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To Baxter, Payne, and Lepper   14 October 1880

Oct 14th 1880

[Down.]

to Mss Baxter, Payne & Co

Dear Sir,

I have received three notices signed by your firm requesting payment of a half years commutation Rent Charge. The notices do not state upon whose behalf you apply, but I suppose the claim is for Vicarial Tithe.1

I do not, however, perceive how the total agrees with what I have before paid & I shall be obliged if you will let me know the numbers of the fields referred to.2

These tithes, I believe, have hitherto always been paid in the Village & it appears to me hardly reasonable to ask the tithe payers to go to Bromley to make the payment.3

I hear that this is the general opinion, & I should therefore suggest that you name some place in the village at which the tithes can be paid at an appointed time.

I am, Dear Sir, | yours faithfully | Ch Darwin

Draft(A)

1
The 1836 Tithe Commutation Act had established a procedure whereby tithes (the traditional requirement that one tenth of local produce be given to the church) could be converted into money payments. The amount due varied, depending on the current valuation of land and resources. The charge on land, instead of on produce, was called the rent charge. Vicarial or small tithes were originally payable to the vicar, while the great tithe was payable to the rector.
2
CD’s Classed account book (Down House MS) records a payment of £1 4s. for ‘Vicarial tithes’ on 18 October 1880. He had already paid vicarial tithes of £4 10s. 7d. on 6 April 1880, a considerably higher sum than most of his previous vicarial or small tithe payments and closer to the amount he usually paid for the great tithe. CD evidently wished to check that all the property on which his total was based belonged to him, and that there had been no error in attributing land ownership. However, he evidently changed his mind and crossed out this paragraph in his draft.
3
Baxter, Payne, and Lepper were auctioneers, valuers, land agents, and surveyors located in Bromley, Kent (Post Office London suburban directory 1880).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.2 Oct … Co 0.3] in CD’s hand blue ink
2.1 I do … referred to. 2.2] crossed blue ink
5.1 Dear] interl in CD’s hand blue ink

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12759,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12759