Pakenham History : Joseph Alfred Hardcastle MP And Nether Hall

Part 2 - Henry & Maria Hardcastle

2
Sir John Herschel to Joseph Alfred Hardcastle
Collingwood, Hawkhurst, 28 July 1865

Copy
My dear Sir, I should have written to you before on the subject which has been uppermost in my thoughts since the introduction of it to our notice by your charming, frank and hearty letter to Lady Herschel but that, taken considerably by surprise at a thing so unexpected and the immediate consequent declaration of your son, I was anxious to have a little time for forming a calm and decisive judgment on the matter.(42)

I might have spared myself the delay, for our young people seem to have settled the matter so decisively between themselves, and so very much to their own satisfaction, that already it seems somewhat late in the day for me to say what I really do feel on the occasion a conviction this is a marriage calculated to secure the happiness of both parties and such a one as I can look forward to with the fullest satisfaction and joy. Maria's confidences to her mother and yourself have been quite unreserved, and, from all she has told us, I have gathered a strong impression of his thorough high-mindedness, good sense and sterling character, the best securities for married happiness; and, besides this, I have the fullest reliance on her judgment and appreciation of character. All I have seen of him myself has gone to impress me strongly in the same direction, and the high terms in which he is spoken of by our dear friends at New Lodge leave no room for doubt or hesitation for anything but hearty congratulations to all parties.(43)

Maria Herschel

Perhaps it may be right, as matters have gone so far, for me to say something as to her future prospects. In a word, situated as I am, with an income which leaves no margin beyond what the necessities of my position require to support, I cannot make any immediate provision for her. At my death she will come into a portion, and at that of her mother into the remainder of an equal division of the bulk of my pecuniary property with her sisters, and this will be secured to her by my will.

Under the circumstances, I cannot call upon your son to make any settlement by which she can be personally benefited under contingencies which all must look to as possible; but what I can leave to her will not suffice for the maintenance of a family, and it is for yourself and for your son to consider of the admirableness of placing something beyond the ordinary contingencies of life in contemplation of the future as regards them, and as regards the position which you may reasonably desire that she should hold in such events. I throw this out only for your consideration and I trust you will see it is nothing but the natural anxiety of a parent as regards the (God grant it may be long distant) future of a beloved child. Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully, J.F.W. Herschel.(44)

Copy of letter sent to J.A. Hardcastle, Esq., MP, PO Killarney, Ireland.

(42) Letters 1-3 in envelope marked 'Correspondence, between J.A. Hardcastle Esq., MP, and Sir J.F.W. Herschel, Bart, regarding the marriage settlement of Henry Hardcastle and Mary S. Herschel. To be given to Henry Hardcastle at my death. MBH (Marie Brodie Herschel), Collingwood, 9 January 1875'.
(43) According to the 1861 census, Eliza Hardcastle, widow, aged fifty-eight, was living at New Lodge, Hawkhurst, then, with two daughters, Selina Hardcastle, aged thirty-six, and Anne Emma Hardcastle, aged twenty-five. Eliza Hardcastle was Joseph Alfred Hardcastle's stepmother and the mother of his stepbrother, Edward Hardcastle MP (1826-1905). Maria Herschel's eldest brother, William, married Anne Emma Hardcastle in 1864.
(44) Sir John Frederick William Herschel, Bart (1792-1871), scientist and polymath.

3
Joseph Alfred Hardcastle to Sir John Herschel
Writtle, 3 August 1865

Original
My dear Sir John Herschel, I delayed replying to your letter till I could see and consult with my old friend and legal adviser Mr Blood.(45) I propose to settle £500 a year upon Henry and his future wife, by a bond which I shall put into your hands, and I propose further to secure £10,000 to be put in trust at my death, for them, their heirs and for the children as the survivor may appoint; or if you prefer it in equal shares.(46)

Henry's present property is about £1200 a year and, unless something very unforeseen occurs, he will inherit £70,000 or £80,000 from me, as I have only him to think of or save for. If I live the ordinary term of humanity it will of course be much more.

Henry Hardcastle

You do not mention the amount to which your daughter will become entitled under your will, nor do I wish to enquire. All I have to ask is that you will see that it is secured to her and to her children.

