[Sir Courtenay Ilbert, Clerk of the House of Commons and Viceroy of India’s Council.] Autograph Letter Signed to his daughter Joyce, written from SS Cedric, White Star Line, describing the holiday.

Written while Clerk of the Commons. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Joyce Violet Ilbert (1890-1957) was the youngest of his five daughters. 8pp, 12mo. Two bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘My Dear Joyce’ and signed ‘Yr. loving father | C. P. I.’ Begins: ‘I wish for my sake that you were on board the Cedric - for I miss my [?]-valet-secretary very much. If you were here, you would be hoping that the voyage would never come to an end’. They have had ‘almost perpetual sunshine since we left New York’. ‘The ship is extremely comfortable. The food is good, & the company, though small, is varied. When I sat down to lunch the first day I found myself with a bishop on my right, and on my left a young lady who is going over to take the part of principal boy in the Birmingham pantomime. I was promoted to the captain’s table, with the bishp with me, but left the pantomime lady behind. The bishop is very good company, has been 17 years in China, mostly at Hangkow [sic]’. He continues with gossip of other passengers, beginning: ‘Opposite to me at my first luncheon table sat a man whose face & voice seemed strangely familiar to me, though I had never met him. He turned out to be the elder brother of C[?] Streatfield of the British Museum. He is married two or three months ago. Went with his bride - rather elderly - on a combined trip of business and pleasure to Canada & is now returning with her to England.’ More than half the letter remains, in much the same vein. Joyce would appear to be still in America (Boston?), since he writes: ‘Did you have any thing of the kind on Thanksgiving Day, or is that festival still in the future. I see - by [?] - that Harvard beat Yale hollow at football. Was it very exciting?’