WCP3771

Letter (WCP3771.3684)

[1]1

4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE,

ABBEY ROAD,

N.W.

January 3 1881

My Dear Darwin2

I have no doubt your Memorial,3 which I return herewith will succeed —

I was very sorry not to be able to pay you a visit just now but the necessity of Lectures at 10 A[nte] M[eridien] on Mondays keeps me [2] prisoner between October & February[.]4

I hope soon to have the Classification paper to send you[.]

With best wishes for 1881 to you & Mrs Darwin[.]5

Yours affectionately | T. H. Huxley6 [signature]

Wife7 is getting a little better & consequently wants to wait on the whole family[.]8

1
The page is numbered 202 in pencil in the top RH corner.
2
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). English naturalist and geologist, originator with ARW of the theory of evolution by natural selection and author of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
3
In a letter of 7 January 1881 (WCP1988), Darwin informed ARW that he had drawn up "… a memorial to Mr Gladstone with respect to your services to science. The memorial was corrected by Huxley, who has aided me in every possible way." The memorial was sent to the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone on January 5th and Darwin received a reply from him on the 7th recommending ARW for a pension of £200 per annum.
4
Huxley became Professor of Natural History at the Royal School of Mines, later to become part of Imperial College London, in July 1854. He occupied the chair for 31 years, undertaking work on vertebrate palaeontology and many projects to advance the place of science in British life. Typically he gave lectures at 9 am, followed by a program of laboratory work supervised by his demonstrators, who all became leaders of biology in Britain later on, spreading Huxley's ideas as well as their own.
5
Darwin, Emma (née Wedgwood) (1808-1896). Wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin (see Endnote 2). They were married in 1839 and were the parents of 10 children, three of whom died at early ages.
6
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). English biologist (comparative anatomist), philosopher and advocate of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.
7
Huxley, Henrietta Anne (née Heathorn) (1825-1915). Wife of Thomas Henry Huxley.
8
Huxley and his wife Henrietta Anne had five daughters and three sons: Noel (1856-1860), Jessie Oriana (1856-1927), Marian (1859-1887), Leonard (1860-1933), Rachel (1862-1934), Henrietta (Nettie) (1863-1940), Henry (1865-1946) and Ethel (1866-1941).

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3771.3684)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2018-08-15]

Please cite as “WCP3771,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3771