Bridport Dorset

April 22d / 67

I cannot tell you my dear friend how welcome was your last long expected letter. I thank you for it most sincerely especially as you took the trouble to write it at such a time. Oh, how thankful I am to hear that you are at last beginning to see the fruits of your long labors that your dear people are getting their rights God grant that you may soon rest from these labors altogether. I fear that your health will suffer if you do not give up lecturing

for a time at least I do wish you would come over this summer There is to be a Anti Slavery Congress in Paris on the 27 of August— How delightful it would be if you could come as a delegate from the States. You see that I am staying with our dear kind friends M^r & M^rs CarpenterCarpenter, Mary Browne

Mary Browne Carpenter (c. 1824–98) was the wife of the prominent Unitarian minister Russell Lant Carpenter (1819–92). They were married in Bridgwater, Somersetshire, in 1853. She was one of four daughters born to William Browne, a wealthy Unitarian merchant, and his wife, Mary. William Browne served as mayor of Bridgwater in 1854. In addition to her support of the antislavery effort, Mary Browne Carpenter was also deeply involved in the woman suffrage movement, belonging to one of the more radical suffrage societies in Bridport. She also supported the animal rights and temperance movements. 1841 England Census, Gloucestershire, Bristol, 22; “England and Wales, Christening Records, 1530–1906,” FamilySearch.org; “England and Wales, Death Index, 1837–1915,” FamilySearch.org; “England and Wales, Marriage Index, 1837–1915,” FamilySearch. org; “England and Wales, Non-Conformist Records Indexes, 1588–1977,” FamilySearch.org; Elizabeth Crawford, The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey (New York, 2006), 161, 169.She has not been identified by name. for a few days. I am here. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to my Spirits. I have passed through such deep trials during this Winter having lost my beloved brother and father that I was getting quite melancholy, and its these dear good people kindly invited me to come to them—as Bridport is near Bournemouth—I was able to accept their kind invitation—They do everything they can to make me happy. I need not say that you are very very often the subject of our conversation. It is so sweet to speak of one whom we respect and love so much. They so hope that you will come over this summer if you do not I fear many years may elapse before you do come. I have a kind of presentment that if you do not visit Europe this year I shall never see you again.

Miss CarpenterCarpenter, Mary

Mary Carpenter (1807-77) was the daughter of British reformer and Unitarian minister Lant Carpenter, and with her brother Philip Lant Carpenter, was a social justice activist. She began operating a girls' school in Bristol in 1829 with the help of her mother, Anna Penn Carpenter. Finding the care of poor children her life's calling, in 1835 Mary formed the Working and Visiting Society and in 1852 opened her own reformatory for boys. In the 1850s and 1860s she lobbied for industrial schooling in Britain and opened two schools of her own. In her later years she traveled widely and lectured in Britain and India on education and penal reform. She was inspired to visit India as a result of her father’s friendship with Rammohun Roy, a Bengalese teacher and religious educator who established the Brahmo Samaj, a brotherhood made up of Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Roy visited Mary’s father, Lant Carpenter, at the Lewis Mead Unitarian Church in Bristol, but died shortly afterward from meningitis in 1833. Mary visited India four times, where she established a school for Hindu girls and became active in social reform. Jo Manton, Mary Carpenter and the Children of the Streets (London, 1976), 18-30; Jennifer S. Uglow, ed., The International Dictionary of Womens Biography (New York, 1982), 94; Mary Carpenter, Six Months in India (London, 1868).ACAB, 1:531-32; DNB, 3:1068-70, 1071-72; DAB, 1:561. is back from India—As M^rs C. is writing to you by my side—She no doubt tells you all about her. She seems more interested than ever in that country since her visit—And I think she intends going there again—by and bye—I made an extract of your last letter for M^rs Carpenter and M^rs RawsonRawson, Mary Anne

All were so glad to have tidings of you—I shall write to dear Rosetta soon—I wish so much to hear all about her and her new baby—Is it a boy or a girl? I will write again soon. God bless you—My dear Friend—Yours ever, very affectionately

Rosine A. Draz—