Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   20 December 1880

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dec. 20th

My dear Hooker

I send the certificate for your signature, & I hope & believe that your adopted child will not disgrace you.—1 Please ask Dyer, whether he will be so kind as to back up Frank.—2 The memorial for Wallace has just started on its rounds for signature, & has met with the most cordial reception in the two first cases.3 I have thought of keeping your name rather low down, so as to end the short list with a flourish.

Ever my dear Hooker | Yours affect | Ch. Darwin

Your old envelope will serve to return the Certificate

1
See letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 December 1880. Francis Darwin was being proposed for fellowship of the Royal Society of London; Hooker had agreed to propose him, but, in the event, Francis was proposed by Michael Foster in January 1881 and elected in June 1882 (Royal Society archives, GB 117 EC/1882/09).
2
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer also signed the certificate for Francis.
3
CD had prepared a memorial to obtain a government pension for Alfred Russel Wallace (see letter to W. H. Flower, 17 December 1880 and n. 1).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12927,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12927