"'Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Graham, V.C, G.C.B., etc., 1831-1899.
»" Right Hon. Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, G.C.B., etc., 1830- 1908. High Commissioner in Egypt 1886-87.
^* Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria, 1844- 1900.
*• Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria, b. 1850.
SOME ACCOUNT OF MARY AND CHARLOTTE STEPHENSON (i 771-1850; 1 772-1 853), SISTERS OF SIR BENJAMIN STEPHENSON, WRITTEN BY THEIR NIECE, CHARLOTTE AUGUSTA STEPHENSON
My father's sisters, when I first remember them, were two old ladies most peculiar in their dress and appearance.
Aunt Mary, the eldest, had been pretty in her youth, but that was long past in my time, leaving nothing beyond a pair of bright eyes, which twinkled like those of a small bird, and had almost as much expression in them. Her hair, which had been dark, was represented by a tow wig, whilst her complexion resembled the bloom that you see on a pippin.
Aunt Charlotte was of a rather different type. She never could have had any pretension to good looks, though her figure was better than her sister's, and the expression of her face was bright and clever. The dress of both was peculiar, following no fashion, and seldom composed of new material. They always appeared to be quite satisfied with their attire, and would comment freely upon the dress of other people when it did not suit their ideas.
Their home was in Kensington Palace, where my grandfather (Joseph Stephenson) had apartments, and at his death my aunts succeeded to them and lived in them till they died. I do not believe that either of them were fifty miles away during the whole of their long lives. I have heard Aunt Mary say that she had never seen the sea. She was perfectly satisfied to be without this knowledge, and the education for women in those days was so narrow that unless a girl was naturally clever, or had a thirst for knowledge, there was nothing; to prevent her from growing up to be a narrow-minded, ignorant woman. If you read the memoirs and biographies of the latter end of the eighteenth century, or the beginning of the nineteenth century, you see proofs of the extraordinary ignorance of the women of that period. There were some bright exceptions, such as Miss Burney, Mrs. Delaney, and others who are mentioned in those charming memoirs; but, on the other hand, Horace Walpole gives you many instances in the opposite direction of those ladies who lived in good society and whose ignorance would disgrace the smallest scholar in a National School. He tells you that Lady G., in conversation with Lady T., mentions the Saxons. " The Saxons, my dear? " said the other; " who were they? " " Lord! Madam, did you never read the History of England? " "No, my dear; who wrote it? "