To John Lubbock   24 April [1856]1

Down

April 24th

Dear Lubbock

Before I come to the purpose of my note, let me give you my very sincere congratulations on your marriage;2 & I do not believe that any of your many friends can send you more cordial & true good wishes.

Can you get “leave of absence” & come & dine here on Saturday at 7 oclock to meet Dr. & Mrs Hooker, Mr Wollaston, Mr & Mrs. Huxley.—3

Mrs. Darwin had intended (but is not at present quite well)4 to have ventured on a very early call on Mrs. Lubbock in hopes of persuading her to come with you, but I fear there would have been but very little chance of the party at High Elms5 letting her leave home so soon.—

Dear Lubbock | Yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin

1
Dated by the reference to Lubbock’s marriage (see n. 2, below).
2
Lubbock had married Ellen Frances Hordern, only daughter of the late Peter Hordern of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, at Rostherne, Cheshire, on 10 April 1856 (Gentleman’s Magazine (1856) pt 1: 640).
3
Lubbock dined at Down House with CD and his visitors on 26 April (Emma Darwin’s diary).
4
On 17 April, Emma Darwin recorded in her diary: ‘I began to be bad.’ Charles Waring Darwin was born on 6 December 1856.
5
The Lubbock family residence, a short distance from Down House.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1859,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1859