56 Cambridge Terrace | Hyde Park | January 11th 1858.
My dear Dr. Tyndall,
It is a long time since I wrote to you and I suppose you think I have quite forgotten you. On Friday as we were returning from the Tower2 we past3 the Institution4 but it was late so I did not go in to see you, but I hope I will see you some day. My eldest brother5 is in Italy just now he is in rather bad health. I am going to leave Brighton6 at Midsummer then I think I will go to school at Edinburgh for a year or two I am going out to Ceylon7 about eighteen to be a coffee planter. On Saturday when we went down to see the Leveathan8 I caught a very bad cold I don’t think it will go away for some time I must say good bye for I have no more to write.
With kind love | I remain | your affectionate Friend | Tommy Grieve.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/467
LT Typescript Only
Tommy Grieve: a student at Queenwood who corresponded with Tyndall after he left his position as a teacher there in 1853.
the Tower: the Tower of London, an historic castle situated on the north side of the River Thames.
past: Grieve wrote ‘past’ instead of ‘passed’.
the Institution: the RI.
My eldest brother: not identified.
Brighton: see letter 1365, n. 7.
Ceylon: the name of the island nation Sri Lanka under British colonial rule, to the southeast of India, which achieved independence in 1948.
Leveathan: Leviathan, officially named SS Great Eastern, was at the time the largest ship ever built. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–59), its launch on 31 January 1857 on the River Thames was a public spectacle.
Please cite as “Tyndall1479,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on