Travel journal of E.A. Bowles, ‘The triangular honeymoon’

Scope and Content

Journal includes manuscript text, and pasted in are original pencil and watercolour drawings by Bowles and memorabilia. It comprises a record of the following trips:

The ‘triangular honeymoon’, 31 Jan-26 Feb 1889

Second ‘triangular honeymoon’, 18 Jan 1894-23 Feb 1894

Grand Hotel Victoria, Menaggio, 16 Apr 1898-24 Apr 1898

Pasted in are tickets and postcards

Enclosures were removed during cataloguing and stored in a separate folder for preservation purposes, reference EAB/3/1/1 (2 of 2). They include leaflets, original pencil and watercolour drawings of local scenes, manuscript notes, postcards and a photographic souvenir of the Eiffel Tower

The ‘triangular honeymoon’, 31 Jan-26 Feb 1889

With Henry Bowles and Dolly Bowles

(31 Jan) Ferry journey Folkestone to Boulogne including birds seen. Company on train from Boulogne. Abbeville. Amiens. (2 Feb) Paris. (3 Feb) The Louvre and other attractions. ‘Mac’ arrived. (4 Feb) Train journey to Avignon. (5 Feb) Avignon. (6 Feb) Marseille. A walk to Monaco. Menton. (8 Feb) By donkey to Gorbio and mountains beyond. (9 Feb) Miss Broughton, Lady Kemble join the party. (11 Feb) Across frontier to La Mortola. List of plants. Terraces, marble steps and fountains. (14 Feb) San Remo. By train to Genoa. (15 Feb) St Lorenzo and cathedral. Milan. (16 Feb) Pisa and Piazza dei Duomo. Train to Rome. (17 Feb) Rome and St Peter’s. (19-20 Feb) The Vatican, Palatine Hills. (21-22 Feb) Train to Naples. (23-24 Feb) Naples aquarium and cathedral. (25-26 Feb) Horse carriage to Pompeii. Pompeii. La Solfatara volcano. Collecting Oxalis bulbs.

Second ‘triangular honeymoon’, 18 Jan 1894-23 Feb 1894

With Henry Bowles and Dolly Bowles

(18 Jan) Ferry journey to Calais including birds seen. Train carriage arranged at Calais by Captain Blomfield. Mistletoe. Amiens. Paris overnight. (19 Jan) Train to Bordeaux. Hoodie crows, larks, magpies, buzzard. Magnolia trees, goats and turkeys. Pines, Laurus tinus, Euonymus. (20 Jan) Church of St Michael. Local market and goods available there. (21 Jan) Spartium junceum, Cistus salvifolium, and list of plants. Arcachon. Gathering Turpentine. Museum and Aquarium. List of exhibits. Lost French family. Shooting party. (22 Jan) Garlic plants in Casino gardens sent home. (23 Jan) Forest plants sent home. (24 Jan) La Teste-de-Buch. (25 Jan) Birds. (26 Jan) Horse riding with Dolly in sand hills and quicksand. Phytolacca. (27 Jan) To Bayonne. Biarritz. (28 Jan) Hotel d’Angleterre. Train from La Negresse station to woods. List of plants. (29 Jan) Arrival of ‘Sir E.P.B.’ and party. (30 Jan) Companion referred to as ‘The Girl’. Walking on golf links. Plants sent home. (31 Jan) To St Jean de Luz with Misses Falconer and Balmain. (1 Feb) Kittiwake. (2 Feb) Plants in sand dunes. Anemones to paint. (3 Jan) Tea party given by ‘The Girl’. Violets. (4 Feb) Pizziocampo nests. Bayonne. (5 Feb) Ball with dancing and supper. (7 Feb) To Cambo les Bains with Lady Hunt, Mr Coulborough and others. List of plants. (11 Feb) Drive with ‘The Girl’. List of plants. The opera ‘Carmen’ in Bayonne. (12 Feb) Sketching. Dinner with Biddulphs. (13 Feb) Walk with the Mallinsons and others. Razor bills. (14 Feb) Plant hunting. Collecting toads. Description of a 'very smart little frog'. (15 Feb) Bayonne. Train to Cambo les bains. Hepaticas, Arum italicum, Helleborus viridis, Narcissus pallidus praecox, blue Pulmonaria. Dining with Newtons. Rehearsals for tableaux and wax works. (17 Feb) Cork woods. Plants sent home. Performances of tableaux and waxworks. (18 Feb) Hoop-petticoat narcissus. List of plants. (19 Feb) Bulbs sent home. Train to Irun. To Fontarabie with Sir J. Hunt, Lady Hunt and ‘The Girl of Francesca’. Walk in Fontarabie. Church in ruins. Return to Irun. San Sebastian. Soldiers’ uniform. Woods with hellebores and primroses. Oxen and mule carts. Peasants. Description of houses, dried capsicum and maize hanging from the eaves. Through mountains to Pasajes. Return to San Sebastian. Requiem in church. (20 Feb) Mount Orgullo. Maidenhair ferns, white periwinkles, hoop-petticoat narcissus. Tombs of officers killed in 1812. Arrival of the Gibbings. St Vincente church. Return by train to Biarritz. (21 Feb) Walk with Henry. Sea urchins. Frogs. Preparations for departure, assisted by ‘The Girl’. Dance and piano playing. (22 Feb) To Bayonne. Banksia. (23 Feb) Pic du Midi. Mountain views: 'Tumbled out of bed at 7.30 and there were the mountains, such a sight, peak after peak, 60 miles of mountains glittering with snow and dappled with blue shadows. The Pic du Midi right in the midst and the mountains right and left dipping down on either side of this on purpose to make way for their king'

Grand Hotel Victoria, Menaggio, 16 Apr 1898-24 Apr 1898

With Dolly Bowles and Charles Gordon Shackle

(16 Apr) Grand Hotel Victoria, Menaggio. Rain. Sketching. (17 Apr) Rain. (18 Apr) Rain. Mr Thompson. Tuition in sketching. Rowed to Cadenabbia. Villa Carlotta. Banksia, aloes, yuccas, water lilies, camellias, and olive trees with roses and honeysuckle. Cupid and Psyche by Canova. Silk manufacturing. Return by boat with Dolly and ‘S.’ [Charles Gordon Shackle]. Plant collecting including trichomanes and sedum. Purchase of wooden boxes to send plants home. (19 Apr) Rain. Train to Porlegga and steamer to Lugano. St Gotthard Railway to Lucerne. Customs. Tram to station. By train through tunnel. Crocus. Joined by Mr Thompson. (20 Apr) Collection of letters from Cooks. Lion of Lucerne monument. Glacier Garden. Drive among woods and chalets. Dandelions, oxlips, kingcups, Cardamine pratensis in open land. Orchids, a white-flowered coltsfoot, Daphne mezereum, Anemone nemorosa and Aquilegia in the woods. Lake shore and views of Mount Pilatus. (21 Apr) By boat to Vitznau and to Mount Rigi by funicular railway. Gentiana verna, blue hepatica and Polygala chamaebuxus. Crocus vernus in the snow. Purchase of Primula auricula, Primula farinosa and Gentiana verna. Kites. (22 Apr) Rain. Purchase of cuckoo clocks. (23 Apr) Departure. Chance meeting with ‘McIntyre, Lady W. and the Baronet.’ Paris. (24 Apr) Church of England church. Meeting with Shackle. Egyptian Museum