To W. E. Darwin   17 [October 1861]1

Down

17th

My dear William.

This is mere note of business.— I have written to Mr Hacon to urge him to send the Deed to Mr. Atherley.—2

I have written to Sir H. James, asking him whether you may call on him; but do not call till you hear again from me.—3 But I daresay he will call on you.— Mr Bonham Carter has written to Embley & you must wait till you hear from the Nightingales, before you go there.4 It is evident that you will have plenty of acquaintances; but I am not sorry that you should know two or three respectable persons on your own account.—

What a magnificent seigneur you are in your house.—5 Take care you are not ruined. But I daresay it is good policy starting rather extra superb.— I cannot help wishing you were in the Bank. It is impossible that Mr Hacon could have really wished to stop the affair.— Lord I wonder what his Bill will be.—

It is a good job that you get on smoothly with old Fall—6

Good Night.— I am nothing but an Orchis.—

Your affect Father | C. D.

1
Dated by the relationship to the letter to W. E. Darwin, 12 October [1861].
2
CD refers to his solicitor, William Mackmurdo Hacon, and to George Atherley, William’s partner in the Southampton and Hampshire Bank (see letter to W. E. Darwin, 12 October [1861]).
3
Henry James, director-general of the Ordnance Survey, resided in Southampton (see letter to W. E. Darwin, 12 October [1861]).
4
Embley Park, about five miles north-west of Southampton, was one of the homes of William Edward Nightingale, the father of Florence Nightingale. CD probably refers to Henry Bonham-Carter, who was a relative of the Nightingales.
5
William had taken rooms in the lodging house of Mary Pratt at 1 Carlton Place, Southampton (Post Office directory of Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire 1867).
6
Phillip Carteret Fall had been a partner in the Southampton and Hampshire Bank until his retirement prior to William’s appointment (Banking almanac 1861).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3287,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3287