Ɛpsilon

To W. D. Fox   2 July [1858]

[Down]

July 2d

My dear Fox

Our poor Baby died on 28th at night.—1 One of his nurses has caught Fever. We had resolved not to move the others, after consultation & taking all sorts of precautions; but your letter has been turning point & this very day they all go to Sussex to their Aunt, who is here & takes them.2 We stay till Etty can move & I of course stay till nurse is out of all danger whatever.

You may believe we are terribly anxious, but fear has almost driven away grief.— What a miserable fortnight we have had.—

Many thanks my dear Fox for your most kind & affectionate letter | Yours | C. Darwin

We have all had slight sore-throats, but I often have, & my wife thought it might be in some degree fancy in all.—

1
Charles Waring Darwin died of scarlet fever on 28 June 1858 (‘Journal’; Appendix II).
2
Fox, having experienced the death of several children in his own household from scarlet fever, had evidently advised CD to move his children out of danger as soon as possible (Correspondence vol. 5, letters to W. D. Fox, 17 July [1853], and 29 [July 1853]). Sarah Elizabeth (Elizabeth) Wedgwood, Emma Darwin’s sister, had arrived at Down House on 25 June 1858. She took the children to her home in Hartfield, Sussex, on 2 July (Emma Darwin’s diary). CD and Emma stayed at Down until9 July.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 & taking … precautions 1.3] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2300,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2300