From John Lubbock   7 [February] 18621

11, Mansion House Street, | London, | E.C.

7 Jan 1862

My dear Mr. Darwin

Sir G. Clerk is to be the new Zool. Pres. My feeling in the matter was quite the same as yours.2

The Busks3 are coming to us on Friday 14th. & if you can come over on the Saturday I will stay at home to meet you. Indeed I will do so unless you write to the Contrary.

Hoping you will be able to come I remain | Very sincerely yours | John Lubbock

C. Darwin. Esq | F.R.S.

1
It appears from Lubbock’s mention of ‘Friday 14th’ that he mistakenly dated his letter January instead of February: 14 January 1862 did not fall on a Friday, whereas 14 February did. See also letter from John Lubbock, 13 February 1862.
2
In February 1862, George Clerk was elected to succeed Prince Albert as president of the Zoological Society of London (Scherren 1905, p. 126). There was some opposition to the selection of Clerk who was 75 years old and did not have a scientific background (see letter from J. E. Gray, 1 February 1862).
3
George and Ellen Busk were close friends of the Lubbocks (Hutchinson 1914, 1: 39).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3378,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3378