31st December 1864
My dear Mrs. Clausius
I have reproached myself over and over again for not replying to your letter.1 But I was first tempted to delay my reply in order that I might write to you in German: afterwards I was taken away from London for a time,2 and was otherwise so entangled in my work as to be unable to write to you as I wished to do. Let me now say that though in England I have always declined becoming a godfather, when the letter of your husband3 came to me, asking me to stand in this relation to your first boy,4 it gave me the deepest gratification. It proved to me that he cared something about me, and among my many friends there is not one whose friendship I rate higher than his.
I hope Johnny is strong and hearty; I hope he is able to cry for his bread and milk; and to make his mother attend properly to his wants. If the silversmith has done his duty the little man will receive, in company with this letter, a goblet, which you are to fill with the proper beverage, and present to the little man in order that he may drink his godfather’s health.
This is the last day of the old year and before it speeds away let me wish you & your husband & Johnny and the little girls,5 a happy new one.
Let me also offer you my very best thanks for the great kindness you have shown to my friend Frank Wynne.6 You have been kind to the son of a noble father,7 and of one of the most excellent mothers8 that I have ever known: She is gone,9 but the father, believe me, is grateful to you for all that you have done for his boy.
With best love to Johnny. | Believe me | Yours ever truly | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/168
to your letter: letter 2191.
taken away from London for a time:
letter of your husband: Rudolf Clausius; letter 2147.
first boy: Rudolf John (‘Johnny’) Clausius.
little girls: Mathilde (1861–1907) and Helene (1863–1919). Future children were Hedwig (1866–1946), Alfred (1868–1950), and Else (1872–1954).
Frank Wynne: Frank George Wynne. Tyndall had recommended Wynne to Clausius who helped him get settled in Germany.
noble father: George Wynne.
most excellent mothers: Anne Wynne (née Osborne, 1808–64), the daughter of Sir Daniel Toler Osborne of Beechwood, Tipperary. She married George Wynne in 1834. The Wynnes had three sons (Henry, Edward, and Frank), to whom Tyndall sometimes sent letters, and one daughter, Lucy.
gone: Anne Wynne died on 29 May 1864.
Please cite as “Tyndall2205,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on