Ɛpsilon

To [Robert Chambers?]   13 April [1861]1

Down Bromley Kent

Ap. 13th

My dear Sir

I thank you extremely for your kind note.— The day after writing to you, I found quite unexpectedly that I am forced to come to London on Tuesday, & will on one day in middle of week, most gladly call on you in the morning.2

With many thanks | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the form of the address, which puts the letter between 1843 and 1846, or 1856 and 1868, and by the reference to a visit to London on the Tuesday following 13 April. The only year in which this can be shown to have occurred, according to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), is 1861. During this visit CD called on Robert Chambers and Charles Lyell (see Correspondence vol. 9, second letter to J. D. Hooker, 23 [April 1861]), but he would have addressed Lyell as ‘My dear Lyell’, so the addressee must be Chambers or an unknown person.
2
CD told Lyell he was coming to London to work on cocks and hens (Correspondence vol. 9, letter to Charles Lyell, 12 April [1861]). There is no extant previous correspondence with Chambers in 1861, but see also the letter to Chambers of 30 April [1861] (ibid.).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3117F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3117F