Mary Richardson (1815–49)
In
1826, following the death by consumption of
Ruskinʼs cousin,
James Richardson, who had lived at
Herne Hill,
Margaret Ruskin declared a ban on
“bringing ourselves under such responsibility” by adopting relativesʼ children into the household
(
Margaret to John James Ruskin, 15 May 1826).
Nonetheless, one year later,
Margaret expressed “how great a relief” she felt owing to the arrangements for
Jamesʼs sister,
Mary to live
at
Herne Hill for at least some extended periods of time
(
John referring, e.g., to having “changed very much in my lessons for while
mary was with me I said them very ill every day”).
Perhaps
Margaret was led to this exception by
Maryʼs gender and personality, since in the same letter
she conveyed to
John James her satisfaction in having a female companion, a
Miss DePree, to stay with her “while you are away” on business travel,
“and it seems to be her real desire to make herself useful and spare me trouble” in such tasks as sewing and shopping.
Mary
may have been viewed in the same capacity
(
Margaret to John James Ruskin, 28 April 1827;
John to John James Ruskin, May 1827, in
Burd, ed., Ruskin Family Letters, 144, 156, 157, 157 n. 2).
Nonetheless, boundaries were maintained, as
Mary was kept at school,
Margaret reporting in
May 1827 having only “seen her twice”.
An even harder line was drawn separating
Herne Hill from the Richardsons of Croydon,
Margaret remarking that her sister,
Bridget Richardson, felt “much mortification that
Mary [i.e., apparently her daughter,
Mary Bridget Richardson]
is not to have her home with us” and “seems hurt that I should feel her child such a burden”.
(Had expectations for
Mary Bridget of
Croydon even been usurped by arrangements for
Mary of
Perth?)
Margaret confessed herself unequal to liberal demands on her affections, for “had I the love for hers [
Bridgetʼs children]
she has for mine it would have been very different”.
Bridgetʼs more capacious affections were “natural” given her “love for society”,
but
Margaret needed a more limited and, one suspects, socially stratified circle, and she concluded these remarks that she
“continue[d] to find
Miss DePree a most desirable companion”
(
Margaret to John James Ruskin, 8 May 1827, in
Burd, ed., Ruskin Family Letters, 162–63).
A year later, following the death of the
Perth Maryʼs mother,
Jessie Richardson, in
May 1828,
Maryʼs residence at
Herne Hill became permanent until her marriage.
Maryʼs permanent residence had begun by
January 1829, when
Margaret Ruskin refers to
Mary returning to school
(
Margaret to John James Ruskin, 21 January 1829).
Arrangements for
Maryʼs schooling appear in the earliest surviving household accounts kept by
John James, the ledger pages for
1827,
which record a total payment for the year of £62.11.10 to
Miss Williamson.
(
Account Book, 4v).
Van Akin Burd was unable to locate a school listing operated by a
Miss Williamson in directories, but quotes an
1830 letter by
Mary to a cousin,
describing a small school limited to twelve boarders and a few day scholars, “most of them . . . Scotch”. The tuition consisted
“Music, Drawing, and French;—and Geography, Dancing, Writing, and Arithmetic for two quarters”, and “latterly . . . Italian”
(
Burd, ed., Ruskin Family Letters, 164 n. 3).
In
May 1827, at the start of this tuition,
Margaret reported that
Mary “had not one bad mark for want of punctuallity and for all she is learning generally good ones”
(
Margaret to John James Ruskin, 8 May 1827, in
Burd, ed., Ruskin Family Letters, 162).
In
John Jamesʼs accounts, support of
Maryʼs schooling is easily confused with the same support for
Mary Bridget Richardson of
Croydon.
If the Ruskins refused to bring
Mary Bridget into the family,
John James did pay for her schooling, and she may have been
Maryʼs schoolmate
at
Miss Williamsonʼs. In the same
January 1829 in which
Margaret mentions
Maryʼs resumption of school, she comments that she shall also
“send”
Bridget “instantly to school”; and in
John Jamesʼs accounts for
1828, a yearʼs payments totaling £83.6.5 to
Miss Williamson
are listed under the heading
“Mary Richardson Croydon”, while for
November of thqt year a single payment of £19.6 is listed for
“Mary Schoolg” under the heading “
John,
Mary,
And[re]w, &
Will[ia]m Richardson [of
Perth]”. (Accounting for the discrepancy of less schooling for
Mary Richardson, she would have returned to
Perth that year in mourning for her mother.) For
1829,
John Jamesʼs accounts show a single entry
in
March of £38.7.1 for
Mary Bridget Richardsonʼs “June Schoolg”, and two entries (in
June and
December)
of £22.9.6 and £23.11.9 for
Mary Richardsonʼs “Schoolg”. The accounts for
1830 record nothing for
Mary Bridgetʼs education,
while
Miss Williamsonʼs name appears twice under the heading “
John,
Mary,
And[re]w, &
Will[ia]m Richardson [of
Perth]”. There the girlsʼ education apparently ended;
for in
1831, the Ruskins were abroad for much of the year, and nothing is listed for the girlsʼ schooling in
1832
(
Account Book, 9r, 13r, 13v, 18r).
More to come.