MS 975

Reference code

MS 975

Title

Charles Edmund Macnaghten collection of Ritchie and Freshfield family letters

Level

Sub-fonds

Administrative / Biographical history

Augusta ‘Gussie’ Charlotte Ritchie was born in 1847, the daughter of William Ritchie (1817-1862) and Augusta Trimmer (1817-1888). Gussie was the cousin and sister-in-law of Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1837-1919). She married Douglas William Freshfield (1845-1934), lawyer, mountaineer and author in 1869. They had 5 children: Eleanor (Lilor), Jane, Henry (Hal), Olivia and Katia. Charles Edmund Macnaghten (1937-2023) was the great-grandson of Augusta Freshfield.

Date

c.1891-c.1902

Extent & medium

2 files and 1 item

Content description

Part of a collection of autograph letters sent to Augusta Freshfield from family, literary friends and acquaintances and two letters sent to Anne Thackeray Ritchie and Emily Ritchie, collected by Augusta’s great-grandson Charles Edmund Macnaghten (1937-2023) with his annotated list of the of letters

Arrangement

The letters were assembled by Augusta Freshfield’s great-grandson, Charles Edmund Macnaghten. There is no obvious original order and many of the letters are undated. The letters to Anne Thackeray Richie and Emily Ritchie and the list of the letters in Charles Macnaghten’s collection and have been placed in separate files from letters sent to Augusta Freshfield.

Associated material

Anne Thackeray Ritchie collections at Eton College containing Freshfield and Ritchie family papers: MS 430 01 01 04, MS 430 01 07, MS 430 01 02 02, MS 430 01 03 06 and MS 972.

Existence and location of originals

Charles Macnaghten’s list indicates that some of the letters in his collection were sent to Cambridge University Library’s Department of Manuscripts which holds other Freshfield family papers. Other letters on the list not sent to Eton or Cambridge, may have been retained by the family.