My dear Tyndall,
I have just seen my cousin Mr Wynne the Under Secretary,2 he says he has not received your memorial3 yet – how has this happened? if you have not received an official acknowledgement you had better write again. He says the proper channel is thro’ the Lord Lieutenant’s private Secretary, but had it come to him it would have done quite well – I am sure you will have his interest in the matter and I think unless good interest is brought to bear against you that you are pretty sure of the appointment, he said he was sure I would not have interested myself in the matter unless you were in every respect a proper person, I told him he was quite right there and that you would be a credit to any Government that appointed you and that I believed the professors of the College themselves were very anxious you should be appointed. I am writing in great haste – write to me
Sellerna | near Clifden | Co. Galway
Believe me very truly yours | Geo. Wynne
Mr Wynne’s address is –
John Wynne Esq. | Under Secretary’s office | Castle | Dublin
RI MS JT/1/TYP/5/1848
LT Transcript Only
[26 July–mid August 1852]: this letter clearly refers to Tyndall’s application for the position at Galway in mid 1852. Wynne had offered to write to his cousin to secure his support for Tyndall’s appointment (see Journal, 28 June, JT/2/13b/572–3). It is unclear when Tyndall sent in his application: in mid-July he sent his testimonials to Francis’s contact, Dr. Edmund Ronalds (journal entry of 12–18 July, JT/2/13b/577); he probably submitted the full application soon after. There is a break in his journal between 25 July and 26 August, when he wrote, ‘My application and testimonials are safe in Dublin. First in acknowledgement I received a note signed by Lord Naas, and to a second letter I received an acknowledgement from Mr Wynne the Under Secretary’ (JT/2/13b/580). This letter seems to have led Tyndall to write a ‘second letter’, to which he received an answer before 26 August. Thus, this letter dates between late July and mid-August, 23 August at the latest. Tyndall was ultimately unsuccessful in his application (see letter 0679).
Mr Wynne the Under Secretary: John Arthur Wynne.
your memorial: Tyndall’s application for the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Galway.
Please cite as “Tyndall0654,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 3 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0654