ELEANOR ANNE ORMEROD, LL.D. _Frontispiece_
II. GEORGE ORMEROD, ESQ., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A. 8
III. FAMILY GROUP—GEORGE ORMEROD AS A CHILD, AND HIS 10 MOTHER, UNCLE, AND GRANDMOTHER
IV. JOHN LATHAM, ESQ., M.D., F.R.S., PHYSICIAN 12
V. RUINS OF TINTERN ABBEY, MONMOUTHSHIRE 16
VI. NORMAN WORK FROM CHEPSTOW PARISH CHURCH 18
VII. LEADEN FONT IN TIDENHAM CHURCH, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, 20 _AND_ CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, TIDENHAM
VIII. NORMAN CHAPEL, LLANCAUT, WYE CLIFFS 22
X. RUINED ANCHORITE’S CHAPEL OF ST. TECLA, _AND_ 34 SEVERN CLIFFS, SEDBURY PARK
XI. ROMAN POTTERY, FOUND IN SEDBURY PARK, _AND_ 40 SAURIAN FROM LIAS, SEDBURY CLIFFS
XII. ROYAL MAIL, OLD GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON 42
XIII. OLD CHEPSTOW BRIDGE, WITH POST-CHAISE CROSSING 45 IT
XIV. A WEST OF ENGLAND ROYAL MAIL, _en route_ 46
XV. MAP OF DISTRICT OF THE CHARTIST RISING IN 50 MONMOUTH
XVII. CHEPSTOW WITH THE BRIDGE OVER THE WYE AND 54 CHEPSTOW CASTLE ON THE RIVER BANK
XVIII. ANTIQUE CARVED CHEST, AN HEIRLOOM 58
XIX. TORRINGTON HOUSE, ST. ALBANS, HERTS. 74
XX. MISS ORMEROD’S METEOROLOGICAL STATION 80
XXI. HEDGEHOG OAK, SEDBURY PARK, _AND_ AP ADAM OAK, 92 SEDBURY PARK
XXII. MISS ORMEROD’S MEDALS, RECEIVED 1870 TO 1900 98
XXIV. FOOT OF FOREST FLY—SEEN FROM ABOVE 138
XXV. RUINS OF CHEPSTOW CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE 174
XXVI. RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER THE WYE, NEAR CHEPSTOW 208
XXVII. MISS GEORGIANA ELIZABETH ORMEROD 284
XXIX. ELEANOR ANNE ORMEROD, LL.D., F.R.MET.SOC. 312
XXX. MISS ORMEROD’S FATHER, AT FIVE YEARS OLD, _AND_ 324 MISS ORMEROD IN CHILDHOOD
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I was born at Sedbury Park, in West Gloucestershire, on a sunny Sunday morning (the 11th of May, 1828), being the youngest of the ten children of George and Sarah Ormerod, of Sedbury Park, Gloucestershire, and Tyldesley, Lancashire. As a long time had elapsed since the birth of the last of the other children (my two sisters and seven brothers), my arrival could hardly have been a family comfort. Nursery arrangements, which had been broken up, had to be re-established. I have been told that I started on what was to be my long life journey, with a face pale as a sheet, a quantity of black hair, and a constitution that refused anything tendered excepting a concoction of a kind of rusk made only at Monmouth. The very earliest event of which I have a clear remembrance was being knocked down on the nursery stairs when I was three years old by a cousin of my own age. The damage was small, but the indignity great, and, moreover, the young man stole the lump of sugar which was meant to console me, so the grievance made an impression. A year later a real shock happened to my small mind. Whilst my sister, Georgiana, five years my senior, was warming herself in the nursery, her frock caught fire. She flew down the room, threw herself on the sheepskin rug at the door, and rolled till the fire was put out. But she was so badly burnt that the injuries required dressing, and this event also made a great impression on me. Other reminiscences of pleasure and of pain come back, in thinking over those long past days, but none of such special and wonderful interest as that of being held up to see King William IV. Little as I was, I had been taken to one of the theatres, and my father carried me along one of the galleries, and raised me in his arms that I might look through the glass window at the back of one of the boxes and see His Majesty. I do not in the least believe that I saw the right man. However, it is something to remember that about the year 1835, if I had not been so frightened, I might have seen the King.