Maria Grace Saffery, Bratton, to William Carey Saffery, Peckham, [Monday], 12 March 1838.

Bratton March 12th 1838

My very dear Son

   Early this Morning, your Sister Jane, presented to the world of human beings, an Infant Stranger to this little household, a new tie of the tenderest earthly interest; and to all her beloved kindreds a fresh claim on their devout thanksgiving and their fervent prayers – among these, need I say that you, and your Eliza, are affectionately numbered – this dear first born is a daughter – She opened her Eyes before the dawn to day, upon those of us, who were anxiously awaiting her arrival; after a season of somewhat protracted solicitude on our part; and of suffering on that of the dear Mother; but all is now mercifully well, and the sorrows of the night are only remembered in contrasts with the joy of the morning.

   Joshua is asking for my letter and the Messenger must not be detained.  This brevity ill accords with the fullness of my present emotion for I can only bid you rely on the constancy of a Mother’s love –

   Yours with many a prayer – for your personal and relative blessedness

                     Maria Grace Saffery

All love to dear Miss Mason, with these tidings

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 433 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, II.A.3.(b.), Angus Library.   Address:  Mr W C Saffery | 16 South Grove | Peckham | Surry.   Postmark: 13 March 1838. Reference above is to the birth of Anna Jane Whitaker, first child of Jane and Joshua Whitaker of Bratton, on 12 March 1838. Maria Grace Saffery has been living with them since 1835. William Carey Saffery was married to Selina Eliza Pitt.  pparently, as the postscript to this letter reveals, Miss Mason, Saffery’s former school assistant, was visiting in their home in Peckham.