Deirdre Marculescu
After their wedding at Dagenham Church in May 1844, Helen Fanshawe of Parsloes and Edward Hanson Denison embarked on a European wedding tour lasting eight months. Helen was young but confident that as a seasoned traveller Edward would guide her to Europe’s oldest cities with their historic treasures. Lodged at the best hotels, they discovered mutual interests and with his library of travel guides, Edward often adapted their route. After the Low Countries, with landscapes viewed from the comfort of well-sprung carriages or new rail tracks, they explored Germany’s Rhineland to reach Switzerland. They crossed the Alps by carriage and relaxed by the Italian lakes and then discovered ancient southern cities bathed with autumn sun and Sorrento, Naples and Pompeii, under magical night skies. As they returned via Marseilles and Paris, Helen anticipating the start of her family sent no further letters for her mother’s collections and became too often overlooked in Fanshawe history. Now, her ’conversational letters’ have reveal much about the Parsloes family and here fully transcribed and researched they leave vivid images of their adventure, their families, friends and influential people in the Fanshawe/Denison circle.Included in the publication are full biographical notes with a scrapbook of traveller’s comments.
