Autograph Letter Signed ('T. W. Holderness') from Sir Thomas William Holderness to Sir Henry Marshman Havelock-Allan, regarding his appointment as Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, and his predecessor 'poor Ritchie' [Sir Richmond Ritchie]
Author:
Sir Thomas William Holderness (1849-1924), member of the Indian Civil Service and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India [Sir Henry Marshman Havelock-Allan (1830-1897); Sir Richmond Ritchie]
Publication details:
On letterhead of the India Office, Whitehall. 24 October [1912].
£65.00
SKU: 12582
1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Tipped in onto a leaf removed from an album. Holderness's predecessor Sir Richmond Ritchie (1854-1912) had died ten days before the writing of the letter, as a result, according to the Oxford DNB, of the undermining of his health by 'unremitting hard work [...] over several years'. Holderness begins the letter: 'It is very good of you to congratulate me on succeeding to poor Ritchie's responsibilities. I wish from the bottom of my heart that the circumstance had not arisen.' His shadow haunts the room.' He concludes with an invitation to Havelock-Allan to visit him 'whenever the spirit moves you'.