EARLY REMINISCENCES
1834–1864
CHAPTER I
1834–1836
On May 10, 1832, Edward Baring-Gould was married at S. Sidwell's, Exeter, to Sophia Charlotte, daughter of Admiral Francis Godolphin Bond, R.N.
When the carriage came to take the newly married pair away, it was seen that the horses harnessed to it were black, and had long tails, and were, in fact, those employed to draw hearses. The admiral was so indignant that he sent the carriage away and insisted on its being horsed with animals of a different colour. Not all the white favours on hat and whip of the driver could compensate for the funereal complexion of the horses.
I was born on January 28, 1834, in a corner house, still standing, in Dix's Fields, Exeter, and was baptized in S. Sidwell's Church.
My father took a house in Bratton Clovelly parish, that had been built and occupied by Sir Elijah Impey, Chief-Justice of Bengal, who died in 1809. He had left behind him an illegitimate son by a Bratton girl, who became my father's groom,[1] and called himself Wimpey.
My father had been a cavalry lieutenant in the East Indian Company's service—uniform blue and silver. He met with an accident: whilst driving a stout friend in his dog-cart, the vehicle was upset and the friend fell on him and dislocated his hip. He was not carefully treated, and was sent home invalided. He recovered, but always had a slight limp in one leg. At home, he
- ↑ Elijah Barwell Impey was author of a volume of poems published in 1811; one, "Daylesford," was inscribed to Warren Hastings.
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