From W. M. Hacon   22 May 1879

My dear Sir

I have your letter of yesterday.— It is at all events not improbable that the contents of the will of William Darwin, who died Sept^r 24^th 1682, or of the will of his widow Anne (née Waring) who died May 22^nd 1722, would remove your doubt as to how Robert, the younger son of William acquired Elston Hall, when it would be expected to have gone to William the elder son.—¹ I was therefore disappointed to learn to-day at the Record office that there are no duplicates or copies of wills proved, in either the Lincoln or the York registry, at any period prior to 1858.

Upon the chance of the wills, desired to be consulted, having been proved (as they might have been) in the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury I had searches made to-day in that Registry for a few (four) years after the dates of the two deaths given in your letter. But neither of the wills was proved in that registry.

The searches I made to-day in the Prerogative Registry of Canterbury might at a small expence be repeated in the registries of Lincoln and of York: one of them being the Registry of the diocese and the other the Prerogative Registry of the Province of York. If you would like to have such searches made, I shall be glad to instruct local solicitors to make them: and the cost ought not to be considerable.

Do you know that Robert Darwin took Elston Hall upon—i.e. immediately after his fathers or his mothers demise?— And are you sure that it did not go, upon the father’s or the mothers death, to William, the elder son, and from him by devise or descent if he died childless to his brother Robert?

If you have no information as to this do you know the date of William’s (the Eldest son’s) death and might it not be worth while to have his will looked at?—

Have you looked at the County History, if any, in the British Museum?— It was suggested to me that there is a book called “Upcott’s depository” or some such name,—at the Museum containing a kind of index to the histories and books upon the halls &c in Great Britain?²

I am | My dear Sir | Yours very truly | W^m M Hacon

Charles R. Darwin Esq^re | Down | Beckenham | Kent