Ɛpsilon

To George Ransome1   27 [August 1849]2

Down Farnborough Kent

Monday 27th

My dear Sir

I am much obliged for your very kind note & invitation.3 To meet so many distinguished men is a very great temptation, but I am sorry to say that the state of my health, which requires great regularity in living, will prevent my having the pleasure of accepting your kindness.

With thanks | Pray believe me | Dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

I have written to Mr Maguire4 G. Ransome Esq

1
Ipswich pharmacist and secretary of the newly established (1847) Ipswich Museum, of which John Stevens Henslow became president in 1850.
2
The only appropriate Monday 27th in the available time-span. There was a Monday 27th in November 1848, but this is an unlikely date for the letter, which carries a narrow mourning border. CD used stationery with a broad mourning border after the death of his father on 13 November 1848. There was another Monday 27th in May 1850, but CD was not in mourning at that time.
3
Possibly a dinner to mark the publication of the first portraits in the Ipswich Museum series by Thomas Herbert Maguire. George Ransome had originally intended to confine the issue of the prints to members of the Museum; by 8 September 1849 it had been decided to issue limited numbers for public sale (Athenæum, no. 1141, 8 September 1849, pp. 113–14). The first portraits were issued by 20 October 1849, see letter to J. S. Henslow, [7 October 1849], n. 4.
4
CD eventually made arrangements with Maguire to sit for his portrait in the Ipswich series.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1335,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1335