Letter from Laura Riddell, Pallaveram near Madras, India, to her daughter Laura [in West Kensington, England]

Accommodation needs in England; her and her husband’s ill health; application for leave for the Shevaroy Hills; anxieties over return to England; pension entitlements; dressmaker in Madras; lack of friends; influenza epidemic; dislike of Mr Gladstone; George’s education and shabby appearance; Mr Brackenbury’s neglect; Henry’s application for Sandhurst if he should fail his Indian Civil Service examinations; the army as a poor and risky profession; Auntie; clothing

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