[1]1
Wykeham House:
Oxford.
May 3 : 1921.
Dear Mr Wallace2,
I returned from Paris last night & so have only just seen your letter. I think it possible that you do not fully understand the situation. I am sure there is nothing derogatory in accepting such help any more than in doing so from the civil list3 itself. It is really a distinction & a recognition of your father’s work. Benefactors have given a fund4 to the Roy[al]. Soc[iety].5 to help distinguished people & their families if they need it — not necessarily Fellows but especially fellows. The Fund is not [2] sufficient to provide pensions but it can give sums to help in temporary difficulties. I can see no essential differences between this and the Civil List: if in fact the Prime Minister in considering the list submits the scientific applications to the R[oyal]. S[ociety]. C[ommitt]ee. which administers the Fund for their opinion.
Why should you therefore incur any anxiety in about this surgeon’s fee6 when the Royal Soc[iet]y C[ommitt]ee. is most willing to helping just such a difficulty? They have at once accepted [1 word illeg. struck through] my suggestion & they wish to allow me to act on their behalf. So too about the Pension: [3]7Surely you will not object to my friendly pointing out that the sum, altho[ugh].
nominally the same, is not of the same value as it was 6 years ago? The original decision was only arrived at after some application by friends: indeed it can hardly be done in any other way for any friends know the circumstances.
Well, I hope you will see that these wishes to help are not quite the sort of thing you had in mind.
[4]With kindest regards, | Yours sincerely, | E. B. Poulton8 [signature]
[The following calculation appears in pencil at the foot of the page, probably in the hand of the recipient]
14
33
442
1212
£3110
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6169.7144)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Envelope addressed to "W. G. Wallace Esqre, Doveshill Cottage, Ensbury Mount, Bournemouth", with stamp, postmarked "OXFORD | [?] PM | 3 MAY 21"; additional postmark on front. [Envelope (WCP6169.7145)]
Please cite as “WCP6169,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6169