From Robert Monsey Rolfe, Lord Cranworth   28 November 1862

Holwood | Bromley

28 Novr 1862.

My dear Mr Darwin

At this time of the year I become your debtor as my Almoner for the parish of Downe—1 I therefore enclose a cheque of which you will perhaps at your leisure acknowledge the receipt—

I was pleased to hear from Lady Cranworth a short time ago that she had seen & conversed with you & that you appeared very well—2

I hope that Mrs Darwin is now well, though I believe she was not so when Lady C. called—3

Believe me | yours very truly | Cranworth

1
Almoner: ‘An official distributor of the alms of another’ (OED). CD was treasurer of the Down Friendly Club and the Down Coal and Clothing Club (Freeman 1978); in addition, he apparently distributed Cranworth’s annual subscriptions to a day school and a Sunday school in Down (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to John Lubbock, 14 December [1859]). CD’s Account book–cash account (Down House MS) records a payment of £10 10s. on 30 November 1862 under the heading ‘Ld Cranworth Subscription for several Down Charities’; the receipt of Cranworth’s cheque is recorded in CD’s Account book–banking account (Down House MS) on 3 December 1862. The Down Coal and Clothing Club account book (Down House MS) records a payment of £2 2s. from Lord Cranworth on 29 November 1862.
2
Laura Rolfe, Lady Cranworth. In a letter to William Erasmus Darwin of [13 November 1862] (DAR 219.1: 66), Emma Darwin wrote: ‘They had a visit from Lady Cran[worth]. when I was away & a little flirtation with her always pleases your father’; according to her diary (DAR 242), Emma was in London from 8 to 12 November.
3
Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242) records that she had been ‘feverish’ with a ‘bad cold’ at the end of October.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3833,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3833