Steuart’s Lodge | February 5th 1845.
John,
It has given Mr Steuart and me very great pleasure to hear that you are getting on so well, and we sincerely hope you will continue to prosper and meet with every encouragement in your professional career.
I now write to say that I believe it is in your power to do a little matter which would both oblige and gratify Mr Steuart: he wishes to have a porch built to this house, and the architect being in London, requires a sketch (he does not care how rough) of the front elevation: as you have the etching of it with you, I hope you will not think me unreasonable in asking you to let me have just a rough pencil sketch from it, one that will not take you more than an hour to draw: I can give the heights required by Mr Robertson,1 and forward it to him: he must know the length of front, height of walls, string course &c. &c. all of which I can add to the sketch: but on no account do we wish that you should devote time to it, or take the least trouble about finishing it, all of which is quite needless. Mr Steuart is anxious to get a plan, in order to have everything provided as soon as possible, and have it commenced the moment the weather will allow.
I feel most anxious to hear if you have succeeded in detecting the errors in your rival’s2 line of rail road, and should like much to receive a long letter from you, telling me all particulars. With every good wish, in which Mr Steuart unites I remain
Your sincere friend | E.D. Steuart
John Tyndall | Post office | Halifax | England3
RI MS JT/1/TYP/10/3323
LT Transcript Only
Mr Robertson: unidentified person; possibly a carpenter whom the Steuarts had hired to build their porch.
your rival: Tyndall’s then-employer Richard Carter was the Surveyor of the West Yorkshire Railway. In 1845, the West Yorkshire Railway was competing with a rival company for Parliamentary approval of its railway plans.
John Tyndall | Post office | Halifax | England: address given by Louisa Tyndall.
Please cite as “Tyndall0317,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 2 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0317