DASHWOOD

Inside is a letter in a quite different hand to Mrs Norman, signed H. Crewe, offering his best regards to your Daughter, dated 5th July, Loakes Hill, High Wycombe. It has been estimated that, in the 1830s, three quarters of all letters went free, 'franked' by a member of parliament or a peer, whether for their own use or as a kindness to a friend. The seal bears 'HC' and must be Crewe's not Dashwood's.Unlike his father, a Tory who resisted the Reform Bill, George was a progressive Whig and Liberal, making their relationship somewhat cool.