Arthur Bell Nicholls, photographed on his honeymoon
in Ireland. 1854.
Arthur took his bride home to Ireland for their honeymoon, and a great surprise awaited her when she met his delightful family and saw Cuba House for the first time.10 She must suddenly have realised that she had married a real 'gentleman' in every sense of the word. On all sides she heard great reports of him. One of the servants told her she had got 'one of the best gentlemen in the country'. In her letters home she wrote, 'I was very much pleased with all I saw, but I was also greatly surprised to find so much English order and repose in the family habits and arrangements. I had heard a great deal about Irish negligence.' Describing Mrs. Bell, Arthur's aunt... 'with her English manners — like an English or Scottish matron, quiet, kind and well bred', Charlotte began to revise her former opinion of her husband and his family.
If one enlarges this photo, Arthur is better looking and even more kindly looking than the smaller copy would lead one to believe. The frowning look is caused by one of his eyes. What no one mentions is ; something was wrong with one of Arthur's eyes.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIt can't be seen in his most famous photo, ( which I believe was taken when he became a priest, years before the honeymoon)...but from the honeymoon photos on, one of his eyes is more closed than the other and this condition gets more pronounced with age . By his 1861 photo the eye is near closed altogether . Was there an accident? Lord knows.