From John Lubbock to Francis Darwin 22 February 1882
High Elms, | Hayes, | Kent.
22 Feb 82
Dear Mr Darwin1
I return the enclosed which I have signed with pleasure.2
I am | Yours very truly | John Lubbock
Mrs Darwin will be interested to hear that the House has this afternoon expelled Bradlaugh3
Footnotes
‘(F.)’ is pencilled between ‘Mr’ and ‘Darwin’.
The enclosure was Raphael Meldola’s certificate for election as a fellow of the Royal Society of London (see letter to H. W. Bates, 17 February 1882).
Charles Bradlaugh had been repeatedly elected MP for Northampton. He initially refused to take the required oath on the grounds of unbelief; his offer of an affirmation was refused, as was his later offer to take the oath. (ODNB.) In a letter to George Howard Darwin on 28 February 1882 (DAR 210.3: 41), Emma Darwin wrote, ‘The Bradlaugh affair is disgusting & why they did not accept his offer of lying by until an affirmation bill was brought in I can’t think— It is the only just way out of the scrape—’ Bradlaugh’s expulsion from Parliament was reported in The Times, 23 February 1882, p. 8.
Summary
Returns certificate he has signed with pleasure.
Emma Darwin will be interested to hear that Charles Bradlaugh was expelled from Parliament.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13697F
- From
- John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
- To
- Francis Darwin
- Sent from
- Hayes, Kent
- Source of text
- Dominic Winter Auctioneers (dealers) (6 April 2022, lot 237)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13697F,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13697F.xml
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