| Description | The diary is dominated by Charlotte's severe ill health. During the early part of the year she writes that her health is poor, and on 15 January she is suffering from stiff limbs. She writes on 9 February: 'my limbs very powerless so gave them brandy with my tea'. On 19 February, she writes that she is 'ailing from gouty spasm' and from 'muscular rheumatism' on 26 February and on 17 March, Dr Bland visits for this affliction. She is also becoming more forgetful, and on 3 May begins to be 'disabled by headache from reading' which will not ease. Dr Bland visits and considers it rheumatic on 10 May. She comments on 14 May: 'I could neither read nor work without pain' and from this point onwards, her headache is frequently mentioned, and she seems to be in constant pain.
From 4 June the writing is untidy, shaky, and almost illegible, veering up and down the page. Some days are blank, and when the entries can be read, it seems that she is confused, mentioning writing to her father and mother, who have been dead for many years, and to other friends who are no longer alive, and being apparently convinced she does not live in London. She cannot remember the names of friends and family. There are periods of lucidity, but she still seems very confused until entries in late September. Even from this date she makes entries like: 'I am uncertain if I said Evensong', 2 October; and 'no one called whose name I did not know' 21 October (entered in error on 26 October in diary). Entries are not always in chronological order.
She returns to her characteristic entries in November. She had read a great deal in the early part of the year, and also mentions knitting and writing letters. She is visited often by Cecil, Ethel and the children, and by friends, but these are fewer than in previous years, and sometimes no one calls apart from Cecil. Sidney visits several times during the year, including the time when she is unwell.
She records some details about the war, including: 'a sea battle in N.sea, British victory I am thankful to say', 24 January; 'Cecil came to say that 2 privates had been billeted on him since Sat[urda]y Eve[nin]g'; 5 March; 'read the paper, abdication of the Czar - Revolution in Russia',16 March. 'Margaret' one of the servants, 'went to see her soldier brother at Woolwich: he may be sent off any day to the Front'. 8 April; 'Miss Parker went for me to Coutts & saw a tank full of soldiers in Trafalgar Sq.', 27 November.
Reading matter includes 'From Antwerp to Gallipoli', 'Human Life & its Conditions', 'Recollections of an Admiral's Wife', 'Life of the Empress Eugenie', 'book on Russian army by Scott Liddell' and 'The Great White Army'. |