This letter is simply on business, and I therefore add nothing except an expression of my entire and full satisfaction in this marriage, and a great thankfulness that I have to look forward to such a treasure as I shall find in your daughter.

I am, my dear Sir John Herschel, yours very sincerely, J.A. Hardcastle.

(45) Joseph Howell Blood (1807-1876), of Witham, Essex, the Hardcastles' long-term solicitor and family adviser.
(46) Note on original: 'The first and third paragraphs of this were copied and sent to Messrs Clapham and Conn, 14 September 1865.

4
Sir John Herschel to Joseph Alfred Hardcastle
Collingwood, Hawkhurst, 29 August 1865

Original
My dear Sir, You will have been surprised at my not earlier replying to your letter of the eighth, but it is only this morning that it has reached me, being not forwarded from the Pelican at Newbury but sent back to the GPO, whence, after certain demurs and delays, it has found its right destination at last.

Your proposed arrangements are on the most liberal scale and leave nothing to be desired. The point which you put to my consideration (whether the shares of children of the marriage should be declared equal, independent of any option or appointment of the parents; or left to the appointment of the survivors of the latter) is one purely for your own decision.

In the arrangements embodied in my will for the ultimate distribution of very nearly the whole amount of my disposable personal property among my daughters, the share of each married or marrying daughter is (as you suspect) secured to herself and the children of the marriage, with a power of appointment in the first instance; failing which an equal division, and subject to the life interest of her husband if she shall so appoint. In view of the arrangement you contemplate, I think it will be right to alter the latter claim in Maria's case by a codicil making her husband's life interest (if surviving) independent of her appointment.

As regards the amount of such share, it will, as I stated in my former letter, necessarily be but small, there being so many to divide among. What I can leave to each of my daughters, by will, will hardly exceed, as well as I can at present reckon, from £3000 to £3500, and of this the greater portion must necessarily be subject to their mother's life interest. This is as nothing compared with your son's expectations and immediate prospects. True affection, however, equalises such differences and I should do injustice to the disinterestedness both he and yourself have shown in dwelling upon it.

I fully participate in your expectation that it will be a very happy match. Henry's character is one that opens out very pleasingly on acquaintance and I am quite certain, from all that I know that Maria says of him both to her mother and to myself, that he has inspired her with a warm and genuine attachment. They are now at Hastings, but in a very short time now we will be collecting here and, as I understand, at New Lodge; and I will continue to hope that, on your return from Ireland, you will take up your abode here at Collingwood for a day or two as you can make convenient, when you can see them together and become better acquainted with her ways and habits.

Believe me, my dear sir, yours very faithfully, J.F.W. Herschel.

5
Henry Hardcastle's Marriage Settlement

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And this indenture also witnesseth that, in consideration of the said intended marriage, the said Joseph Alfred Hardcastle doth hereby for himself, his heirs, executors and administrators further covenant with the said Maurice Powell(47) and Alexander Stewart Herschel, their executors, administrators and assignees, that he, the said Joseph Alfred Hardcastle, shall and will during his life pay to the said Maurice Powell and Alexander Stewart Herschel,(48) or the survivor or survivors of them or the executors or administrators of such survivor and other the trustees or trustee for the time being of these presents, the annual sum of £500 by equal half yearly payments, the first such payments to be made at the expiration of six calendar months after the solemnization of the said intended marriage, with a proportionate part of the said annual sum for the period if any which shall elapse between the day of solemnization of the said intended marriage or the last half yearly day of payment thereof as the case may be, and the day of the decease of the said Joseph Alfred Hardcastle or other the determination of the said annual sum in trust to pay the income thereof to the said Henry Hardcastle during his lifetime, or until he shall become bankrupt or insolvent, or shall do or suffer some act, matter or thing the effect or consequence of which would be, but for the operation of this clause, to vest the right to receive the said income in some other person or persons; and from after the decease of the said Henry Hardcastle or the happening of any of the said last mentioned events, in trust (for his wife etc).(49)   

(47) Maurice Powell, scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, barrister of the Inner Temple and one of the trustees of Henry Hardcastle's marriage settlement. He was the editor of Roscoe's Digest of the Law of Evidence and Trial of Action at Nisi Prius (15th edition, London, 1884).
(48) Alexander Stewart Herschel (1836-1907), Maria Hardcastle's second eldest brother.
(49) Unsigned.