WCP6352

Letter (WCP6352.7347)

[1]1

ADMIRALTY,

WHITEHALL,

LONDON,

S.W.1.

Feb[ruary]. 15. [19]342.

Your reference: 6/2/34

Dear Wallace3,

Yes, I have an ex-Hong Kong acquaintance in the Hydrographic Dep[artmen]t. who looks after charts & soon after getting your letter I went over to see him about your query but have been too busy each evening since to write [to] you on the matter. Now I am writing at the office.

I am sorry to say that we drew a blank entirely & could not even find on any chart of the Malay Archipelago & thereabouts the name of Wallace anywhere — that is by looking through indices of the Sailing Directions & Admiralty Pilots which refer to practically every coastal feature shown on the charts. We could not find the Wallace’s line4 and the strait between Yamdena [2] and Larat5 bears a native name & not that of Wallace on the Admiralty chart. Perhaps it was formerly known by your father’s name & changed at a later survey as I am told often happens. We turned up various places mentioned in ‘My Life’6 but without result in chart7.

I am sorry not to be able to contribute anything to your records — if I can find time to turn anything up at the British Museum some day I will do so. I have a reader’s ticket to go there occasionally.

As to my own prospects — my date for release from this slavery has been fixed at Sept[ember]. 30 next. Soon after that I shall set off unless anything turns up to prevent for S[outh]. Africa & Kenya reaching the latter just before Christmas — or just after. My wife may come to S[outh]. A[frica]. with me but has decided not to go to Kenya on account of health risk in the tropical conditions there and getting there although the Highlands have a good climate most of the year. I shall stay with Arnold for a time, but have fixed up or hope to do so soon a sort of agency with one of the big electrical firms to look out for jobs for them on a commission basis which I hope may bring in a little grist to my mill for a year — possibly two. I may make similar arrangements with several firms as very few are represented by engineers out there at present & things are getting busier now.

No I haven’t read ‘Deep Water & Shoal’8 but must look out for it.

I hope you and yours are all well & enjoying life & that the goats flourish. With very good wishes to Mrs Wallace9 & the boys10 & to Mrs Whittle11 from us both12.

Yours very sincerely, | Ernest E. Bentham13 [signature]

1
The page is numbered [WP16/1/1] in pencil in the top RH corner. The words "Ans[were]d Feb[ruary]. 17" are written below in pencil.
2
Year deduced from birth and death dates of recipient.
3
Wallace, William Greenell (1871-1951) Electrical engineer, second son and third child of ARW.
4
The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by ARW after his travels in the East Indies. West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin is present. The line runs through Indonesia between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes) and through the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok, but would not appear on any Admiralty chart.
5
Larat is the northernmost of the Tanimbar Islands, in the Maluku Province of Indonesia. The town of Larat lies opposite the town of Lelingluang on the much larger Yamdena Island, across a narrow strait.
6
Wallace, A. R. (1905) My Life; A Record of Events and Opinions London, Chapman & Hall Ltd. 2 vols.
7
This sentence appears to have been inserted as an afterthought, as a line between the paragraphs.
8
Robinson, W. A. (1932) Deep Water and Shoal London, Jonathan Cape.
9
Wallace, Elizabeth Carr (neé Whittle) (1888-1976) wife of William Greenell Wallace.
10
Wallace, Alfred John Russel (1922- ), and Wallace, Richard Russel (1924-), sons of William Greenell Wallace.
11
Mother of Elizabeth Carr Wallace (see Endnote 9) and mother-in-law of William Greenell Wallace.
12
These two sentences and the valediction are written longitudinally in the LH margin.
13
Bentham, Ernest E. (no dates found) Director of Electrical Engineering at the Admiralty in 1934.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP6352.7347)]

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 “WCP6352,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6352