To Albert Günther   19 December 1881

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.) [4 Bryanston Street, London.]

Dec. 19th 1881

My dear Dr. Günther

I am going to beg a favour of you, namely to ask what are the best steps to take to recommend a man (in whom I take much interest) as a messenger or other such post in the B. Museum. The circumstances are as follows: a man of the name of Surman lived with my late Brother as his Butler for about 2 years & attended to him most carefully; so that my Brother left him a Legacy, which I doubled as a mark of my respect & gratitude.1 He is in every way thoroughly respectable & pleasant mannered, & he came to my Brother with the highest possible character. He now wishes for some post, such as a messenger or attendant in some public office, instead of going into service again. I shd. therefore take it as a great kindness, if you would inform me how I can aid Surman in obtaining the desired situation.—

Dear Dr. Günther | Yours sincerely Ch. Darwin

P. S. I do not even know to whom I ought to address the character which I could give of the man, or to whom he ought to apply.—

1
Frederic William Surman had been left a year’s wages in the will of Erasmus Alvey Darwin. Although no earlier record has been found, CD recorded a payment of £120 on 23 December 1881, under the heading ‘George. Payment of gratuities to Erasmus servants’ (CD’s Account books–classed accounts (Down House MS)). The money was given to George Howard Darwin as an executor of the will. Erasmus had three servants including Surman, but the amount he received is not known. Surman may have worked for a short time for Charles Langton following Erasmus’s death on 26 August 1881 (see letter from G. H. Darwin, [after 26 August 1881] and n. 3).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.2 (in … interest)] parentheses over commas
1.4 2] over ‘[tw]’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13569,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13569