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To George Moultrie Salt   5 February [1868]1

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

Feb 5.

Dear Sir

I have received the enclosed note & shd be much obliged if you will act for me & take whatever steps are proper. Please to observe he refers to me as C. Darwin instead of C. R. Darwin.

I was not the least aware that any money was standing in my joint name belonging to the late Mrs Bayley. I was appointed Executor to Major Bayley with a legacy of £100;2 but by the advice of your late father3 did not receive the legacy & refused to act, as the will had to be referred to the Court of Chancery.4 This is all that I know of the affair & I trust that you will take proper steps to keep me out of any legal difficulties.

Pray believe me yours very faithfully | Ch. R. Darwin

P.S. I have written to Mr Horner5 to say that you will act for me, & therefore, if you please, you can communicate direct with him.

C.D.—

To | Mss Salt & Sons

[Enclosure]

Market Drayton

Feb 4. 1868

Dear Sir

By the death of Mrs T. Bayley a sum of £2000 [illeg] 3 per cent standing in the names of R. W. Darwin decd. C. Darwin & T. C. Eyton becomes my absolute property,6 I request therefore that you will take the earliest convenient opportunity of having it transferred to my own name and an answer to this will oblige,

I am | Dear Sir | Sinly Yours | J. Horner.

C. Darwin Esq.

LS(A)

1
The year is established by the enclosure.
2
The references are to Sarah Bayley and Thomas Bayley, of Myddle, Shropshire. The conditions of Thomas Bayley’s will made CD one of the trustees of Sarah Bayley’s estate, which consisted of £2000. The trustees were each to receive £100 for the management of the trust. The interest on the estate was to support Sarah Bayley, and any remainder was to be paid annually to Thomas Bayley’s nephew, John Horner. (Will of Thomas Bayley, Shropshire archives 6241/1/44/1.)
4
Thomas Bayley’s will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1 June 1844. The transcript records that CD and one of the other trustees, Thomas Campbell Eyton, ‘renounced probate’. (Will of Thomas Bayley, Shropshire archives 6241/1/44/1.) The records of the case in the Court of Chancery are in The National Archives (1868 H86 Horner v Darwin: TNA C 16/498/H86).
5
John Horner resided at Shropshire Street, Market Drayton, Shropshire (Post Office directory of Gloucestershire, with Bath, Bristol, Herefordshire, and Shropshire 1863, 1870).
6
The references are to Robert Waring Darwin and Thomas Campbell Eyton, a Shrewsbury friend of CD’s and a contemporary of his at Cambridge University.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.3 late] interl in CD’s hand
4.1 P.S … Sons 5.1] in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5839G,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5839G