Ɛpsilon

To John Higgins   25 December 1854

Down Farnborough Kent

Christmas Day 54/

My dear Sir

I am much obliged for your note & account, & I beg to acknowledge the receipt of £217 : s 16 : d 8 placed to my account at the Union Bank.—1

I wish all your large Family Party a happy Christmas: as for myself we have had a gloomy for I have had two of my little Boys very ill with Fever & Inflammation,2 but they are at last, thank God, better.

My dear Sir | Yours very truly | Ch. R. Darwin John Higgins Esqe

1
The rent of the Beesby farm, Lincolnshire. CD’s Investment book (Down House MS) shows an entry of £ 218 11s. 8d. The discrepancy is explained by an entry in CD’s Account book (Down House MS) on 24 December recording a payment of 15s. to: ‘Mr Higgins Alford Agricultural Club’.
2
Francis and Leonard Darwin (see ‘Journal’; Correspondence vol. 5, Appendix I). CD’s Health diary (Down House MS) recorded from 14 to 29 December: ‘Children Ill.—’. Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that Leonard and Francis came home unwell from Sarah Wedgwood’s on 13 and 15 December respectively. On 22 December, she recorded: ‘Franky’s fit’.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1615,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1615