Posted 8 April 1833 from Greenwich, London to
Chas Hurt, Wirksworth, Derby
"To Pay 2d only", "T.P. Greenwich" "Auckland".
Charles Hurt, 1758-1834
painted by Joseph Wright of Derby
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Susannah and Mary Anne
painted by Joseph Wright of Derby
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Robert John EDEN
3rd Baron Auckland
1799-1870
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Mary Eden nee Hurt
Lady Auckland
1807-1872
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Letter to Charles HURT, 1833
Charles Hurt was an old man, 75 and living in
Wirksworth Hall,
when he received this letter. Alas there is no enclosure, so I
do not know the subject. Up to 1840, the sender of a letter paid
the cost of postage, the recipient could in theory refuse the
letter and payment, so the sender's name on the outside was useful.
The underlined word below the address seems
to be "Auckland", and Charles' niece Mary Hurt (1807-1872)
married Robert John Eden, 3rd Baron Auckland in 1825 and became
Lady Auckland, so the letter is probably from the Baron. Auckland
in New Zealand is named after George Eden (Robert's elder brother), and
West Auckland is in Co Durham. "T.P." probably meant "two-penny post"
as against "penny-post", today's 1st and 2nd class postage.
"When Richard Arkwright first arrived in Cromford
it is more than likely that the local gentry paid
him very little heed. The local gentry at that time,
within the immediate vicinity of Cromford, were
the Nightingales at Lea and the Hurts at Alderwasley.
The Nightingales themselves had risen from
humble origins, the Hurts were rather more well
established. Thus we can see that in that area the
Hurts were the senior family. Arkwright's sucess
in a short space of time inspired him to become
ambitious to join in the ranks of the exalted few.
What better way than to wed his daughter into
the top flight. We do not know if their marriage
was the outcome of a natural romance or whether the
whole thing was engineered by their respective
fathers. Whichever, the marriage suited everyone
concerned. Francis Hurt saw his younger son married
into money and for Richard Arkwright it opened
the door to acceptability. It may not have been
by sheer coincidence that seven years after the wedding
in 1780, Arhwright was appointed High Sherrif of
Derbyshire. Charles Hurt himself held that same
post ten years later in 1797. He ran a lead works
and a smelting business and acquired a reputation as
an expert in the construction of soughs. In 1797
Boben, a miner, was rescued after being trapped
underground for eight days by rock and earth falls,
largely because Hurt insisted that he still had a
chance of survival. He was also friendly with many
of the eminent intellectuals of the day and had a
vast library of books on astronomy, mathematics,
Natural history, the classics and European literature.
from "The Hurts of Derbyshire" p 28 by Derek Wain
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