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From C. Harris   20 May 1879

100 Grundy St | Poplar

20.5.79

Dr. Darwin

Dr. Sir,

Chancing to hear of your kindness, in supplying the public with tickets for Sunday visits to the Zoological Gardens, I have on two seperate occasions taken the liberty of writing (enclosing a stamped envelope each time) to ask you if you would kindly oblige me with 3 or 4 tickets for myself and friends, but in each case have received no answer.1

As I am on the point of leaving England, I shall esteem it a kindness if you will oblige me with 3 or 4 tickets for Sunday next 25th. inst, and shall | Ever remain | Yours gratefully | C. Harris

1
No earlier letters from Harris have been found. Harris has not been identified. Poplar is a district in East London. Admission to the Zoological Gardens of the Zoological Society of London on Sundays was restricted to fellows and their guests; by mid-century, paid public admission was available on other days. As a fellow of the Zoological Society, CD was entitled to sign an order of admission to allow guests admission, but these were not valid on Sunday, when only fellows were admitted; in practice, however, the regulations were often ignored and guests would be admitted with an order, without an accompanying fellow. For more on admission policies of the zoo and debates about Sunday admission, see Ito 2014, pp. 81–106.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12057,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12057