Ɛpsilon

From Charles Mostyn Owen   29 May 1881

Woodhouse, Iffley, Oxford

29 May 1881.

My dear Darwin

As it is now more than 40 years ago since we last met, you may have forgotten me, but I should very much like to see you again before leaving this world, & it is too late.1 Now I shall be in Town most of next week, & Wednesday being the Derby day,2 (which I shall not attend), I should like to pay you a visit of an hour or so, if you shall be at home on that day & like to see me?

My address in Town is the Hanover Square Club of which I am a member3—& if you write let me know what is your nearest Station for although my sister Sarah gave me your address, she did not say how far your residence was from a Station or name the Station.4

Should I come I should like to come early as I have to dine in Town on that evening.

Believe me | Yours Truly | C. Mostyn Owen

1
The Darwin and Mostyn Owen families were close friends when CD was a young man (see Correspondence vol. 1). Charles Mostyn Owen was nine years younger than CD.
2
Derby day: a reference to the Epsom Derby, a horse race; in 1881, the race was held on Wednesday 1 June.
3
The Hanover Square Club on the east side of Hanover Square, London, had been known as the Queen’s Concert Rooms or Hanover Square Rooms. The club, founded in 1875, bought the premises in that year (Hibbert et al. eds. 2010, p. 382).
4
Sarah Harriet Haliburton had visited CD and Emma Darwin at the home of Erasmus Alvey Darwin some time during their stay in London from 7 to 11 December 1880 (see Correspondence vol. 28, letter to Sarah Haliburton, 13 December 1880). The nearest railway station to Down was Orpington.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13182,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13182