ABSTRACT
The indirect source for this article in Household Words, 5 (19 June 1852), pp. 317–21, was EG’s friend Caroline, Lady Hatherton, formerly Caroline Anne Davenport, née Hurt (d. 1897) who in February 1852 became the second wife of Edward John Littleton, first Baron Hatherton (1791–1863), a Whig politician, and one-time MP for South Staffordshire. On her marriage she moved from her home at Capesthorne, near Macclesfield to Teddesley Park, the Littleton estate near Penkridge, Staffordshire. It was there, during her first visit in March 1852 that Gaskell met John Burton, the head gardener, who had worked for Nasiruddin (Nasred-Din), Shah of Persia, and who provided the material for her article (see Letters, p. 849).
