WCP6053

Letter (WCP6053.7003)

[1]1

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL,

HERTFORD,

HERTS.

2nd October 1916

Dear Sir2

I feel sure that you will excuse my long delay in acknowledging the receipt of the pictures when you hear that I was on active service during the whole of the holidays and only got back from France3 a few hours before term began.

As I had 22 new boys to deal with and a staff composed mainly of lady teachers, recently appointed, you will not be surprised to hear that I could not even open the package until a short time ago.

From your letter I did not think that the pictures4 would be quite such an acquisition as they are. I am hanging them in one of the new class rooms which we intend to fit up as a Geography room. The colour of the walls shows them off admirably and apart from the interest of the subjects they appear to me of considerable artistic value. Please accept our best thanks for the gift.

The war rendered our ambitious scheme for a Wallace Laboratory impossible but we have converted part of the old building into a Wallace Memorial Library which will prove an exceedingly valuable addition to our equipment5.

With renewed thanks & apologies for delay I remain

Yours sincerely | G. W. Kinman6 [signature]

W. G. Wallace Esq[uire].

1
The page is numbered [WP16/2/30] in pencil in the top RH corner.
2
Wallace, William Greenell (1871-1951) Electrical engineer, second son and third child of ARW.
3
During World War I, the author saw service with various units at home and abroad. In 1916 he was with the 3rd battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, and later in that year with the Infantry Base Depot in France.
4
These were two large paintings on canvas representing scenes in the Malay Archipelago which ARW had done to illustrate lectures (see WCP6052).
5
ARW attended Hertford Grammar School from the age of 5 years until financial difficulties forced his family to withdraw him in 1836, when he was aged 14.
6
Kinman, George William (1862-1927) A major in the British Army, he was Headmaster of Hertford Grammar School 1905-1927.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6053.7003)]

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 “WCP6053,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6053