Ɛpsilon

To Robert Burn   2 December [1865]1

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Dec 2.

Dear Sir

I should be much obliged if you would enter my son Francis Darwin at Trinity for next October. I enclose his master the Rev. Dr Wrigley’s certificate2 & a cheque for entrance & caution money for £20.3

If it is possible I shd much wish my son to have rooms in college & shd therefore be very much obliged if you wd put his name down for the first chance.

I beg leave to remain | Dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles R. Darwin

To Revd. R. Burn

LS(A)

1
The year is established by Francis Darwin’s matriculation at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1866 (Alum. Cantab.).
2
Alfred Wrigley was headmaster of Clapham Grammar School. Francis Darwin attended the school from the summer of 1860 to the summer of 1866 (CD’s Classed account book (Down House MS)).
3
Caution money: ‘money deposited as a security for good conduct, [especially] by a student on entering a college’ (OED). A payment to Burn of £20 for ‘entrance for Trinity’ is recorded in CD’s Account book–cash account (Down House MS) on 2 December 1865.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

4.1 To Revd. R. Burn] in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4945,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4945