Ɛpsilon

From G. H. Darwin   [c. 17 July 1871]1

14 Arling. St | Piccadilly

My dear Father,

I have enquired about the Will from one of the pupils at Tatham’s & who was a Solicitor for about 10 years.2

He says that it is usual for the Testator & witnesses to sign at the foot; & on every other page—the testator signing at the bottom & the witnesses at the left hand margin. At the same time the will is quite good as it is & he seemed to think it hardly worth while doing anything. If it is to be resigned the last or witnessing clause must be copied out again underneath the other & then the signing done with same witnesses all thro’, but he seemed to think it wd be rather odd having two signatures one under the other tho’ no harm; He said lots of wills pass Probate with only one signature only if he had to execute one afresh, he’d do it on every page.

yrs, | G. H Darwin

1
The date is established by George’s address, the reference to the will, and the relationship between this letter and the letter from G. H. Darwin, [17 July 1871] (Correspondence vol. 19). George had lodgings at 14 Arlington Street, London, while he was studying law from 1869 to 1872 (see Correspondence vols. 17–20).
2
CD planned to add a codicil to his will to reflect the marriage settlement he was making for Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta became engaged to Richard Buckley Litchfield in July 1871 and married him on 31 August (Correspondence vol. 19, letter from G. H. Darwin, [17 July 1871]). George studied law with Charles Meaburn Tatham from October 1869 until 1872 (Correspondence vol. 17, letter from G. H. Darwin, [18 October 1869]); he was called to the bar on 30 April 1872, but never practised (Men-at-the-bar, ODNB). The other pupil has not been identified.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6765,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6765