To Bryceson Brothers & Co.   [after June 1868?]1

Sir

As I am informed that you have not received full payment for the organ, which was ordered by the Revd Mr Horsman for the church of this Parish,2 & as I am further informed that you very properly wish to sue him, I write to say that I have been told that his address is 1 Elm Court Temple G. But I suspect that this address is only for letters.3 Some months ago my servant saw him repeatedly in the neighbourhood of Cavendish Sqr, & I have just learned by an odd accident that the address where he lives or did recently live is 20 Harley St. Cavendish Sq,4 & there he could possibly be caught. I shd be glad if the information – of any service to you in recovering your just debt & in punishing the man.

Sir | Your obd servt | Ch. Darwin

ADraftS

1
The date is conjectured by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868], and by the date of CD’s visit to his brother in March 1868 (see nn. 2 and 4, below).
2
In his letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868], CD had proposed writing to Messrs Bryceson concerning payment for the new organ, after it had been suggested that the curate, Samuel James O’Hara Horsman had ‘pocketed the money & never paid for it’.
3
The return address on Horsman’s letter of 2 June [1868] was 1 Elm Court, Edward Keogh Esqre. Keogh is listed as a barrister at this address (Post Office London directory 1868).
4
CD had been in London from 3 March until 1 April 1868, staying for the first week at the house of his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin, at 6 Queen Anne street, Cavendish Square (see ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 16, Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 ordered] after del ‘ordered’
1.2 the Revd] interl
1.3 very properly] interl
1.3 say] above del ‘inform you’
1.3 have been told] above del ‘am reliably informed’
1.4 Elm Court] interl
1.4 But] above del ‘But’
1.4 suspect] before interl del illeg
1.4 address] after del ‘is his’
1.4 is only] interl
1.5 Some] after del ‘alone. As the’
1.6 just learned] above del ‘lately’
1.6 that the address] below del ‘[illeg] by a paper’
1.8 caught.] before del ‘&’
1.9 just] interl
1.9 man.] after del ‘gentle’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6526,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6526