Revd Stillingfleet

Letters from the Past

To The Revd E.W. Stillingfleet, Market Weighton,

from his cousin in Ross, 1827.

The letter has a town stamp mileage mark of ROSS 127 and think that this must be Ross on Wye, which is 120 miles in the Alan Robertson list. There are three charge marks, 10, 1/1 and 1/2, for which I can see no reason, as there was no enclosure, and no re-direction. It has a London morning duty extra date stamp in red ink in three lines
B 27 AP 27 1827 This transfer stamp can be identified as a morning duty because the year is in a straight line, and as an extra stamp as it has a double rim.

The inside is a copy of the Memorial to their forebear, which is in Worcester Cathedral, and this image shows the beginning part of it, although the letter has the complete memorial written out.

Near This Place
Are deposited with the ashes of his Ancestors
The Mortal Remains of
The Revd. James Stillingfleet M.A.
Formerly Fellow of Merton College Oxon,
Rector of Knightwick, & more than forty five Years
Prebendary of this Cathedral,
Who died on the 6th day of July A.D. 1817
In the 88th year of his Age,
Supported by those sacred Principles of Christian faith & hope
Which he was ever zealous to inculcate & adorn.
Assiduous in the Study of the Original Scriptures,
Instant in Prayer for the Wisdom that descendeth from above.
And warmly attached to the Apostolical Doctrine
And Polity of the Established Church,
He conscientiously persevered to a very advanced Age
In testifying the Gospel of the Grace of God
And approved himself a faithful Steward of the divine Mysteries.
In social & domestic Life
The Mildness of his Disposition, the urbanity of his manners,
And the Probity of his Example conciliated
General Esteem, & gave Weight to his
Public Instructions.
He left three Sons by his first Wife, Katharine Daughter of Hubert Mackworth Esqre
of Guoll Castle, Glamorganshire, and two Daughters by his second Wife
Elizabeth, Daughter of William Hall Esqre of Kings Walden Park, Herts,
Who dedicates this Monument to the Memory of her much lamented Husband.

The rest of the letter has been torn off, but on the side panels of the address panel the letter has continued

At the top

I am also able to give a good acct of all our party here, except that Marian has a degree of languor upon her, & is become very thin. The weather has been severely cold, & the Black Mountain covered with snow. My wife unites with me in very kind regards to yourself & Mrs Edwd S. We are glad to hear that your Mother continues so well, to whom I beg every affecte remembrance & believe me
My Dear Coz Edward
Yr Very affect
H.A. Stillingfleet

Then at the bottom of that page is the final comment.

I received the Power of Atty from Biddulph & Cocks more than a fortnight ago, & returned it duly executed.

The rest of the letter is torn off.

There are comments pencilled on this letter — across the Memorial are these notes.

H.A. Stillingfleet MA
W.H Stillingfleet of Lincoln —son
— Robert Digby S of Cleeve Prin — Co of Limerick
Then under the address panel these two notes.

James Stillingfleet Father of Henry Aulking Stillingfleet.

This last name is apparently the writer of the letter as he signs H.A, Stillingfleet. I downloaded information from the Internet about the Revd James Stillingfleet The website showing that there was a copy of the Will of Reverend James Stillingfleet, Prebendary of the Cathedral Church of Worcester held in the National Archives — which did not actually open, but at least it confirmed what the memorial said — and also from The British Critic, and Quarterly Theological Review which confirmed that he died as Rector at Hotham, but in his 86th year. The letter is sealed with red sealing wax and the seal is the initials of the writer of the letter in Capital letters H A S.

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