Ɛpsilon

To John Stevens Henslow   25 January [1858]

Down Bromley Kent

Jany. 25th

My dear Henslow

I received the day before yesterday the appendix to the allotment Report & I am glad to see how eminently successful your men have been.—1 I have not

written to you, as I thought it would only have troubled & I was very sure that you need not be told how sincerely & deeply I have sympathised with you,—to whom I shall ever owe so much.2 Those old days when I used as an undergraduate to be so much at your house were certainly amongst the most happy & best days which I have ever spent. Never shall I forget to end of my life the uniform & very great kindness of poor dear Mrs. Henslow to me.—3 I hope you are all well & that your health is pretty good: I have heard not a very good account of your appearance.—4 I beg you not to think of answering this note.

My dear friend & most kind old master | Believe me | Yours affectionately |Ch. Darwin

1
Henslow ran a scheme for providing the farm labourers of his parish in Hitcham, Suffolk, with allotments of land on which they could grow food for their families (Russell-Gebbett 1977, p. 34). The work to which CD refers is Henslow [1858].
2
Henslow’s wife Harriet had died on 20 November 1857. See Correspondence vol. 6, letter to J. D. Hooker, 21 November [1857], and letter from J. D. Hooker, [2 December 1857].
3
CD recorded in his ‘Journal’ for 1831, his final year as an undergraduate in Cambridge: ‘During these months lived much with Prof. Henslow, often dining with him, & walking with.’ (Correspondence vol. 1, Appendix I). See also Correspondence vol. 2, letter from Harriet Henslow, 22 November [1838].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2207,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2207