53 Harley St | London | June 11. 1855
My dear Sir,
Your letter1 was rightly addressed to me; Thursday2 was the evening, & as our party was only beginning at the hour (10 ¼) which you mention I can only account for our not having had the pleasure of seeing you by supposing that the ‘muscular power’ which you & the coachman expended was exerted on the knocker of my friend Dr Fitton’s house 53, Upper Harley St.3
I hope another time we shall be more fortunate. If you think the naming & numbering of our Streets are a disgrace to the Post Office & worthy of the English at Balaclava4 I quite agree with you
ever sincerely yours | Cha. Lyell
RI MS JT/1/L/47
Your letter: letter missing.
Thursday: 7 June 1855.
Dr Fitton’s house 53, Upper Harley St: Harley Street runs north-south, with Harley Street, Upper (where the physician and geologist William Henry Fitton (1780–1861) lived) extending to the north of Weymouth Street. Lyell’s residence was south of Weymouth Street. On 7 June Tyndall recorded in his Journal: ‘Went to Lady Lyell’s at 10 o’clock but found my journey a vain one. Knocked loud enough to shiver the timbers of the door but nobody came. Returned without forcing an entrance’ (RI MS JT/2/13c/751).
worthy of the English at Balaclava: The Battle of Balaclava was fought on 25 October 1854, as part of the war in Crimea. It included the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade in which, owing to the misunderstanding of an order from Lord Raglan, the Russian artillery was able to decimate the cavalry of the Light Brigade. Out of a total of about 670 men, some 110 were killed and a further 160 wounded, together with many of their horses. Lyell is here comparing the incompetence of the Post Office in failing to give streets unique names to Raglan’s blunder, which is often cited as one of the greatest blunders of British military history.
Please cite as “Tyndall1096,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on