Ɛpsilon

To the Darwin children   10 January 1880

Excess of my income to be distributed & ordered on Jan 12th to be paid into each account.1 N.B I invested £800 early in year otherwise the distribution wd have been larger.

£

William 360 ) 600 to Williams

Bessy 240 ) Bank

George 360

Frank 360

Leonard 360

Horace 360

Henrietta 240.2

———

£2280

———

Each child must put initial to show he has seen it.

C. Darwin

Everybody has seen this. | C.D

Jan 10th. 1880.—

To William

Do not be in such a hurry in investing Bessy’s money, both she & her mother have been howling all summer as if I had starved her death. The only way to feel rich is to have a good balance in the Bank.

C. D

1
CD had informed his children of his plan to distribute the surplus income from his investments in 1879; each daughter was to receive two-thirds of the amount allotted to each son (see Correspondence vol. 27, letter to the Darwin children, 21 February 1879).
2
William Erasmus Darwin, Elizabeth Darwin, George Howard Darwin, Francis Darwin, Leonard Darwin, Horace Darwin, and Henrietta Emma Litchfield. ‘600 to Williams Bank’: this included the sum allotted to Bessy, which William was to deposit or invest. William was a partner in the Southampton and Hampshire Bank.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12414,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12414