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"Can it be that Melmouth thinks we are angry with him?" Melmouth was born on the 26th April 1811. He was the eldest surviving of all the Hall siblings. At the start of 1839, when Emily and Ellen had both started keeping diaries, he had gained a good position at Child's Bank through the influence of one of their uncles who was a partner there. However, it was at this stage of his life that Melmouth took a step that his sisters and parents found very hard to accept. He married Charlotte. They married in 1838, but kept the marriage a secret for some time. When the news was broken, his family were scandalised and Ellen and Emily found their brothers actions very difficult to understand. What possessed their beloved brother to marry somebody who was, in Melmouth's own words, "inferior" to them? Ellen transcribed the letter sent by Melmouth to break the news into her own diary and you can read it here. The exact reason that Melmouth married Charlotte is not clear. However, the reponse of his family illustrates the bounderies of class and respectability that defined what sort of person was acceptable for a middle-class man such as Melmouth to make his wife. He was, after all, the eldest son and, as his letter revealed, he was perceived as having duties to his parent and his sisters, as well as his uncle who had helped him with his career. Ellen and Emily recorded their reactions to the marriage in their diaries. To Emily, Melmouth's behaviour was a "perfect paradox." To Ellen it was distressing and disappointing.
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