Queenwood College | October 28th. 1854.
My dear Dr. Tyndall,
I hope you are quite well. We are going to have the bonfire on the 31 I think for one of the boys told me that some of the masters told him that we were going to have it on the third A great many of the boys asked me if you were coming down to see it when I had your last letter2 and I said you did not say you were but I hope you are. On Wednesday I had a tooth taken out I had the tooth ache on Monday and Tuesday and my cheek sweled3 very much after it was taken out and Power4 had it worse than me and he had his tooth taken out at the same time and his cheek sweled as much as mine and we had to be in bed all Wednesday but I did not care I only missed a half-holiday and that is not much and it was very wet and Mrs Harrington5 did not come but she came on Thursday, my bed was under a window that looked out into the play-ground and I could hear all the boys crying out and playing &c. my gums hurt a little now but it not much. I sleep in the same bed as I used too in number five so if you come you will know where I sleep. They play sometimes with nurs6 now but I dont play when they play with nurs because I dont want to run the risk to have some of my teeth knocked down my throat like Henry Aster7 had. James Coats8 had one of his teeth knocked out and his lip very much hurt. The fourth and fifth classes changed class rooms a good while ago, Cozens9 and W. Fox10 send their love to you
I remain | Your affectionate Friend | Tommy Grieve.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/465
LT Typescript Only
bonfire on the 3: earlier it was discussed that the bonfire would take place on 5 November (see letter 0983, n. 6).
your last letter: letter missing.
sweled: misspelling of ‘swelled’.
Power: A. B. Power, a student at Queenwood. Not further identified.
Mrs Harrington: not identified.
nurs: LT Notes: ‘?’. Not further identified.
Henry Aster: a student at Queenwood. Not further identified.
James Coats: James Coats (n.d.), a student at Queenwood. He was likely one of five brothers to Sir Thomas Glen-Coats (1846–1910), who was also educated at Queenwood (‘Coats, Sir Thomas Glen’, in The County Families of the United Kingdom, vol. 59 [London: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne, & Co. Ltd., 1919], p. 230). They were the sons of Thomas Coats (1809–83), a prominent Scottish thread manufacturer (ODNB).
Cozens: J. Cozens is identified as the Curator of Botany for Queenwood College’s Mutual Improvement Society, listed in the Queenwood Observer 2:5 (31 August 1854), p. 35.
W. Fox: one of six sons to a local doctor (see letter 0800, n. 29) and a student at Queenwood. He was listed as the ‘Curator of Entomology’ for the Mutual Improvement Society in 1858 (‘Mutual Improvement Society’, Queenwood Observer 6:1 [27 February 1854], pp. 1–8, on p. 2).
Please cite as “Tyndall0990,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on