This website, created by
Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K."MY FATHER'S LAST LETTER"
Copyright Valerie Martin 2000
I have found that in 1886 Edwin Douglas and his wife, Christiana, decided to let Lawbrook House in Surrey and move to the Sussex seaside town of Worthing on the south coast for Christiana's health. Here they had Christiana's eldest sister's house placed at their disposal. Edwin was by now 38 years old when they moved early in Jubilee Year with their children —
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Clare Henry |
born 11th June 1875 |
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William Bruce |
born 14th June 1876 |
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Guendolen Blanche |
born 15th October 1877 |
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Charles Preston |
born 15th March 1879 |
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Violet Constance |
born 22nd November 1880 |
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James Sholto |
born 9th November 1882 |
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Marguerite Laura (Margot) |
born 5th January 1885 |
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Edwin Ronald |
born 13th March 1886 |
Their last child, Cedric Christian, was born two years later on 20th November 1888.
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Edwin Douglas' painting of his son, William Bruce in 1879. This is entitled "A Moral Lesson" — "The dog, to gain some private ends, Went mad, and bit the man; The man recovered from the bite, The dog it was that died" — Goldsmith. |
Unfortunately, they had not been long in Worthing before two serious illnesses occurred in the family, firstly to Edwin and then their eldest daughter, Guendolen. Both of the troubles they put down to defective house drainage and as soon as their recovery made it possible, the Douglas family moved hurriedly into another house.
In 1887 when James Douglas the portrait painter was 77 years old he sat down on Thursday 8th December and wrote to his son, Edwin, in Worthing. From the letter it can be detected that both men could not keep off the subject of art for very long.
Neither of them knew at the time but it was to be James Douglas' last letter to his son —
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16 Amberly Grove Croydon 8th December 1887 My dear Edwin I was so glad to get your letter telling us you are now getting back your strength, be on your guard against cold wind, wear plenty of flannel. You have been very clever painting the dog so soon. I wish you could get plenty to do at the same price and strength to do it, it is a price not to be despised these bad times. It is so nice to know the children are getting on so well and enjoying their house at Worthing. I am still troubled with the cough, I don't think it will ever leave me now. What do you think of painting a picture of the rat catcher returning from his days work with all his dogs at his feet and a bag on his back with the ferret. I have tried a black and white of it, it would be strong in effect. Write soon Your affectionate Father James Douglas Grand Ma sends her kind love to you all. |
Edwin cherished this letter and wrote on the top "My father's last letter" —
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James Douglas, so well known to Scottish artists, died at his home in Croydon in 1888 after a comparatively short illness at the ripe old age of 78. He had been a native of Kilmarnock and commenced his career as a portrait painter in Edinburgh, although the family originally came from Roxburghshire, that stronghold in ancient times of the Douglas Clan. Later he had come to live in Surrey with Edwin, where he had continued with his painting until the end.
Continue if you would like to read about Guendolen Blanche Douglas' story — In Her Father's Footsteps.
Back to Edwin
James Douglas Index
This is Findon — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
