Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   [17 November 1874]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Tuesday morning

My dear Friend

I am extremely glad that you will come here.2 It is very wise of you to exert yourself & face the inevitable as well as you can. Your proposal has deeply gratified me, for I was thinking how & when I could in any way see you.3 My poor dear friend I shall be glad when Wednesday is over.—4

Yours affectionately | Charles Darwin

1
The date is established by the reference to a visit by Hooker and his daughter Harriet Anne Hooker to Down (see n. 2, below), and by the allusion to Frances Harriet Hooker’s funeral. The notepaper is the sort that CD started to use in November 1874.
2
According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), J. D. and Harriet Hooker visited from 19 to 23 November 1874.
3
Hooker’s wife, Frances Harriet Hooker, had died suddenly on 13 November. Emma Darwin wrote of Hooker’s proposal to visit Down, ‘it pleased us very much as showing so much friendship for us’ (letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, 25 November [1874] (DAR 239.23: 1.25)).
4
Wednesday 18 November 1874 was the date of Frances Hooker’s funeral at St Anne’s church, Kew (Surrey, England, burials, 1813–1987, Ancestry.com, accessed 6 August 2013).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9728,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9728