Ɛpsilon

WCP2059

Letter (WCP2059.1949)

[1]

4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE.

ABBEY ROAD. N.W.

May 15 1881

My dear Wallace

It would be a great pleasure to me to fancy that I had been of use to you in the matter of the pension;1 but, in truth, the project originated & was carried out by Darwin2 & I have been only a very [2] willing helper & advisor

No one doubts that it was the right thing for the Prime Minister to do and the only regret is that the sum was not larger — But I believe that Mr Gladstone3 did all he could[.]

[3] Your little friends are grown to be big friends — Two are married & one has made me a grandfather —

Leonard,4 my elder boy, is six feet high & at Balliol; & even the smallest of the mites you knew is taller than his mother[.]

All within reach unite with me in [4] kindest regards & remembrances

Ever yours very [illeg.] T. H. Huxley5 [signature]

1
In 1881 ARW was awarded a Civil List pension of £200 a year by the government.
2
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
3
Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-1898). British politician; Prime Minister 1868-74, 1880-5, 1886, 1892-4; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1852-5, 1859-66, 1873-4, 1880-2.
4
Huxley, Leonard (1860-1933). Biographer, editor, and poet. Son of Henrietta Anne and Thomas Henry Huxley. Assistant master at Charterhouse, 1884–1901. Assistant editor, Cornhill Magazine, 1901–16; editor from 1916. Married Julia Frances Arnold, niece of Matthew Arnold, in 1885. (DCP)
5
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). British biologist and author, known as "Darwin's Bulldog".

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2059.1949)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Underwood, Ellie [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP2059,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2059