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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Booth Bacon   10 June 1863

Penarth Harbour, Dock & Railway, | Secretary’s Office, | Cardiff

10 June 1863

Dear Sir.

I have received your Letter of 8th Inst relative to the Shares which I will place before the Directors on Monday next.1

With reference to the paying up the shares at once the Directors, I may inform you, are not receiving more now than 50 per cent of shares allotted—. they therefore would not receive more than that from you, say £22 per sh deposit & £28 per share in advance of calls.2

If this information should induce you in any way to modify your application of the 8th Inst. perhaps you will kindly inform me thereof before Monday.

Yours Truly | Booth Bacon | Secy

C. R. Darwin Esq

Down | Bromley | Kent.

CD annotations

1.1 I have … Directors, 2.1] crossed pencil
2.3 say … Monday. 3.2] crossed pencil

Footnotes

CD’s letter to Booth Bacon has not been found. The Penarth Harbour, Dock & Railway company was established in 1856 to construct a railway line in Wales from the Taff Vale Railway to the river Ely in Glamorgan, and to convert part of the river into a tidal harbour (Bradshaw’s railway guide 1863).
CD’s Investment book (Down House MS) records that, beginning in 1862, he invested heavily in the Penarth Harbour, Dock & Railway company; in 1863, he increased the value of his holding in the venture from £3000 to £7000. On 22 June 1863, CD purchased thirty £100 five per cent preference shares, paying a deposit of £22 per share; on 20 July a further £32 was ‘called up’ on each of these shares.

Bibliography

Bradshaw’s railway guide: Bradshaw’s railway almanack, directory, shareholders’ guide, and manual. London: W. J. Adams. Manchester: Bradshaw & Blacklock. 1848–62. Bradshaw’s railway manual, shareholders’ guide, and official directory. London: W. J. Adams. Manchester: Bradshaw & Blacklock. 1863–1923.

Summary

On CD’s application to pay up at once his shares in the Penarth Harbour Dock and Railway; directors’ policy is to receive payment on only 50% of shares allotted.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4211
From
Booth Bacon
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Cardiff
Source of text
DAR 160: 12
Physical description
ALS 2pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4211,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4211.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11

letter