Philip Whitaker, Bratton, to John Saffery, Portsmouth, [Monday], 23 September 1799.

Bratton Septr 23. 1799

  Yr kind & long Letter we recd – and were glad very so to hear of yr Welfare and tho’ the Honey Moon is ended that it still seems such a sweet Time with you I suppose you are anxious to hear how my dear Anne’s bilious Symtoms have terminated thro’ Mercy I can say the slight Symtoms [sic] last Week felt have almost vanished, slight as they were I insisted on Mr Seagrim’s knowing it he ordered an Emetic but thinks it was partly nervous & bilious some Medicine taken since seems to have the desired Effect and my dearest Creature seems void of uneasy Apprehensions now, altho’ last week she began to forbade a little, the weather prevented her going out yesterday till the Evening from which she found no ill Effect, we begin to plan the Outlines of a Visit to Sarum and if God permit my Wife hopes to spend the first Sabbath in next Month with you, to come either the Friday or Saturday preceeding  we talk of going to Bradford first to try how Alfred likes travelling it is at present gloomy weather to get abroad and more so for the Harvest at home but I hope it makes me more than ever prize the sunshine enjoy’d within doors.  May God help us to seek his Presence & Blessing continually to sweeten & sanctify all Creature Comforts and bear us up in public or family Distresses if they are our lot.  Oh, for a calm a thankful Heart &c

   My dear Anne is going to add something on the other side and I must only further say I am with sincere

         Affection yrs P Whitaker

Attached to the letter above is a letter from Anne Whitaker to Maria Grace Saffery, of the same date.

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 6, p. 169 (annotated version); Saffery/Whitaker Papers, acc. 142, I.A.(8.), Angus Library. Address: Revd John Saffery | Exeter Street | Sarum. No postmark.  Anne Whitaker has recently given birth to a son, Alfred, and is not yet recovered.  Dr. Seagrim was a Bratton doctor who appears in many letters of the Whitakers and Safferys, as well as in Jane Attwater Blatch’s diary. Anne has recently given birth to a son, Alfred, and had not yet recovered.

No more references to Exeter Street in Salisbury appear in the letters between Anne and Maria Grace, which would suggest that after their marriage the Safferys moved into a larger house in Castle Street, from which Maria Grace operated her academy for more than thirty years. Upon her retirement in 1835 and removal to Bratton, the house was sold. An advertisement for the sale of the house appeared on page one of the Hampshire Advertiser & Salisbury Guardian Royal Yacht Club Gazette on Saturday 2 May 1835, providing remarkable details about the house and the layout of the school (it is probable that the auctioneer, a ‘Mr J. Andrews’, is a relation of Maria Grace, though not her father, who was most likely deceased by that date):

Eligible Freehold and Leasehold Property, Castle Street, Salisbury.

To be sold by auction, by Mr. J. Andrews.  At the Three Swans Inn, Salisbury, on Monday, the 4th day of May, 1835, at 3 o’clock in the Afternoon, in two Lots, the Spacious Freehold dwelling house & premises, in the occupation of Mrs. Saffery: and certain Leasehold premises adjoining, in the occupation of Mr. Meatyard. 

Lot 1 comprises all that Spacious and Substantial Freehold Residence, situate in Castle Street, near the Market, Salisbury, in which Mrs. Saffery has for some years conducted a highly respectable establishment for young Ladies; containing Four good Sitting Rooms, Kitchen, a Scullery with pump, and a suite of well arranged Domestic Offices on the ground floor; Dining Room 21 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft., Drawing Room 30 ft. by 16 ft., and Six Bed Rooms on the second floor; and Five Attics; together with a Garden or Pleasure Ground 97 ft. long by 38 ft. wide, tastefully decorated with Shrubs, and bounded by the River Avon. 

This property is nearly 200 ft. deep, and from its locality, capacity, and convenient arrangement, will be found well worthy the attention of professional gentlemen or persons in trade. It offers facilities for alteration to suit almost any Business, and is equally adapted for a genteel Private residence. Possession will be given on completion of the purchase.