WCP3651

Author’s draft (WCP3651.3554)

[1]

[No address]

Nov[ember] 19131

Mrs Russel Wallace,

Broadstone,

Wimborne.

Dear Madam2,

As president of the Royal Geographical Society3, and on behalf of the Council, I desire to assure you of our deep sympathy with you in the loss which you have sustained by the death4 of your distinguished husband, Alfred Russel Wallace. Dr Wallace was a life member of our Society, having joined it so long ago as 1854, and was thus one of the oldest members on the list. [Note added in handwriting] He was awarded our Founder’s gold medal5 in 1892.

On his eminent services to Science I need not enlarge. His contributions to geographical knowledge, both in the Amazonian basin and in the Malay Archipelago, were of the highest rank, and some of his earliest contributions on these subjects are published in the original journal of the Society6. His interest in geographical science continued to the end, and his researches had a powerful influence in directing our subject into scientific lines.

He is porobably the last of the great scientific pioneers who began their work in the early decades of the last century, tho whose labours all departments of science are indebted for the [2]7 advanced stage which they have now reached.

Believe me to be, dear Madam, | Yours sincerely, | [no signature]

President, R[oyal]. G[eographical]. S[ociety].

1
No day given in date. The letter is a typed copy, on which there is no signature (see Endnote 8)
2
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914).
3
A learned society and professional body for geography and geographers, founded in 1830.
4
ARW died on 7 November 1913.
5
The RGS Gold Medal originated as an annual gift of fifty guineas from King William IV. It was awarded for the first time in 1831, for the encouragement and promotion of geographical science and discovery. In 1839 the Society decided that this sum should be converted into two gold medals of equal value, to be designated the Founder’s Medal and the Patron’s Medal.
6
The Geographical Journal is a scholarly journal established in 1831, published by the Royal Geographical Society of London.
7
The number "2" is typed in the centre of the top of the page.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Author’s draft (WCP3651.3554)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2015-06-10] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-06-10] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP3651,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3651