rendered the scene much too interesting for me to 
think with effect on any other subject. Our opponent 
finding honorable means were of no avail against the 
Man, who was really the choice of the County, stuck 
at nothing, however dishonorable, to attain his end. 
He has carried his Election, but by means which has 
made him detested by all the respectable part of the 
County. By bribery and corruption of every kind he 
raised a Mob against us, and the mischief he has done 
by the demoralization of the lower classes is most 
deplorable and will be dreadfully felt for years. My 
Brother’s life was preserved through the Election by 
means most honorable to him, most gratifying to all 
his family. — The Yeomen of the County . . . seeing 
from the highest to the 
lowest gave up all their own concerns for the whole 
time the Election lasted and at the risk of much 
personal danger, expence and inconvenience, kept up 
the urgency of the case, 
a spontaneous Guard of from four hundred to six 
hundred daily, and without whom my Brother could 
not move but at the risk of his life, so dreadfully had 
Mr. Wellesley poisoned the minds of the lower classes 
against the Man whose conduct they had all been eye 
witnesses for more than 20 years. A most striking 
proof how far Beer and falsehood will go with 
ignorant People. — Ours however is the Triumph, 
and I trust that a time will come when Mr Wellesley 
will find that the County of Wilts. is not to be carried 
a second time by bribery, falsehood and intimidation, 
nor would it now if we had been aware that such 
dishonourable means would have been used against 
us, but Mr Wellesley was deep in electioneering, it 
was my Brother’s first attempt, and as there had not 
been a contest in Wiltshire for 46 years, no one 
suspected such conduct therefore [and] could not 
guard against it." 
Occasionally village affairs were mentioned and 
on 22 May 1837 she was preoccupied with what was 
an important local matter: 
We have lost our poor old Vicar and the living being 
very small, the Property my Brothers, but he no ways 
interested in the Tithes as it is an endowed Vicarage; 
Ourselves having resided here thirty five years and 
being the only resident Gentleman’s family, we sent 
the strongest memorial which we could pen to the 
Lord Chancellor requesting him to present a 
Neighbouring Curate, who was eminently qualified 
for the situation. Under the circumstances which we 
detailed to his Lordship we thought it almost 
impossible that he could have rejected our Petition. 
He has done so however and has given it to the 
Archdeacon of Barbados, who has been twelve years 
MISS ETHELDRED BENETT (1775-1845): HER CORRESPONDENCE 29 
in the West Indies and is returning broken in health 
wanting a quiet cure and little to do when no place in 
the Kingdom requires an active Pastor more than 
this Village does at the present time; the Archdeacon 
is not yet arrived and in the mean time the place has 
only a young Curate who of course can do nothing 
more than the regular service of the Church and in 
this state the parish has been these three Months. We 
are told that the Archdeacon is a good man and he 
may be so, but of course he can know nothing of the 
concerns of a country Village in England and it is 
hard to have such an utter Stranger poked close to 
our Noses for the rest of our lives; his way into the 
Village is by our door and our gardens — join only the 
fence between them, when we have a Clergyman at 
hand who is known, beloved and respected by all the 
lower Classes as well as the higher wherever he has 
been. This business distresses us sadly, but the 
Chancellor has the power and has used it, in spite of 
our solicitations. 
August seems to have always been a particularly 
eventful month in the village, for the following year 
she provided some background to the rebuilding of 
the church. Presumably, since the family were 
involved they had reconciled their views on the new 
appointment. In a letter 10 August 1838 she had to 
apologise to Mantell for not despatching specimens 
as: 
My mind has been occupied, I may say entirely 
engrossed, by one subject the last three or four 
Months at the least; the pulling down and re- 
building of our Parish Church, a work in which there 
is always many difficulties to encounter; and as this 
Place has been our family residence for more than 
400 years, and the old Church contained the remains 
of our Ancestors for that period we know; and we 
mean to lie there ourselves, it is a work of more than 
common interest to us; Parish Committees are 
naturally for doing things at the least possible 
expence to themselves, while we as naturally wished 
it well done: our Property here is only a life interest 
in a huge old House to be kept in habitable repair, 
and about five Acres round it; but knowing our 
anxiety about it they would have let the Church fall 
on our heads, as it would very soon have done, if we 
had not bought every step we have gone in the 
business; and have driven it out so late that we laid 
the first stone only on the 31st July — but it is laid, 
and late as it is, we hope to cover in by the end of 
October. — We geologists know the value of good 
Materials and I decided on Tisbury Portland Stone, 
which has been a great difficulty, on account of 
