To John Lubbock   [1871 or later]1

My dear Sir J. L.

All the inhabitants of this place hope that you will endeavour to induce the Post Office to give us better Telegraph communication.2 At present we have to send 4 miles to Orpington; which is a great inconvenience & it is a still greater one that persons telegraphing here naturally direct to B. or B;3 & we consequently have to pay for 3 or 6 miles carriage, & much delay is caused.—4 The Authorities originally intended to give us a T., as the Box & apparatus was sent long ago to the Post-Office here.—5 As you well know, Down though a small, is a thriving place, well supplied with shops, & is a little metropolis for a large rural district.— We all hope that you will lay our case before the Post [Ath]

& I remain Dear Sir John | yours very sincerely | C. D.

Draft

1
The year is established by the references to Post Office telegraphs and the telegraph office in Orpington. The Post Office took over the telegraph system from the railway companies in 1870. A Post Office telegraph office was first recorded at Orpington Station in 1873, but may have existed earlier (Post Office guide 1873).
2
John Lubbock was MP for Maidstone from 1870 to 1880 (ODNB).
3
Beckenham or Bromley.
4
The radius for delivery of telegraph messages free of charge to the recipient was one mile; for distances over three miles, the charge was 1s. per mile (see e.g. Post Office guide, January 1873, pp. 33–4).
5
Down did not receive a telegraph service until 1896 (Poulton 1896, p. 35).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 All … place] above del ‘I’
1.3 which is … greater one] interl above del ‘but we chiefly suffer from no one knowing that there is no Telegraph station’
1.4 we … pay] above del ‘then carriage for’
1.5 carriage, ] above del ‘has to be paid for’
1.5 & much … caused.—] interl
1.5 much] above del ‘put’
1.5 is] interl
1.5 Authorities] after del ‘Post’
1.6 , as the Box] after del ‘after’
1.7 here.—] above del ‘at Down.’
1.8 little] after del ‘kind of’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7057,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7057