Margaret Oliphant with sons and nephew

1874

Windsor

Source: Oliphant, facing p. 246

Oliphant stands top left, her elder son Cecco (Francis) lounging next to her, her younger son Tiddy (Cyril) seated below her. Lower right is her nephew Frank. [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text for links.]

Image acquisition and text by Jacqueline Banerjee

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On 22 September 1874, Margaret Oliphant wrote to her good friend Isabella Blackwood, daughter of the publisher William Blackwood:

Tids has attained the dignity of sixth form, and thinks no small-beer of himself, and Cecco is already an old and experienced Etonian. I am sure you will be pleased to know also that my nephew Frank has done admirably, gained himself a scholarship at his college, and quite justified me in my expenditure for him, which is a great comfort. [245]

How sad, after all her labours and "expenditure," that she should see her two boys die in their thirties, and come to feel that she had lost her purpose in life.

Related Material

• Mrs Oliphant and her sons' graves at Eton Cemetery

Source

Oliphant, Margaret. The Autobiography and Letters of M. O. W. Oliphant. Ed. Mrs Harry Coghill. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1899. Internet Archive. Contributed by Harvard University. Web. 1 September 2015.

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Last modified 8 January 2017