From W. D. Fox 6 February [1863]1
Delamere Rectory | Northwich | Cheshire
Feby 6
My dear Darwin
It is now long since I have heard any thing of you.2 Is there the least hope of your being in or near London from middle of next week this the following one?3 I should so very much like to see you again. I am going to take my 3rd Boy to a school near Maidenhead, and must be a few days in or about London.4 How our children grow up— My eldest has been now near two years at Oxford5
—My 2d is in 6th Form at Repton, and promises to be clever—6 My 3d, as I said going to Maidenhead— My 2 eldest girls each with a fine boy—and the other 10 running up like willows.7
Yours I suppose are doing rapidly—while we (as one of my little ones said to her Mother a few days since) go down as they go up.
Are you a Believer in Free Martins—8 I have always found them true in practise till now. A Lady near here, whom I know well, and her twin Brother also—has one from Baby & just had a miscarriage of another.
How are Caroline Susan & Catherine?9 What ages it is since I have seen them—The former never since her Marriage. I shd much like to see her & her two girls.10
Susan I mean to offer to pay a visit to ere long, if she will have me.
That I may not tire you out I will conclude with our kindest regards to Mrs Darwin—from your old friend & cousin | W D Fox
Mr Woodds | Hillfield | Hampstead | NW | after next Wednesday 11
Footnotes
Bibliography
Alum. Oxon.: Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford, 1500–1886: … with a record of their degrees. Being the matriculation register of the university. Alphabetically arranged, revised, and annotated by Joseph Foster. 8 vols. London and Oxford: Parker & Co. 1887–91.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Darwin pedigree: Pedigree of the family of Darwin. Compiled by H. Farnham Burke. N.p.: privately printed. 1888. [Reprinted in facsimile in Darwin pedigrees, by Richard Broke Freeman. London: printed for the author. 1984.]
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Repton School register: Repton School register 1557–1910. Edited for the O. R. Society by the widow of G. S. Messiter. Repton, Derbyshire: A. J. Lawrence. 1910.
Summary
Hopes they might meet as WDF has to come to town.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3970
- From
- William Darwin Fox
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Delamere
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 176
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3970,” accessed on 26 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3970.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11