No. 1
Buxton, October 9th 1865
My dear Sir Henry
The papers will ere this have announced to you the sad loss I have experienced […] I have lost in my father a companion of 25 years2 (we having one commmon object in life) and because the circumstances of his death were peculiarly sad to me. He was but 4 days ill, and on the third I was seized with rheumatic fever and lay imobile in an adjoining chamber during his decease […] after six weeks illness I was brought here where I am recovering […] my father has a very kind unanswered letter from you, dated August 3rd […] The Board of Works […] have given me the Directorship, the duties I shall endeavour to conduct as zealously (though I fear they will never be as efficiently) as my father […] Poor Mueller will miss my father terribly, more perhaps than anyone on that side of the Globe. Bentham and I have both written to him,3 and he is vastly pleased with a box of plants that he has received from Kew.4 I shall do everything I can to gratify him. If the Victorian Govt. would recommend him for a Knighthood, I should suppose there will be no difficulty; and if my opinion were worth asking it should be most strongly in his favor, and I would quote Schomburg5 as an in every way inferior precedent.6 …
Please cite as “FVM-M65-10-09,” 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/M65-10-09