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From W. E. Darwin   [27 February 1882]1

New University Club | St James St

Monday

My dear Father,

I have today lodged at the Union Bank in your name the deed of the Lincoln property and send you the receipt.2 I am just out of the House where I heard Gladstone & Gibson, both eloquent speeches, but Gladstone’s especially so in parts; I shall probably never have the chance to hear him speak again in so weighty & impressive a way. Gibson’s reply was extremely able & he is an admirable speaker to listen to.3 After having sat for 412 hours & heard the 2 best speakers, and being stewed & crushed I came away and am going to have supper.

Sara is pretty well but gets horridly tired with the duty she has to do with calls & dinners. Luckily only 2 this week at Hen’s & Aunt Fanny’s:4 Meeting Bright broke through. He had a cold, & as he was going to the Queen today he was afraid of coughing, which she takes as a gross insult!5

Goodnight dear Father I hope you are well again. Your affect son | W E. Darwin

1
The date is established by the reference to William’s visit to the House of Commons (see n. 3, below).
2
CD’s bank was the Union Bank, Charing Cross Branch, London. William and George Howard Darwin were the executors of Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s will. Erasmus had died on 26 August 1881; he bequeathed half of his personal estate and all his real property to CD (see Correspondence vol. 29, letter from G. H. Darwin, 28 August 1881). On the Lincoln land, see this volume, letter from W. E. Darwin, 25 January 1882 and n. 1.
3
William Ewart Gladstone, the prime minister, and Edward Gibson, who had been attorney-general for Ireland in the Conservative government of 1877–80, spoke in the House of Commons on the Irish Land Law on 27 February 1882 (Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., vol. 266 (1882), cols. 1729–98). William attended this evening session (letter from Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin, 28 February 1882 (DAR 210.3: 41)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13347F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13347F