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To T. C. Eyton   24 [November 1859]

Ilkley Wells House | Otley, Yorkshire

24th

Dear Eyton

Many thanks for your note.— My Book will horrify & disgust you, though I have already met with far more accordance than I expected from several high authorities.—

I shd. much like to have the Book you refer to.— I honour & admire your zeal in going to Hythe to drill.1

Englishmen are showing themselves worthy of the name.

Believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

1
Eyton joined the yeomanry cavalry of Shropshire in 1859 (DNB). The volunteer movement in Britain was a semi-official response to the threat of invasion by France. A bill had been passed in Parliament earlier in the year to allow civilians to be trained and issued with guns by the army at the School of Musketry in Hythe, Kent (Annual Register 1859, History, pp. 122–3).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2546,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2546