To Richard Kippist   24 January 1876

24/1/76.1

 

I have to propose an other Candidate for the L.S.,2 dear Mr Kippist, namely Jesse Young Esq, the Astronomer and bot Collector of Mr Giles’s last Expedition.3 His Adress in London is in Rawling's Hotel, [J]ermyn Street, his country adress Osborne House, Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire.

Should Mr Guilfoyle, the Curator of the bot Garden here, present himself anew for a Candidate, after he not paid his former subscription, then I am not supporting his election again.4 Is he elected? He makes use of the FLS in print, yet I see not his name in the last list.5

Regardfully

Ferd von Mueller.

Annotated [?by Kippist]:Wrote to Mr Peckover, encl Certifs &c, March 28/76. Alexander Peckover’s address used by the society was Harecroft House, Wisbeach.
Linnean Society.

See Giles (1889) for descriptions of Young’s roles; He is not specifically described as ‘astronomer’ or ‘botanical collector’, although there are many mentions of Young collecting plants.

There is no Jesse Young listed in the ‘Lists of the Linnean Society of London 1875-84’.

For William Guilfoyle's original nomination see M to R. Kippist, 18 March 1869 (in this edition as 69-03-18a), and notes thereto.

Guilfoyle claimed in a letter to the Linnean Society on 8 December 1893 (Miscellaneous letters, vol. 3. p. 6) that after he was first elected (1869) he was in trouble ‘owing to the failure of my sugar plantation’, but that ‘rather than seek reelection I paid up for the six or seven years that intervened’. The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, session 1875-6, p. v, report that Guilfoyle was elected at the meeting of 6 April 1876. Guilfoyle's 1893 letter explained that he was again in debt. Although in arrears he formally resigned his Fellowship by a letter, 25 February 1894 (p. 20), as he was in debt ‘£3200 to Land Companies’ and faced insolvency. An annotation on the letter indicates that he was £3 in arrears when he resigned.

Should Mr Guilfoyle ... last list has been crossed through with a faint double pencil line.

Please cite as “FVM-76-01-24a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/76-01-24a