Ed.: Walter was born in 1871, so in 1889 he would have been a young man of 28. In the Census of 1881 he was recorded as being a page in domestic service. He may be linked to Kathleen Mary Baillie’s "Cousin Hubert" who lived in Queenstown in the 1960s. He is cited in Henry Grieve’s letters of January 1889, October 1889 and June 1891. Nothing further about him has been passed down by the family.
Ed.: The commoner spelling at the time was "Swazieland", with an extra "e". Henry Grieve uses "Swazieland" and "Swaziland" interchangeably.
"He had made up his mind to lead them if it came to fighting". Unusual fighting talk for a "conservative Evangelical". There is precious little evidence of any social concern in the writings of these evangelistically-oriented people. Yet occasionally something surfaces. The rejection of slavery is a case in point. The South Africa General Mission, at its foundation in the early 1890s, carries just one clause which refers to a social mission, and that is to "resist slavery".
Ed.: In 1889 Henry was 37 years old; Jane was 63, a difference of 26 years. Henry’s father Robert married twice, and had Jane by the first marriage. According to English civil registration records, she died between April and June 1889.
Ed.: Henry F. Grieve did "office work". This corresponds with the 1891 Census which records him as being a "commercial clerk".
Ed.: A rare description of John Baillie: "tall and spare and dark".
Ed.: My relatives on both the Baillie/Grieve and Webb side, in the late 19th and early 20th century were teetotallers. cf. Florence Mabel Webb, a worker for the Salvation Army.
Ed.: This letter was written June 20, 1891. It took about three months by ship plus another month for delivery in Swaziland. So the birthday of Annie Baillie née Grieve may be in late October.