Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Marquess Wellesley to Frances Hodgson, 16 July 1840
Kingston House: July 16, 1840.
Sir,—My highly respected and warmly beloved friend,
your accomplished predecessor, conferred on me the distinguished honour of
desiring to place my bust in the library of Eton College. This request might
have been ascribed to an impulse of ![]()
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long (upwards of sixty years) private
friendship, but it was confirmed by the vote of the College. Under these
circumstances I should have deemed myself authorised to present my bust to the
College without any previous proceeding; but I was anxious to pay every mark of
respect and attention to you; and also, I confess, desirous that this high
honour should have the additional sanction of your justly established
reputation as an accomplished scholar, and as a bright example of virtue,
learning and religion. Accordingly, I sent my private secretary, Mr. Alfred Montgomery, to Eton to ascertain
your sentiments, and he has brought me a report so encouraging, and in every
way so grateful to all my feelings, that I have no hesitation now in sending
the bust to be deposited in the place of its honourable destination. No honour
is so valuable in my estimation, nor so deeply touches my heart, as a mark of
the esteem and affection of the beloved seat of my early education; which I
loved when a child, and in the prime of youth, and when under the discipline of
preceptors, who, towards me, discharged all the duties of loving parents; and
which I have ever since venerated as the source of all the honour by which my
public life has been distinguished.
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MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON.
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It is a great satisfaction to me to see the affairs of Eton
College entrusted to hands so well qualified to administer them, with that
benefit to the Empire which it has so long derived from this noble Institution;
the Parent of so many illustrious Statesmen and Heroes. My earnest hope and
prayer is that your labours in your high station may prove successful, and
that, with the able assistance which surrounds you, you may be enabled to
satisfy the public expectations formed upon the solid grounds of your long and
firmly established character.
I have the honour to be, with the highest respect and
esteem, sir,
Your faithful and obedient servant,
I return you many thanks for your kindness in granting a
holiday to the boys at my request.
W.
Alfred Montgomery (1814-1896)
A contemporary of Thackeray at Charterhouse, he became private secretary to the Marquess
of Wellesley in 1830. Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1945) was his grandson.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
