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To J. M. F. Ludlow   18 May [1875 or 1880]1

[Down.]

(May 18th)

Sir

I hope that you will excuse the liberty which I take in troubling you.— Yesterday was the annual m of the D. F Soc. has been held today & I just discovered that I have lost the annual audited the Balance sheet, which I always read aloud to the members.2 I believe that very forgetfully I sent off one copy & then a second to you, as Registrar.—3 It wd be a very great kindness if you wd return me one copy, if preserved & if 2 were sent; or lend me a copy for a short time, that I may have it copied, & the original shall be carefully returned to you, in a few days. This will be a great kindness, as I feel bound that an [authoritative] copy of the annual account shd be preserved by the Society.

Hoping that you will excuse | I remain etc

Footnotes

1
The possible years are established by the fact that the draft is on the back of a page of the fair copy of the second edition of Descent, published in 1874, and the annual general meeting of the Down Friendly Society took place on Whit Tuesday (The National Archives (TNA) (FS 1/232 626620)). CD’s draft is unclear as to whether the meeting took place on 17 or 18 May, however, between 1875 and 1881, Whit Tuesday occurred on 18 May twice (1875 and 1880) and never on 17 May.
2
CD was treasurer of the Down Friendly Society; he held the annual general meeting of the society at Down House (Freeman 1978).
3
Although friendly societies were voluntary societies, they were encouraged to register with and submit financial reports to the registrar of friendly societies in order to receive any advice needed to ensure their financial viability; because only two-thirds of societies registered with this central office, in December 1875 an Act of Parliament was passed in order to enforce registration (P. Gosden 1961, pp. 184–97). John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow was the chief registrar of friendly societies from 1874 (ODNB).

Bibliography

Freeman, Richard Broke. 1978. Charles Darwin: a companion. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.

Gosden, Peter. 1961. The friendly societies in England, 1815–1875. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Summary

CD has misplaced the annual audited balance sheet for the Down Friendly Society and wonders whether he has sent it to his correspondent in error.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9983
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 97: C25
Physical description
Adraft 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9983,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9983.xml

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