From B. J. Sulivan 25 December 1877

Bournemouth

Dec^r. 25. 77

My dear Darwin

Many happy Xmas and new years to you all. We are rather a poor lot just now, as my wife is the only well one, Sophy and I bad colds, and Fanny—confined to her bed—but getting better.¹

I was so much pleased at seeing your son with his very nice and bright wife at M^r. Langton’s, I wish they could have remained a little longer.² My eldest son, commanding Britomart at Cowes, has also being preparing for being married one day to a daughter of a very good clergyman—Light—the Rector of Dover, we hear from many quarters that she is a most excellent girl clever and bright, and that he is fortunate to have got her. Unfortunately he is 5^ft. 5ⁱⁿ. she 5f^t. 8 inches. His frequent visits in gunboat to Dover on Coast Guard duty for some time past has brought this about. They have one good thing in Common They are both “total abstainers”.³

I do not think I have told you that I saw poor Jemmy Johnson⁴ at Southsea lately: and old age I find prevents my recollecting as I ought. He is still paralysed in one arm and leg; and though cheery v much like what he was, yet now and then his mind evidently failed him, and he would mix up past events curiously; but fully alive to all old Beagle days, & much interested in hearing all I could tell him of you. His pretty daughter, deaf and dumb from 7 years old through fever—but married four years since to a fine clever young Engineer Officer, & with a dear little girl—I found to my surprise able to hear a little, and recovering speech so much that she could give me a message for my daughters.⁵ His poor son’s death evidently weighed on his mind still. So clever passing 1. 1. 1—& drawing beautifully from a boy, dying, as a young Lieut—of Drink.⁶

I was delighted with the reception at Cambridge⁷

I do not think I sent you our Magazine with account of journey in Patagonia. I enclose the leaves.⁸

Footnotes

1

Sulivan’s wife was Sophia Sulivan; Sophia Henrietta Sulivan and Frances Emma Georgina Sulivan were his daughters.

2

William Erasmus Darwin married Sara Sedgwick on 29 November 1877 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). They spent part of their honeymoon in Bournemouth, where they visited Charles Langton (letter from Sara Darwin to Emma Darwin, [3 December 1877] (DAR 210.5: 23)).

3

James Young Falkland Sulivan was commander of HMS Britomart at Southampton from 1876 until 1879. He married Eleanor Evelyn Light, the daughter of William Edward Light, rector of St James’s, Dover. Both were supporters of the temperance movement, as was Sulivan himself (Sulivan ed. 1896, p. 392).

4

Charles Richardson Johnson.

5

Johnson’s daughter, Blanche Lily Julia, married Henry Edward McCallum in 1874. Their daughter Lilian Murray McCallum was born in 1875.

6

Charles Alfred William Murray Johnson died in 1868.

7

CD was awarded an honorary LLD at Cambridge University on 17 November 1877 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).

8

An article titled ‘Travels in Patagonia’ appeared in the South American Missionary Magazine (Moreno 1877). CD’s copy has not been found.