Record

D8760 - Gell family of Hopton Hall, Wirksworth - 1714-1994
- F - Family records of the extended Franklin family and the Gell family of Hopton Hall - 1714-1994
  - GPL - Records of Philip Lyttelton Gell, son of John Philip and Eleanor Isabella Gell nee Franklin, grandson of Sir John Franklin - 1873-1922
    - 1 - Correspondence of Philip Lyttelton Gell - 1873
      - 4 - Correspondence of Philip Lyttelton Gell from his brother Henry Willingham Gell - 1873

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Archive Reference / Library Class No.	D8760/F/GPL/1/4/1
Former Reference	D3311/127/3
Title	Letter from Henry Willingham Gell to his brother Philip Lyttelton Gell, on being made to write a letter to "The Times" by Lady Franklin
Date	28 Oct 1873
Description	Relating to Captain M'Clure being named as the discoverer of the North West Passage instead of Sir John Franklin
Extent	1 item
Level	Item
Repository	Derbyshire Record Office
Sender	Henry Willingham Gell
Sender Location	No address
Recipient	Philip Lyttelton Gell
Recipient Location	No address
Archive Creator	Philip Lyttelton Gell (1852-1926)
Archive Creator	Gell family of Hopton Hall, Wirksworth
Term	Franklin Expedition (1845)
Transcript or Index	28 Oct 1873 My dear Philip I have been most frightfully and horridly sold. The following are the circumstances. Grandmamma came here on Saturday in a very bad way. For it turned out that Sir Robert McClure is just dead, & that Sherard Osborn thereupon wrote to the Times an account of his life saying that he was the discoverer of the N.W. Passage & the Times further took up this view in its account of him. At this Grandmamma was greatly indignant, & on Sunday she told me the whole story, weeping away like any fountain, telling me that I ought to write & that you ought to write & everybody else ought to write to the Times to correct them. I of course modestly declined, & told her I thought it would be no good, & that if she wrote herself it would be as much as the times would do to put that in. However, when I came home on Monday, I was immediately presented with a piece of paper on which she had composed a letter that I was to write. I had nothing for it but to write the letter, satisfying myself that the Times would never think of putting it in. My letter & hers were taken off by Lawrence the same evening to the Office, & I thought no more about it. What was my disgust, when on opening the Times when I came home this afternoon the first thing I saw was my name in large print. I never seemed such a fool in my life before, & even now I can’t get over it. I don’t know what the Father will say. I spex he’ll laugh. Just a few. Grandmamma wants me to send you the inclosed for what reason I don’t know. I suppose because it was a speech made at Oxford. I send you a list of the books. With best love from your affectionate brother Henry W. Gell I shan’t give way to people’s whims so easily another time