\"English Historian\" Edward Freeman Hand Written 3 Page Letter For Sale

Up for sale a VERY RARE! "English Historian" Edward Freeman Hand Written 3 Page Letter Dated 1884. 

August 1823 – 16 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural

artist, and Liberal politician

during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for

Parliament. He held the position of Regius

Professor of Modern History at Oxford, where he tutored Arthur Evans; later he and Evans would be activists in

the Balkan uprising of Bosnia and the Ottoman Empire. After the

marriage of his daughter Margaret to Evans, he and Evans collaborated on the

fourth volume of his History of Sicily. He was a prolific writer,

publishing 239 distinct works. One of his best known is his magnum opus, The History

of the Norman Conquest of England (published in 6 volumes,

1867–1879). Both he and Margaret died before Evans purchased the land from

which he would excavate the Palace of Knossos. Freeman was born at Metchley Abbey in Harborne, Warwickshire (now a suburb of Birmingham).[3] His parents, John Freeman and Mary Ann

(Carless), used the Latin name of the month in which he was born as his middle

name. They were a family of modest means; however, the paternal grandfather, Joseph

Freeman (about 1768–1822), had been a wealthy man, and the owner of

Pedmore Hall. On his death, his will was disputed, and lawyers' fees consumed

the bulk of the estate. Edward's father, the oldest son, and his two paternal

uncles, Keelinge and Joseph, received little to sustain them. Edward's mother,

Mary Anne, née Carless (or Carlos), had noble ancestry, descending through her

father, William, then residing near Birmingham, from the same Colonel William

Carless who had assisted the future Charles II as he hid

from his enemies in the branches of the Royal Oak after the Battle of Worcester, 1651,

the last of the English Civil War. Mary

Anne's family still displayed the coat-of-arms given to them. The family was

never in good health. They delayed baptising Edward for a year, hoping to avoid

public exposure to contagious diseases. The family was struck by tragedy in

November 1824, when the father died of unknown disease, the mother died four

days later of tuberculosis, and the oldest daughter, Mary Anne, then age 14,

died of unknown disease the same day, 25 November. Edward's paternal

grandmother, Emmete Freeman, immediately took charge of the three survivors,

Edward and his two sisters, Sarah and Emma, aged 13 and 10 respectively,

bringing them to her home at Weston-super-Mare. Emma died in 1826 when Edward was three

years old. Freeman was educated at private schools and by a private tutor. Even

as a boy, he was interested in religious matters, history and foreign politics.

He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford,

and a second class in the degree examination, and was elected fellow of his

college (1845). While at Oxford he was much influenced by the High Church movement, and thought seriously of taking

orders, but abandoned the idea. He married Eleanor Gutch (1818–1903) daughter

of his former tutor, the Reverend Robert Gutch,[6] on 13 April 1847 at Seagrave, Leicestershire, and entered on a life of study. From

1886 Freeman was forced by ill health to spend much of his time abroad. In

February 1892 he visited Spain in company with his wife and two younger

daughters. He fell ill at Valencia on 7 March, but on the 9th

went on to Alicante, where his illness proved to

be smallpox. He died at Alicante on 16 March, and was buried in

the Protestant cemetery there (now referred to as the "British

cemetery" section of the Cementerio de Alicante). He left two sons and

four daughters. The Latin inscription on his gravestone was written by his

son-in-law, Sir Arthur Evans.