WCP3814

Letter (WCP3814.3732)

[1]

Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon

Oct.[obe]r 27th. 1878

My dear Sir Joseph1

The "Epping Forest2 Committee" have got an idea that no "scientific man" is required, and a further idea that I should work to make "a Kew Gardens"3of it the Forest ! To counteract this idea, and to explain what I think should be done in order to deal best with the forest, and take full advantage of the grand opportunity now afforded, I have written an article in the forthcoming "Fortnightly Review"4,— which I sincerely trust [2] will meet with your approval.

I shall send copies of this article to the members of the Committee; and try & excite public interest in the subject through the press. There is however a mode of influencing the Committee that would probably be most effectual, and in which I think you can help me. The "Epping Forest Act 1878"5 under which the Committee are appropriated, also requires a Ranger to be appointed by the Crown. I have a veto on all Appointments, Bye laws &c. It is [3] said the Duke of Connaught6 is to be Ranger. The Act also (Sect. 37 and 62) named the "First Commissioner of Works" as the official adviser of the Ranger, and as I believe you are on very good terms with Mr. Noel7 perhaps you could interest him in my plan for the restoration & improvement of the Forest, and if through his advice the Ranger were to give a hint to the Committee of his wishes as to some such plan as were being carried out, & my being entrusted [4] with8 the work I have very little doubt that it would be at once attended to.

If after having read my article you would take the earliest opportunity to speaking on the subject to the "First Commissioner of Works" you could confer on me a favour for which I should be very grateful.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Sir Joseph Hooker C.B. Pres[ident]. R[oyal]. Soc[iety].9

1
Great 19th century British botanist and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, KCB, FRS (1817 — 1911). Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and one of Charles Darwin’s closest friends. Hooker, along with Charles Lyell, played a vital role in the relatively peaceful co-publication of Darwin and Wallace’s papers on the theory of evolution by natural selection in 1858.
2
Epping Forest is ancient woodland and former royal forest in south eastern England, between the north eastern portion of the Greater London area and Essex. In this same year (1878), ARW authored an important article for future management of the forest and published "On Epping forest and how best to deal with it".
3
Kew Gardens, or more properly the "Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew", encompasses 121 hectares of gardens and greenhouses in south-western London, England between Richman and Kew. The Gardens, containing the world’s largest collection of living plants, are internationally distinguished for their efforts botanical research and education.
4
First printed in May 1865, The Fortnightly Review was one of the most influential magazines in nineteenth century England.
5
The Epping Forest Act 1878 prevented the enclosure of the forest by landowners (which would have privatised the land) and stopped subsequent shrinkage of the forest. It would eventually become known as the "The People’s Forest". No longer a royal forest, Epping Forest was given to the care of the City of London Corporation. As ARW notes, the act also set up positions for those conserving and managing the forest: Superintendent, Ranger, etc.
6
The title of Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was first given by Queen Victoria to her third son, Prince Arthur (1850 — 1942).
7
The first man appointed First Commissioner of Works of Epping Forest [?]
8
Two numbers are written vertically in the top left-hand corner of this page: 293 (typed in blue ink) and 298 (handwritten—though not in ARW’s hand—in black).
9
Hooker was elected President of the Royal Society in 1873.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3814.3732)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Clerx, William [2012-08-16] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Please cite as “WCP3814,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3814