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To Bryceson Brothers & Co.   [after June 1868?]1

Sir

As I am informed that you have not received full payment for the organ, which was ordered by the Revd Mr Horsman for the church of this Parish,2 & as I am further informed that you very properly wish to sue him, I write to say that I have been told that his address is 1 Elm Court Temple G. But I suspect that this address is only for letters.3 Some months ago my servant saw him repeatedly in the neighbourhood of Cavendish Sqr, & I have just learned by an odd accident that the address where he lives or did recently live is 20 Harley St. Cavendish Sq,4 & there he could possibly be caught. I shd be glad if the information – of any service to you in recovering your just debt & in punishing the man.

Sir | Your obd servt | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The date is conjectured by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868], and by the date of CD’s visit to his brother in March 1868 (see nn. 2 and 4, below).
2
In his letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868], CD had proposed writing to Messrs Bryceson concerning payment for the new organ, after it had been suggested that the curate, Samuel James O’Hara Horsman had ‘pocketed the money & never paid for it’.
3
The return address on Horsman’s letter of 2 June [1868] was 1 Elm Court, Edward Keogh Esqre. Keogh is listed as a barrister at this address (Post Office London directory 1868).
4
CD had been in London from 3 March until 1 April 1868, staying for the first week at the house of his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin, at 6 Queen Anne street, Cavendish Square (see ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 16, Appendix II)).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.

Summary

Reports the whereabouts of S. J. O’H. Horsman, who has failed to pay for an organ he ordered.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6526
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Bryceson Brothers & Co.
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 96: 68
Physical description
ADraftS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6526,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6526.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16

letter

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