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To Edward Atkinson   9 June 1877

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington S.E.R.) [Leith Hill Place, Surrey.]

June 9th. 1877

Sir

I am greatly obliged to the Council for their wish to offer a grace to the Senate for conferring on me the Honorary Degree of L.L.D..— I should consider this as an extraordinary honour, & it would be particularly gratifying to me as coming from the University at which I was formerly a student.1 I feel, however, bound to add that my health is so precarious that I may be prevented, when the day arrives, from attending to receive this honour.— Permit me further to return to you my sincere thanks for your very kind & courteous letter.2

I beg leave to remain, Sir | Your obedient servant | Charles R. Darwin

To the | Vice-Chancellor.—

1
For previous correspondence about the offer to CD of the honorary degree of doctor of laws (LLD), see the letter to G. H. Darwin, 30 May [1877] and n. 2. CD entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, in January 1828 (ODNB); he obtained a BA in 1831 (Freeman 1978).
2
The letter from Atkinson has not been found.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 this] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10993,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10993