Chapter 3

Thackeray to Charlotte Ritchie, on Isabella’s lack of improvement, 12 June 1844

After three years of trying various cures and sanatoriums to no avail, Thackeray began to search for a place where she could stay more permanently, rather than being reunited with him and their children. “I have been on the look out for some place for my poor little wife: and have succeeded I think in finding one at last. There is an old half pay Captain living at Twickenham with a large house, and a large kind family who consents to receive my wife…I don’t think she will be happier here than in Paris, but I shall be able to see her.” He brought her to England in 1845, where she ultimately remained in private care for the rest of her life.

MS Eng 881 (82). Gift of Herbert L. Carlebach, 1950.