Ɛpsilon

WCP7283

Letter (WCP7283.8488)

[1]

(1)

16, Bryanstone Rd

Bournemouth.

May. 6th. 1936.

Dear Sir Edward Poulton,1

I was very pleased to hear from you again and to know that you are well. It has certainly been a very trying spring so far.

I have no very definite recollection of my father’s2 note books but I think the Linnean Society would be the best place for them to be preserved. I presume they contain nothing which has not been published long ago. I still have my father’s best hat. It seems rather absurd to keep it but I dont [sic] like to destroy it. Can you suggest any alternative?

We have sold our ‘Doveshill’ property and are now in lodgings while a new house is being built for us.

Our elder boy3 went to Sherborne last term but was only there about 10 days when he got influenza & made such a slow recovery that they sent him [2] home for the remainder of the term. He is back at school now & they appear to be taking special care of him. He likes Sherborne very much – they certainly look after & feed the boys very well there. I think I told you that the headmaster is A. R. Wallace!4

My sister5is still living near my aunts6 at Hurtpierpoint.7She is much crippled by arthritis but is otherwise well.

I have not heard for a long time from the german who was writing a biography8 of my father & I do not know whether it has been published.

With kind regards, yours very sincerely | W.G.Wallace9 [signature]

I met Sir James Marchant10 yesterday[.] He is very well & is taking like more leisurely of late years.

1
Poulton, Edward Bagnall (1856-1943). British Entomologist. Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College.
2
Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823-1913). British naturalist, scientist, explorer, author, social campaigner, and humanitarian.
3
Wallace, Alfred John Russel (1922-2017). Second of WGW’s three children.
4
Wallace, Alexander Ross (1891-1982). Headmaster of Sherborne School 1934-1950.
5
Wallace, Violet Isabel (1869-1945). Daughter of ARW; teacher.
6
WGW and Violet’s aunts were Rose Elizabeth Mitten (c1848-?), Flora Mitten (1850-1941) and Bessie Jordan Mitten (1854-1936).
7
Home of the Mittens, Treeps, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England.
8
Hornung, Eugen of Karlsruhe-am-Rhein, Germany (no dates or biographical details found). He sought information from William Greenell Wallace related to his proposed biography of ARW on a number of occasions (see WCP6355, WCP6364, WCP6365, WCP6366, WCP6367 and WCP6368). There is no record of a biography by him having been published.
9
Wallace, William Greenell (1871-1951). Son of ARW. Married Elizabeth Carr Whittle (1888-1976) on 29 September 1919 and had three children: Elizabeth Anne (25 December 1920 - 3 January 1921), Alfred John Russel Wallace (6 March 1922 - 9 February 2017).
10
Marchant, James (1857-1956). British eugenicist, social reformer, and author. Biographer of ARW.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP7283.8488)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Chua, Christine [2025-01-07]

Please cite as “WCP7283,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP7283