Whitehall | 9 March /55.
My dear Tyndall,
I have just returned from Ireland. I find Mr Gooch1 has sent the iron stays2 viz one that covered the crown of the fire box and one of the adjoining longitudinal stays, as they are rather heavy articles to send about perhaps you could make time to call here – to-morrow I have to attend the funeral of a little girl3 a cousin that was very dear to me, but on Monday unless something unforeseen should occur I shall be at my office all day from 11 a.m. in case I should be out, I will leave word with Mr Hardy the office keeper4 to shew you into my office and lay before you the specimens. Or if to-morrow would be more convenient come – in fact in every way consult what will be most convenient to yourself and I shall feel obliged.
Most truly yours | Geo. Wynne.
RI MS JT/1/5/1854
LT Typescript Only
Mr Gooch: Daniel Gooch (1816–89), an acolyte of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was the chief engineer of the Great Western Railway,
the iron stays: ‘The ends of the boiler are strengthened by wrought-iron double ribs, which are rivetted upon them, reaching from side to side, and to which the wrought-iron stays are attached that extend the whole length of the boiler and brace the two ends to each other’ (R. Armstrong, A Rudimentary Treatise on Steam Boilers; Their Construction and Practical Management (London: J. Weale, 1850), p. 117).
the funeral of a little girl: Possibly Catherine Beevor Wynne, aged about 15, who was buried on 10 March 1855 in the parish of St Thomas, Charlton, Greenwich (Ancestry).
Mr Hardy the office keeper: not otherwise identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall1051,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on