To Thomas Wilson   27 August 1884

Melbourne,

27 Aug. 1884

T. R. Wilson Esqr

Undersecretary.

 

Sir,

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday,1 conveying the Chief Secretary's approval of Mr Gerhard Renner's appointment of junior Assistant in the Gov. Botanists Department vice Léon Henry resigned.2

Pray express to the hon. Graham Berry my best thanks for having sanctioned this proposition, and kindly inform the hon. Gentleman, that the kindness, thus shown by the Chief Secretary will be brought on my request by Mr Renner with Mr Berry's name at once under the notice of her Imperial Highness, the Crown princess of Germany,3 who caused on her private expense this orphan to be educated during a period of six years. I have no direct communication from H. Imp. Highness; but letters carried by Mr. Renner from his uncle and granduncle in Germany, both divines, bear out the patronage thus shown in a most generous and condescending manner by the Princess Royal of England to young Renner. If I was wrong, in not mentioning this at once in my submitting his name, then I can only say that I really did not know how to act because I feared, it might appear that I had merely recommended his appointment on account of high patronage, not in consequence of merit.

I have the honor to be

Sir, your obed.

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

Mr Renner will enter on his duties to morrow, 28. Aug. 1884.

See T. Wilson to M, 26 August 1884.
See also L. Henry to M, 25 July 1884; M to T. Wilson, 25 and 28 July and 15 August 1884 (in this edition as 84-05-15a); and M to G. Berry, 20 August 1884, regarding Henry's resignation and replacement.
Princess Victoria Adelaide, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and wife of Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia.

Please cite as “FVM-84-08-27,” 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/84-08-27