| Description | As in recent years, Charlotte does not leave the house, except to sit in the garden in the summer months. She continues to read a great deal, mainly travel and biography. Miss Parker also reads aloud to her, and plays the piano. She is visited frequently by Cecil, and also by various friends. Miss Parker goes away for her regular summer holiday in June. During this time, Charlotte receives visits from friends and family most days, but writes on 28 June: 'I miss dear Miss Parker very much'.
Charlotte reports on the progress of her grandchildren. She writes that 'dearest Helen took up her work as an assistant mistress at a girls school at Crowborough' on 22 January; Milicent is 'called up to Oxford' on 17 March and Ethel tells Charlotte on 25 March that Milicent will have a room reserved for her at St Hugh's, Oxford, for October. Charlotte receives a postcard from her from Oxford on 23 October. Charlie is still at St George's chapel choir school in Windsor. Charlotte celebrates her 90th birthday on 22 April. Cecil brings her some eau-de-cologne, a pair of gloves and a bunch of flowers. She is also visited by friends.
Items of local, national and international news are recorded: 'A. Field told me what happened at Acton church last week: burglars got into the church, stole the altar carpet & drank the communion wine', 12 March; and 'there was an account in the paper of a revolution in Bulgaria, many killed and injured', 20 April. Charlotte also follows the illness of Queen Alexandria and on 21 November she writes: 'read..a g[rea]t deal about Queen Alexandria who passed away at Sandringham yes[terda]y afternoon'. The following days are spent reading newspaper accounts of her life.
Charlotte's health is generally good for most of the year, and the onset of her last illness is sudden. On 5 December, she writes: 'I kept the dining room, having a cold' and the following day, she writes in a shaky hand: 'I had a bad cold, saw Dr Bland in the evening'. This is Charlotte's last diary entry. There is an entry in another hand, possibly that of Miss Parker for 7 December. 'A thaw set in, Mr Cecil came & Dr Bland. Mrs Bagot ill in her bedroom. Said the psalms & lessons. No one called.' Charlotte died soon after this on 8 December.
Reading matter includes 'book about New Zealand', 'Through the Heart of Canada', 'book on the Alps', 'Our Heritage of the Sea', 'The Life of Queen Victoria', 'The Life of King Edward VII', 'The Admirals of the Fleet', 'The Life of Disraeli', 'The Life of Stanley the Traveller', 'book about Norway', 'Irish Recollections by Robinson', 'The Panama Canal' and 'book on Spain'. |