Correspondence 1891 , 16 Jul 1891

The Russell of Swallowfield Archives consists of documents and correspondence regarding the personal and financial affairs relating to the marriage trust of Fanny Russell Hole, eldest daughter of the Rev. Whitworth Russell. The papers include material dating from 1848, when Fanny Russell married the Rev. William Brassey Hole, Vicar of Bray (?-1887) to the early 1890's, when assets from her marriage trust were being transferred to their children. The collection comprises .5 linear feet of material, and is organized chronologically in one box with a total of twenty-two folders.

The Russell of Swallowfield Archives consist mostly of family correspondence addressed to solicitor Henshaw Russell. There are letters from Rev. Hole, Fanny Hole, Fanny Russell and Sir Charles Russell, who was a member of the marriage trust of Fanny and William Brassey Hole. Also, there are letters from the other three trustees of the Russell-Hole marriage settlement: Fanny's uncles George Lake Russell and Dawson Greene; Rev. Hole's brother Nathaniel J.B. Hole, and George Henry Kempe. In addition, there are several letters from the children of Rev. William Brassey Hole and Fanny Hole, especially from their son-in-law Greville Horsely Palmer, who had married Mary Frances Hole, and whose marriage settlement agreement is also discussed in the correspondence.

This collection is an important supplement to the Russell of Swallowfield archives at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It is of interest to biographers of any of its noted correspondents, as well as historians of Victorian life and society. Indeed, The Russell of Swallowfield Archives contain a wealth of information about Victorian marriage legalities, Victorian religious practices and nineteenth century British economics.