoots, then
to deliver Miss Emma Brown s letter to her sister in law. Charley s
elder brother lives in New Bond Street; his wife having a shop,
wherein ladies coiffeurs are displayed. Within I presented the letters,
and Mrs Brown retiring, left me sitting on a stool in the shop, where
behind a large mirror were two very pretty and tastily dressed young
ladies. Returning Mrs B took my address, and so our interview
ended. Whitelaw not at home. Tea and the Newcomes at coffee-
house, call at Jack Boutcher s, then to Harry Price s, where
I stayed till midnight.
18. Sunday. Within doors.
19. Monday. During the afternoon accompanied my mother to
Manchester Street, there to visit her uncle Fielder, my dead grand-
mother s brother. There is an aspect of faded gentility about the street
and neighbourhood appropriate to the house. By a pretty and smartly
dressed housemaid we were handed over to the care of a plump footman;
thence shown to an upper room, where were Mr Fielder, his wife, and
daughter sate; he fronting a bad fire, in an arm chair capable of being
propelled at pleasure. One part of the old man s side is paralysed,
and he is otherwise infirm, and now eighty-one years old. His wife, a
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seven: page twenty-seven |
| Description: | Describes visiting his great-aunt and -uncle Fielder with his mother. |
| Date: | 1855-02-16 |
| Subject: | Boutcher, Jack; Brown, Emma; Brown, William, Mrs.; Fielder, Thomas; Fielder, Thomas, Mrs.; Fires; Gunn, Samuel, Mrs.; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Price, Harry; Whitelaw, Matthew |
| Coverage (City/State): | London, [England] |
| Coverage (Street): | Manchester Street; New Bond Street |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seven |
| Description: | Includes an account of his family history and descriptions of his visits with family and friends in England, witnessing a procession for Louis Napoleon in London, traveling in Paris with his brothers Charley and Edwin, his friend Harry Price's mental illness, his journey across the Atlantic to New York on the ship Washington, the marriage of Fanny Fern and James Parton, meetings of the Ornithoryncus Club in New York, and Alfred Waud's elopement with Mary Brainard. |
| Subject: | Bohemians; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Marriage; Mental illness; Publishers and publishing; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | London, England; Paris, France; New York, New York |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
