Ffinden was vicar of Down and had been chairman of the Down School Committee. The Darwins had previously been involved in a series of disputes with Ffinden, including one over Ffinden’s objection to the use of the Down schoolroom as a reading room for working men in the evenings; see Correspondence vol. 23, letter to J. B. Innes, 10 May [1875] and n. 6. Ffinden’s resignation from the committee had been prompted by Francis Darwin, now serving on the committee, seeking the election of a new chairman, to whom Ffinden refused to be subordinate; see Moore 1985, p. 472.