| Description | Fifty-six letters from John Bult the elder
to
his wife Hannah
(a) when he was in London (either at his house in Brook Green, or at 1 Buckingham Place, Fitzroy Square, or at 29 Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square, where he carried on trade as a butcher in partnership with his brother-in-law William Way), and she was staying at Brighton, Tarn in Kingston near Taunton, Maidenhead, Clifton, Great Malvern, Cheltenham, Margate, Tunbridge Wells and elsewhere
(b) when he was at some of these places alone or with his sons John and Samuel, and daughter Hannah
John Bult was born in 1763 and died about 1824. He was a Baptist, and a dedicated and serious Christian; much of his letters are occupied with spiritual reflection, and with the spiritual direction of the lives of his children. He worshipped at the Baptist Chapel in Keppel Street, when in London. His religious scruples may have contributed to the closeness of his social circle.
There are occasional references to matters which are of historical and social interest, e.g. 26 July 1803 he wrote that many houses and lodgings were empty because of "... arming and defence against the common enemy, camps are forming daily, and some of the fields adjoining covered with them". On August 1st he wrote that if he were drawn for the army of reserve he would return to London at once, but he thought there was no likelihood of that class being called yet, so that he intended to remain in Brighton as the bathing was doing him good. On July 10 1802 he mentioned that the coach fare from London to Bath cost seventeen shillings inside and twelve shillings outside. In September 1819 the coach took six hours to travel from Cheltenham to Bristol, and another hour to Clifton.
On the rare occasions that he refers to his business it is not in optimistic terms |