Ɛpsilon

To W. B. Cheadle   31 January 1879

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Jan 31. 1879

Dear Sir,

As I can hardly consider myself as coming with the class who will sign your petition I do not like to sign it, although I fully think that the establishment of a Professorship of Pathology at Cambridge would be desirable.1

Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

P.S. | One my sons tells me that he fancies that you have fallen into a slight mistake as to the abolition of Medical fellowships at Trinity2

LS

1
Cheadle’s letter to CD has not been found; he was circulating a memorial calling for the creation of a professorship of pathology at the University of Cambridge (a professor of pathology was elected in 1884; see J. W. Clark 1904, pp. 251–2). The memorial, signed by ‘graduates of the University of Cambridge, engaged in the study or practice of medicine’, was sent to the vice-chancellor, John Power, on 10 February 1879. The memorial is at UA CUR 39.40, University Archives, CUL. CD did not sign it.
2
Probably either George Howard Darwin, who had been a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, or Francis Darwin, who had been an undergraduate at Trinity College and later studied medicine. See also letter from W. B. Cheadle, 17 February 1879. The 1560 statutes of Trinity College allowed for two lay fellowships, the holders of which were not required to ultimately take holy orders. One of these was set aside for a scholar of civil law and the other for a scholar of medicine. However, by the late eighteenth century, these subject-based ties had been loosened and the fellowships could be offered to scholars in any field. (Jonathan Smith, Trinity College Library, personal communication.)

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11852,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11852