Ɛpsilon

From Emma Darwin to G. S. Ffinden   [22? November 1873]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Saturday

Dear Mr Ffinden

Sir John & Lady Lubbock2 as well as Mr Darwin & myself are anxious to establish the Reading Room for the winter months as we did formerly, & I shall be much obliged to you to inform me whether I ought to apply to the School Board for permission to use the School room for that purpose.3

My application would also have much greater weight if you were inclined to join in the request.

We should of course have to pay a woman to put the schoolroom in complete order every morning before the school assembles.

With kind regards to Mrs Ffinden4 | very truly yours | Emma Darwin

1
The date is conjectured from a discussion of a dispute with Ffinden over the use of the schoolroom in a letter from Emma Darwin to Horace Darwin, postmarked ‘29 November 1873’ (DAR 258: 585). Emma was in London from 8 to 18 November 1873 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). In 1873, 22 November was a Saturday.
3
For more on this request and the resulting dispute, see the letter from E. F. Lubbock to Emma Darwin, [c. 29 November 1873] and n. 2, the letter to Down School Board, [after 29 November 1873], and J. R. Moore 1985, pp. 471 and 480.
4
Frances M. Ffinden.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9121F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9121F