The Henson Journals

[36]

Tuesday, August 28th, 1928.

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Lord Joicey. I am losing £10,000 a week: if it were otherwise, I would gladly do more.

The Bishop. Yes, indeed, my Lord, the present state of the coal industry & the heavy burden of the rates & taxes provide any rich man, who seeks one, with a strong plea for refusing to help: but, after all, there were better times in the past, & much money was made in Durham, then.

Lord J. True: that was certainly so.

The Bishop. And, my Lord, have you thought of this? From time to time our magnates pass away, & in due course their fortunes are disclosed: & sometimes these run into six or even seven figures. Why should they not leave £100,000 less, & save Durham Castle?

Lord J. There is something in that. Well, I will think it over, &, perhaps, write you a letter. Anyway, I will send you something more.

The Bishop. I am much bound to your Lordship. You are a Durham man: & we look on you as one of our best employers. We know you to be generous. There is no man living who could more naturally or fittingly do this great public service of saving the Castle from ruin.

[37]

We left the house about 10.30 a.m., and motored to Selkirk where we lunched with Ella's friends the Misses Ballard, 4 anaemic ladies declining into middle life. A brother who had been gas–poisoned in the war & looked it, together with his wife and a small boy formed the rest of the company. On the way we stopped to look at Dryburgh, which, since the burial of Lord Haig, has become a popular resort of tourists. The ruins are under the control of the Board of Works, and are excellently cared for. After lunch, Fearne & one of the Anaemic Sybils motored with me to S. Mary's Loch. The weather was unpleasant but the views were magnificent. Then we had tea with Miss Lang, and afterwards returned home, by way of Melrose Abbey. Here also the Board of Works has been advantageously active. Altogether we motored 144 miles.

Broadmeadows where I stayed with old Mrs Lang shortly after my marriage has been transformed into a Hotel. The old lady's grandson sold the property for a very inadequate sum, & is now somewhere in Canada.

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