Halifax – | June 21st 1849
My dear Tyndall –
You will be surprised on receiving this to learn that I am about to pay you a visit. I have long promised myself the treat but hesitated mentioning it until all was certain, indeed I was contemplating walking into your lodgings some fine morning without more notice & hailing you with a <Yorkshire> ‘How goes it, Old Boy’, but, however on second thoughts & by Mothers1 advice (who thinks the distance rather too far for the joke, should you happen to be absent) I write to inform you – I have been rather unwell lately & they seem desirous at home that I should make the trip more especially as our house will be shut up in August for they intend spending a short time with my Brother2 in Bristol. Carter is quite agreeable too so early in August you may expect me – I shall wait for a letter from you in answer to this wherein you will perhaps give me a little information with respect to the best route, passports &c &c anything indeed that will be necessary and useful in my journey. I am scraping up a little of my German, so as to avoid being in such a situation as poor Kuppers3 when he could not make Mr Wright understand that he wanted something to eat. –
I read with great interest your ramble to the scenes of Brave Old Martin,4 & was sorry that I could not have been with you. The Editor of the Chronicle5 sent me a paper & I have since received from him two other papers in which your letters have appeared, & which you ought to have informed us of. We are working away now at the 5th Group,6 & by the time I shall see you, we shall have done the 6th too. There are many difficulties which I hope to see solved when in Germany – As to Richardson’s Lectures7 you need not fear their interfering with your project they were confined the Elementary principles of Electricity to the exclusion of Chemistry altogether. I will bring you a programme or syllabus of his lectures which will shew you at once
I have just received a letter from a Mr Phillips at Ilkeley8 to the Following Effect –
‘My dear Sir, A letter9 has been sent to me from Thomas Carlyle which bears the superscription of John Tyndall, in which letter you are honourably mentioned. And it will give me much pleasure to make your acquaintance & to exchange good offices of help & fellowship with you. I am at present [recruiting] an exhausted body amongst these beautiful hills & woods at Ilkley & should be glad to see you here for a day or two (say Sunday & Monday next) or Saturday, if your engagements will permit. My life occupation is that of Secretary to the Huddersfield10 Mechanics Institution11 and I may be known otherwise to you as (Here he mentions seemingly an assumed name12 under which he has appeared before the public in print but the writing is such horrid stuff as if written with a stump in half a minutes time that I cannot decipher the name – but he goes on to say) ‘If you cannot come & see me here, you will find my house & me in West Parade Huddersfield any time in July: indeed I believe my house stands there now in spite of my absence – at all events write a line here & believe me with much interest
Very truly yours | Geo. S. Phillips
There is an air of originality & honesty about the fellow that interests me much and if I cannot go over to Ilkley I shall certainly go to Huddersfield & make an acquaintance <with> him & his <house. I> only fear you may <have> led them to <expect> a different fellow from plain Tom <Hirst.> But however more about this new companion when I see you –
In looking over one of your old letters I see you say the route is Hull,13 Antwerp, Cologne <(by> rail) <Frankfort> & Marburgh14 – Hotels I <should think> are the <best> places to stop at when <passing through.> My <passport> can be got in Hull I <should> think I must never shew it unless asked & they will give me information as to getting it re-signed. Must I get some of my English money changed into German at Antwerp or where? – So waiting your answer to know whether you will have me. I remain my dear Tyndall
yours very affectionately | TA Hirst
Mr John Tyndall, | care of Professor Bünsen, | <Marb>ourg, | <HES>SE CASEL | GERMANY.
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/28
RI MS JT/1/H/137
Mothers: Hannah Oates Hirst.
my Brother: Hirst had three living older brothers. He was probably referring to John Henry Hirst (1826-82), who worked as an architect in Bristol. ‘Obituary’, The Furniture Gazette (15 July 1882), p. 45.
Kuppers: Conrad Kupper.
Brave Old Martin: probably a reference to Tyndall’s visit to Martin Luther’s house in Wittenberg; see letter 0377.
The Editor of the Chronicle: this probably refers to the Preston Chronicle (see letter 0386), but the editor of this paper at this time has not been identified.
5th Group: i.e., the 5th group of chemical elements, discussed in C. Fresenius, Elementary Instruction in Qualitative Analysis, trans. J. L. Bullock (London: John Churchill, 1843); see letter 0368.
Richardson’s Lectures: lectures by William Richardson on electricity, galvanism, and pneumatics at Gainsborough, mentioned in the Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury, 19 May 1848, p. 2. There is also a reference to a lecturer named William Richardson in H. Thomson, A History of Ackworth School (London: Samuel Harris and Co., 1879), p. 249.
Ilkeley: a town in West Yorkshire, England.
A letter: probably letter 0376.
Huddersfield: a town in West Yorkshire, England.
Huddersfield Mechanics Institution: this Institution was founded in 1843 as the successor to the Young Men’s Improvement Society. ‘A short history of the University’, University of Huddersfield (7 May 2013) www.hud.ac.uk/archives/briefhistory/ [accessed 21 May 2014].
an assumed name: George Searle Phillips often published under the pen name ‘January Searle’ (ODNB).
Hull: Kingston upon Hull, a city in Yorkshire, England.
<Frankfort> & Marburgh: common nineteenth-century spellings of Frankfurt and Marburg.
Please cite as “Tyndall0378,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0378