Ɛpsilon

From George King   1 October 1880

Alfred House | Gipsy Hill | Upper Norwood | S.E.

1 Oct 1880.

Dear Sir,

I am very much obliged to you for your kind letter of 29 which reached me last night.1

I shall be most happy to dine with you in accordance with your kind invitation if you will kindly allow me to come in ordinary dress, my evening clothes having been already sent on with my heavy baggage to Brindisi.2

It is very good of you to offer to put me up for the night, but as I am living so near to Beckenham I can easily return here after dinner.3 I came home on a very short holiday indeed & have been in London only since Sunday last. I must leave again in about a week & I regret to say I have only two evenings left free, namely Sunday & Monday next, on either of which I should, as may be convenient for you, be most happy to dine with you.4

I am glad that my notes on worm casts have proved of some use5

Believe me to be | Yrs sincerely | George King

C. Darwin Esq

2
From 1871, the Italian port of Brindisi became the terminus for P&O ships sailing to India. Passengers and cargoes travelled to Brindisi by train, from where ships left for India every Sunday at 2pm (‘The Old Peninsula & Oriental Steam Navigation Company c 1835–1972’, http://www.pandosnco.co.uk/indianmail.html (accessed 16 May 2019); see also Howarth and Howarth 1994, p. 69). King was superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden in Calcutta.
3
Upper Norwood was just over three miles from Beckenham.
4
King probably dined with CD on Monday 4 October; see letter to George King, 2 October 1880.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12734,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12734