WCP2367

Letter (WCP2367.2257)

[1]1, 2, 3

Sept[ember]. 10/[18]78

Dear Mr Wallace

I have just returned from wandering in Ireland, the slave of wind rain & mist — which guided or rather frustrated my movements.

I will sign any memorial4 in your favo[u]r with pleasure — but fear I do not turn a soul (or rather a body as Corporations have notorious[l]y[?] no souls) in the Corporation5.

V[er]y[?] sinc[erel]y[?] Y[our]s[?] | JD Hooker6 [signature]

1
Text across the top left corner in another hand reads "Answered | Mem[orial]. sent".
2
Text in another hand in the top right corner reads "4" and below this "401".
3
In the centre of the page next to the date is the embossed mark of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In 1865, Hooker had succeeded his father as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. ODNB.
4
Wallace had written to Hooker asking him to sign a memorial (a statement of facts) in his favour, in support of his application for the new post of Superintendent of Epping Forest (WCP 3812.3730).
5
In 1878, the Epping Forest Act apponted the Corporation of London as conservators of the Forest. From 152 candidates for the post of Superintendent, Wallace was on the shortlist of three, but was not appointed. Raby, Peter (2002). Alfred Russel Wallace, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 354pp. [220].
6
Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). Botanist. In 1858, Hooker and Charles Lyell had arranged for Darwin and Wallace's papers on the theory of evolution to be read at a meeting of the Linnean Society. ODNB.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2367.2257)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP2367,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 23 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2367