Description:

Crimean War



Crimean War 1872 ALS Mentioning British General William Munro’s Service 

2pp ALS addressed to “My dear Gerald” and signed “O.E. Snow” near bottom of second page. Letter is indistinctly dated December 1872. In near fine condition, with expected light folds and a few stray crayon and pencil marks. Each page measures 5.375” x 8.625”.

Contemporary military figures, British politics, and ship engineering are the main subjects of this chatty and sardonic letter. It is signed “Snow”, who was probably a member of the Royal Corps of Engineers. (This is deduced by the passing reference to: “You will see perhaps an amount in that regular Royal Engineer Journal of my report in the works, +c”.) Snow’s correspondent might have been Lieutenant General Sir Gerald Graham (1831-1899). This can be deduced from the letter’s reference to the Crimean War, a conflict in which Graham served, and the letter writer’s salutations promised to “Mrs. Graham”, wife of the addressee.

Graham, a British career soldier, had a connection to “Munro 39th Regt. + the trenches” likely in the context of the Crimean War. General William Munro (1818-1880) served in India, Gibraltar, Ireland, Canada, and in the “trenches” of Crimea. Like Munro, Graham dedicated his life to military service, defending British interests in China, Egypt, and Sudan. Snow also mentions HMS Cockatrice commander Captain George Digby Morant (1837-1921) and his wife Sophia Georgina Eyres Morant (died 1911). The Cockatrice was a Britomart-class steam-propelled and sail-rigged gunboat, launched in 1860. By 1872, the year this letter was written, Captain Morant commanded the vessel in the Mediterranean. Snow later provides very opinioned commentary on ship construction, probably in relation to the Cockatrice.

Snow alludes to recent elections in which a “lazy” politician named Creyke defeated another named Synge. Later, he questions the mental lucidity of a politician named Chapman, but then sarcastically concludes that those with “stereotyped ideas [should] be always in office”.

Most of the letter content can be found below:

“Thank you for your letter I think perhaps it is a pity Synge lost the election, for I fear that Creyke will be lazy. Glad to hear of the other olive branch. I nearly had an accident in my house of the same nature Mrs. Morant wife of Capt. Morant of Cockatrice Gun boat only left me a day or two before the event which however was an unfortunate one. Do not talk to me of that wretched egg bound Jowl (?), then her teeth sticking up prominent, the hunches [sic] are barely to be seen in some places. The north side is quite untouched. You will see perhaps an amount in that regular Royal Engineer Journal of my report in the works, +c. … I hope that job of - is indefinitely postponed. Evart’s was too bad, regular change round. I hear that Chapman is more and more grieved by his wife + his imbecility more + more apparent. You might to hear had a berth long ago. They should a few even with stereotyped ideas be always in office. Chapman would even forget your - to him about Munro 39th Regt. + the trenches … ”

An uncensored glimpse into 1870s Britain!



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