| Description | Letter written from Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire, dated 18 May and addressed 'My dear Algie' [Reverend Algernon Curtois (1865-1933)]. The letter contains news of family and friends, and mentions the sale of Walsingham Abbey to Eustace Gurney. Dering Curtois also mentions an Archdeacon being found guilty, commenting: 'you and Lincoln are to be congratulated as having got rid of a festering sore'.
The case referred to is possibly that of Archdeacon John Wakeford, who was found guilty of having an extra-marital affair in 1921. The Bishop of Lincoln deprived him of his office as Archdeacon and his precentorship at Lincoln Cathedral as a result. John Wakeford maintained his innocence.
Also at LAdd/83 is the final page of another letter from Dering Curtois to Reverend Algernon Curtois. It appears that Algernon Curtois has annotated the letter with the sender's address: 'Little Missenden, Bucks' and the date: 'Oct 4 1921'. Dering Curtois writes about a visit to Walsingham (which Algernon Curtois notes is 'just sold to Sir E. Gurney') and a meeting with Alfred Lee Warner.
The author is possibly Mary Henrietta Dering Curtois (1854-1928), sister of Reverend Algernon Curtois. |