WCP3770

This is a postcard; the side on which the correspondence is written bears the stamp of Imperial College Huxley Collection and is numbered 208 and 119.

Year inferred from the postmark.

Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903). English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist and political theorist. He conceived evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms and the human mind, culture and societies.

Ramsay, John William Maule, 13th Earl of Dalhousie (1847-1887). Scottish naval commander, courtier and Liberal politician, served as Secretary for Scotland in Gladstone’s short-lived 1886 administration. He married Lady Ida Louisa Bennet (1857-1887) in 1877. They had five sons. After returning from a trip to the United States in November 1887, the couple were forced to break off their journey in Le Havre after Lady Dalhousie was taken ill. Despite medical attention she died of peritonitis, aged 30. After retiring to bed the same night, Lord Dalhousie never awoke, having apparently suffered from an apoplectic fit during the night. He thereby survived his wife by less than 24 hours, dying at the age of 40.The Death of Lord and Lady Dalhousie was commemorated in a poem by William McGonagall which included the verse "Those that sent wreaths were but very few, / But one in particular was the Duke of Buccleuch; / Besides Dr. Herbert Spencer, and Countess Rosebery, and Lady Bennett, / Which no doubt were sent by them with heartfelt regret".

The side on which the address is written is postmarked "BOURNEMOUTH N DE 2 87".

Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). English biologist (comparative anatomist), philosopher and advocate of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.