To Octavian Blewitt 27 March [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
March 27th.
Mr Darwin presents his compliments to the Secretary & is sorry to say that from the state of his health & other circumstances he must decline the honour of acting as Steward at the Annual Dinner of the Literary Fund.—2
Footnotes
The year is established from the date on the file of correspondence in which this letter was archived.
Blewitt was secretary of the Royal Literary Fund, an institution that gave financial support to writers; the annual dinner was the fund’s principal means of raising money (Janet Adam Smith, ‘A short history’, Royal Literary Fund, History, https://www.rlf.org.uk/home/our-history/ (accessed 20 August 2019)). In 1860, the dinner took place on 16 May (The Times, 17 May 1860, p. 12).
Summary
Declines the honour of acting as Steward at the Annual Dinner of the Royal Literary Fund.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2733F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Octavian Blewitt
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The British Library (Loan 96: RLF 4/15 1860 file 3)
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2733F,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2733F.xml
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