| Description | This substantial section of correspondence can be divided into two main groups, the first consisting of letters from members of the Galton family, and the second consisting of letters from others, including relatives, friends, social acquaintances and business contacts. Most of the correspondence in this section, from both family and other correspondents, dates from John Howard Galton's youth and early years of marriage, with the largest volume being written to him while he was being educated by Mr Rogers at Oxford, and by Professor Mylne at Glagow, and while he was on tour in Europe before his marriage in 1819. The largest sequences of family letters were sent by his mother, Lucy Galton, his father, Samuel Galton jnr, and his siblings, Samuel Tertius Galton, Sophia Galton, Adele Galton and Hubert Galton. These letters, and those from Lucy Ann Patterson, the family's employee and companion, should be seen, to some extent, as forming part of a group, since they contain much overlapping information about family life at Dudson, and, taken together, can be used to build up a picture of social networks and daily activities of the Galton family as a whole during this period. Letters from other family members are also represented in this section, including his siblings Theodore Galton and Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck (nee Galton) and Violetta Galton (nee Darwin), his sister-in-law. Significant correspondents in the other main group of letters include members of the Barclay and Gurney families, related to John Howard Galton through his mother, friends from school and from his travels in Europe and members of prominent Roman Catholic families introduced to the Galtons through Mr Potts of Oscott college. The chief correspondents in this group are members of the Throckmorton family. All these letters are primarily concerned with personal and social affairs. Important information about John Howard Galton's financial and administrative affairs at his home at Hadzor can be found in the sequence of letters from his employees, Kenneth Lowe and Hannah White, who provide detailed accounts of the management of the estate in their master's absence in Europe between 1831 and 1833. |