| Description | Particular details include accounts of the family's work and leisure activities. Charlotte takes school classses with Mary and also takes the Boys Bible Class on 2 May. She continues to coach Sidney when he is at home, writing that she 'questioned Sidney on French and History' on 23 April and that 'Sid read me his precis on the Prophets' on 3 May. Mary not only helps her mother but also undertakes parish duties on her own, attending a meeting for 'Waifs and Strays' on 24 February.
Charlotte goes with Mary, Harold and Sidney to the Fawley Court ball on 8 January. Another ball is held at the Makins on 14 January but Charlotte is reluctant to attend and would rather spend the evening with Fred, who is ill with a bad cold. The children have an outing to London on 4 May, visiting the Royal Academy, going to the Naval Exhibition and eating at the Victoria ABC cafe. Charlotte goes to the same Naval Exhibition on 24 June. Harold appears to be living at home for most of the year, and attends the Belle Hatch croquet tournament with Mary on 29 June. The family go to Henley Regatta on 8 July and see Eton beat Radley, and Charlotte plays croquet with Fred on 11 July. The family holiday in North Wales, near Llandudno in August and September and they travel via Chester, where they visit the cathedral on 11 August. Activities include walking in the mountains, a visit to Conway show, a trip to Bangor and the slate quarries nearby on 26 August and a visit to Bettwys-y-Coed on 5 September.
The later part of the diary is dominated by Fred's frequent health problems, although on 8 September Charlotte gives thanks that he seems to have improved on their holiday. He is in bed with a poultice on 15 October and again suffering from a cold on 23 December and after walking to the 11am service on Christmas day 'was so ailing on his return' that Charlotte 'persuaded him to remain at home'. He remained in bed on 26 December and Charlotte describes him as being seriously ill the following day with a temperature of 103 or 104 degrees Farenheit. She suspects Influenza, of which there was an epidemic in the winter 1891-1892, and spends the next two days nursing him but he is worse in the evening of 30 December and seems to Charlotte to be sinking. She sends telegrams to his relatives. On 31 December she prays with him and he receives sacramental absolution from Mr Pinder.
Reading matter includes: 'Science and The Faith', Pusey's 'Peril of Little Sins', 'Ecclesia Anglicana', 'New Zealand Book', 'Revelations of the Risen Lord', Westcott's 'Gospel of the Resurrection', 'Scenes thro[ugh] Battle Smoke', Sadler's 'One Offering', 'Light of Life', 'Wayfaring in France' and 'As a Thief in the Night'. |