CHAPTER III 



REMINISCENCES OF SEDBURY BY MISS DIANA LATHAM x 



MY cousin Eleanor Anne Ormerod was the youngest of a 

 family of ten seven brothers and three sisters all clever, 

 energetic creatures, and gifted with a strong sense of 

 humour. A large family always creates a peculiar atmo- 

 sphere for itself ; it also breaks up into detachments of elder 

 and younger growth, and the elder members are beginning 

 to take places in the world before the younger are out of the 

 schoolroom. Eleanor's eldest brother was a Church 

 dignitary while she was still a child, teased and petted by 

 her young medical student brothers, and the darling of her 

 elder sister Georgiana. The father and mother of this 

 numerous flock were both remarkable people. Mr. 

 Ormerod, historian and antiquary, always occupied with 

 literary or topographical research, was an autocrat in his 

 own family and intolerant of any shortcomings or failings 

 that came under his notice. He could, however, on occa- 

 sion, relax and tell humorous stories to children. The 

 family discipline was strict ; the younger members were 

 expected to yield obedience to the elders, and it was said 

 that the spaniel Guy (he came from Warwick), who ranked 

 as one of the children, always obeyed the eldest of the family 

 present. My aunt had a large share of the milk of human 

 kindness added to much practical common sense and a 

 touch of artistic genius in her composition ; it was from 

 her that her daughters inherited their eye for colour and 

 dexterity of touch. Mr. Ormerod was a neat draughtsman 

 of architectural subjects, but my aunt had taste and skill 

 and a delight in her own branch of art flower painting 

 that lasted all her life. 



Sedbury Park (plate I.) was a beautiful home ; the house, 

 a handsome family mansion with comfortable old-fashioned 



1 The daughter of Mr. Henry Latham, resident in Italy. 

 14 



