| Description | This section contains letters written by Isabella Strutt's father, Archibald Douglas, her sisters, Susannah Cooper and Charlotte Fox, her brother, William Archibald Douglas, and her husband Joseph Strutt. It also includes a smaller number of letters written by other relations, Susannah Graham, Samuel Pett and Elizabeth Evans, and by family friends. The majority of these are concerned with family and social matters, particularly related to Isabella's health, that of her children and those of her sisters, but there are also several references to social activities in Derby, Blackpool and London, and leisure interests such as drawing and reading. The Edgeworths' Practical Education is mentioned in letters from more than one correspondent. Letters from Joseph Strutt form the largest sequence of correspondence in this section, and provide a view of their relationship both before and after their marriage. Correspondence written by William Archibald Douglas from Cape Coast Castle on the west coast of Africa is concerned with his business and financial affairs in Africa and his future career plans, and provides a source of information about life at the fort and the officers level of involvement in the slave trade. |