Ɛpsilon

WCP5300

Letter (WCP5300.5844)

[1]1

DOWN,

BECKENHAM, KENT.

RAILWAY STATION

ORPINGTON. S.E.R.

Nov[ember]. 28 / [18]80

My dear Hooker2

I sh[oul]d. very much like to see Frank3 an F[ellow]. [of the] R[oyal]. S[ociety].4 before I die. It appears to me very doubtful whether a father ought to propose a son: I did not do so (or not by name at all even[?]) in the case of George,5 but then there was the additional reason of my not knowing mathematics. — Will you be so kind as to tell me what you think on this Lead?[?] Should you object to proposing [2] him? I am sure that this w[oul]d. please him much more than my doing so[?]. But I forgot you are (I suppose) on the Council6 & cannot (I believe) back or propose a man. Will you let me hear what you think & [1 word illeg.] the Council. Like an ass I did not keep [a] list of [the] Council.

Forgive your old friend from troubling you. —

Ever yours | C. Darwin7 [signature]

[3] P. S. I was delighted to get your note about Wallace — whom I pity much. — I have hardly ever wished for anything so much as to get him on to [the] pension list.8 —

1
The document is foliated, ff. 500-501, with the postscript on f. 500v.
2
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer, founder of geographical botany. He succeeded his father William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on his death and held the post for 20 years.
3
Darwin, Francis ("Frank") (1848-1925). Botanist, third son and seventh child of Charles Darwin.
4
The learned society for Science was founded in November 1660 and granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II.
5
Darwin, George Howard (1845-1912). English barrister, astronomer and mathematician, second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1879.
6
The governing body of the Royal Society is its Council and its members are elected by and from the Fellowship. Election to the Fellowship is decided by ten sectional committees (each covering a subject area or set of subject areas) which consist of existing fellows. Joseph Hooker was a member of the Council of the Royal Society, 1864-1880. He agreed to propose Francis Darwin for a Fellowship and he was elected on 8 June 1882, the same year in which his father died.
7
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). English naturalist and geologist, jointly with ARW originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection and author (1859) of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
8
The controversy over ARW’s advocacy of Spiritualism in the 1870’s affected the public perception of his work for the rest of his career. When, in 1879, Darwin first tried to rally support among naturalists to get a civil pension awarded to Wallace, Joseph Hooker responded that ARW had antagonised the committee of his section of the British Association, not only on account of his adherence but by initiating a discussion on Spiritualism at one of its sectional meetings. However, Hooker eventually relented and agreed to support the pension request.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP5300.5844)]

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 “WCP5300,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5300