Wandsworth Common | 26 June 1854
Dear John.
I received my accustomed & most welcome invitation to join the party that meet annually at Birch Wood.1 The father of the Club my old friend Edward Newman2 expressed a hope that you would join the party and, I can assure you it will give me increased pleasure if I can count upon you as companion for the day.
I have forgot, the manner of your disposing yourself about the month of July as the meeting is to take place on the 12th, will you take the matter into consideration & let me know. If you can join me I will arrange the mode of travelling.
Henry Hill tells me that Hirst is wandering through Ireland & Scotland3 – Do you think he will return in time.4 I think it a good practice that we should have some annual meeting & if this does not fit all parties we must seek some other opportunity.
My Mary & boys5 are all well for which I thank God. I am getting an old kermudgeon & want some chastisement.
Commend me to the kind Hirst when you write & believe me very affectionately
James B Bevington
Dr. John Tyndall | Royal Institution
RI MS JT/1/B/94
Birch Wood: the Entomological Club held an annual field day and social dinner at Birch Wood in Kent County in July (F. Smith, ‘Captures on the Birch-Wood Day’, in E. Newman [ed.], The Entomologist, vol. 2 [Bishopsgate: Edward Newman, 1964–5], p. 210). Not further identified.
Newman: Edward Newman (1801–76), leading London naturalist who specialized in entomology and botany. Together with four others in 1826, Newman established the Entomological Club. In 1840 he established and edited The Entomologist and its successor The Zoologist until 1863. He was a notable opponent of Darwinism and used his journals as vehicles for spreading anti-evolutionism (ODNB).
Ireland & Scotland: for Hirst’s accounts of his travels see letters 0942; 0949; and 0953.
return in time: Hirst suggested that 12 July may be too early for such a meeting (see letter 0949).
My Mary & boys: Bevington’s wife and sons. Not further identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall0944,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on