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<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=7YQSqjSh" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.barnardf.demon.co.uk/","20131110164155","https://web.archive.org/","web","https://web-static.archive.org/_static/", "1384101715"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=p7PEIJWi" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"> <link rel="File-List" href="index_files/filelist.xml"> <link rel="Edit-Time-Data" href="index_files/editdata.mso">  <title>A Victorian's Letters from INDIA and PRUSSIAN & GREEK Royalty 1883 - 1894 </title> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="Street"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="address"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/> <o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/>  <style>  </style>  <meta name="keywords" content="Victorian, letters, Prussia, Greece, governess, India"> <meta name="Template" content="E:\OFFICE\OFFICE\html.dot"> </head> <body lang="EN-GB" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="tab-interval:36.0pt"> <div class="Section1"> Last updated: 11 April 2006<o:p></o:p> <h2 align="center" style="text-align:center"><img width="49" height="52" id="_x0000_i1025" src="/web/20131110164155im_/http://www.barnardf.demon.co.uk/ADA_SIG1.GIF"></h2> Letters of a Victorian lady, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ada</st1:place></st1:city> E Leslie, 1883 to 1894<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> Prussian (German), British and <st1:placename w:st="on">Greek</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Royal</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Palaces</st1:placetype> and travel in Royal Yachts occupy this Victorian lady's life after an eventful visit to <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> from <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> as a children's governess with a final move to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Burma</st1:place></st1:country-region> as the wife of a District Police Commander. Described as an epic traveller for those days she goes to <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> to work for an English Army Colonel - and almost immediately travels back to <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> via a small war in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Subsequently she goes to <st1:city w:st="on">Potsdam</st1:city>, Marmor, <st1:city w:st="on">Windsor</st1:city>, Osbourne, Homberg and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state> working for the future Kaiser Wilhelm II ("Kaiser Bill" to the British soldier in World War I). Then she becomes a Lady-in-Waiting to Wilhelm's sister, Sophie (also a grandchild of Queen <st1:state w:st="on">Victoria</st1:state> and the future Queen of Greece) travels to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Greece</st1:country-region> then <st1:state w:st="on">Berlin</st1:state> and back, <st1:city w:st="on">Copenhagen</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, Weisbaden and back before resigning to marry and go to Prome in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Burma</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ada</st1:place></st1:city> describes all these events in 52 letters written to her cousin, some 34 000 words over 11 years. There are insights into the royal families and their way of life as well as the lives of others around them and descriptions of towns and places. I do not have her exact date of birth but it appears that she was born in 1860 as the 1881 census indicates that she is 21 and working in a large household as a 'domestic' nurse - probably for the young child of the family. (Thank you Judith!)<o:p></o:p> For convenience I have divided the letters into five sections and heavily edited them to remove most of the domestic matters, replacing such sections with >>>>. I have included links to pictures which, except where indicated, are original photographs that were kept with the documents and usually referred to in the text. Where clarification may be useful I have added it in this manner: {clarification in Italics and curly brackets}. I have deliberately kept this minimal to avoid disrupting the flow. For those who are interested there is a fifth compilation that has not been edited at the link below, which includes the domestic matters referred to above. <a name="Index"></a> <table class="MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="578" style="width:433.5pt;mso-cellspacing:0cm;mso-padding-alt:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:0;mso-yfti-firstrow:yes"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1884 </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Letters/India.htm">The trip to India </a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:1"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1886-1889 </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Letters/Prussia.htm">To Prussia and visits to England</a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:2"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1889-1892 </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Letters/Greece.htm">Greece and life there - Part 1 </a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:3"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1892-1893 </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Letters/Greece2.htm">Greece and life there - Part 2 </a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:4"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1894 <o:p></o:p>   </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Letters/Burma.htm">The final letter from Burma </a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:5"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> 1883-1894 </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131110164155/http://www.fbarnard.org.uk/">The majority of the letters without editing</a> </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:6"> <td colspan="2" valign="top" style="padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> In September I started visiting the addresses that <st1:city w:st="on">Ada</st1:city> has written from or about and so I have added a new link to: "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131110164155/http://www.fbarnard.org.uk/ada-trvl.htm">Ada's Travels, re-visited</a>" </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow:7;mso-yfti-lastrow:yes"> <td width="28%" valign="top" style="width:28.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt">  <o:p></o:p> Original first page of:<o:p></o:p> Original second page of:<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>   </td> <td width="72%" valign="top" style="width:72.0%;padding:5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt 5.25pt"> <a href="Pprincesses.jpg">Picture of the Prussian Princesses</a> <a href="12apr841.gif">April 12th 1884. 30 Vernon Terrace, Brighton </a> <a href="12apr842.gif">April 12th 1884. 30 Vernon Terrace, Brighton </a>   <a href="pictures/award.htm">Britannica Internet Guide Award</a> </td> </tr> </table> These letters were all written to (and loosely bound into a book by) my great grandmother "Polly" who was Ada Leslie's cousin. Her actual name was Mary Ann Galsworthy (n閑 Gwynn) 1853-1925  Unfortunately I cannot yet find what happened to <st1:city w:st="on">Ada</st1:city> herself after her marriage to "<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Mr</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Castle</st1:placetype></st1:place>". Reading between the lines and knowing her state of health and problems with hot climates I suspect that she died quite soon and this is why the letters stopped. I would dearly like to know further though - possibly she had children even...   Just recently my 'Chief Researcher', Debbie Chambers, has identified the first names of <st1:city w:st="on">Ada</st1:city>'s husband - Reginald Alfred Edgar Castle - having discovered a reference to their marriage in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Burma</st1:place></st1:country-region> located through a Family History Centre. This is leading to more breakthroughs from the 1881 census. Thank you very much Debbie! Reginald Castle appears to have been a senior policeman - the District Superintendent for his area. He joined the Indian Police Service in June 1884 at Moorshedabad at the age of about 20 or 21 and had rapid promotion. He retired in October 1914. (I am indebted to Donald Jaques for looking this up in the India List.)   Even more recently Charlotte Zeepvat - author of a number of books relating to European (and Russian) Royalty of the period - has written two excellent articles based on these letters. She has used her great knowledge of the period to draw out many interesting inferences from the letters and fitting them very effectively into their historical context. In particular she has shown that <st1:city w:st="on">Ada</st1:city> having started as a governess progressed to become a Lady-in-Waiting for Princess Sophie in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Those interested in reading the articles will find them in the April 2001 and May 2001 editions of ROYALTY DIGEST, available from <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Church Street</st1:address></st1:street>, Ticehurst, East Sussex, TN5 7AA, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United Kingdom</st1:place></st1:country-region>.   You are visitor number: <img border="0" width="287" height="96" id="_x0000_i1026" src="/web/20131110164155im_/http://www.barnardf.demon.co.uk/cgi-bin/count%3fdd=B&ft=1" alt="This counter requires image loading and shows the number of hits the site has received">     <h3><a name="publisher">The Publisher </a></h3> The originals of these letters - and of those referenced but not yet available on these pages - are owned by Francis Barnard, a great grandson of Pollie Galsworthy (the Pollie to whom all these letters are addressed). The letters were transcribed by his sister, Jane Curtis.   <form> </form> <form> Comments or questions referring to the letters would be welcomed, please email to me, Francis Barnard: <o:p></o:p> My address is: <img border="0" width="530" height="70" id="_x0000_i1029" src="/web/20131110164155im_/http://www.barnardf.demon.co.uk/vlemail.jpg"> <div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"> <hr size="2" width="100%" align="center"> </div> Copyright 1997 Francis Barnard I am also attempting to research the family tree to identify Ada E LESLIE as well as both Pollie and William GALSWORTHY - I have no antecedents for either of them. The Rose Mary (Rosie) GALSWORTHY referred to married Percy Joseph C芐AR, and his tree goes back to Eli in 1770. Any help in tracing any of these lines would also be welcomed at the above email address. <div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"> <hr size="1" width="100%" align="center"> </div> </form> </div>  </body> </html>