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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Horace Darwin   [28 June 1879]1

[West Hackhurst, Abinger Hammer, Surrey.]

My dear Horace—

I send the enclosed for you & Ida to read— Please return it, that I may send it to Henrietta & she to William, & then my trouble will be over.2

Good bye dear Jemmy: it is the greatest pleasure which I can have in life that I shall leave you all comfortably provided for. | Yours affect | C. Darwin

[Enclosure]3

In July 1871 William carefully estimated the value of our property, & ascertained that on my & my wife’s death, each son wd receive £30,500. Since then I have saved so much that the sum will be about £33,000. By Erasmus’ will each child will receive some thousands & by Mr Rich’s bequest several thousand more. Therefore each of my sons will have at least £40,0004

At present I allow each son £400 annually, & half a year ago I determined to divide annually the overplus of my income, which if this overplus were only £1900 wd give £300 to each son, & this will make £700 a year to each son.5 But probably it will be more, for during the last ten years I have invested on an average £2728 annually; & this wd give to each son an income of £429 making whole income £829.

But of course my income may fall off a little

June 25—1879—

Footnotes

The date is established by CD‘s pencil annotation ‘June 28th June 1879 Horace’ on his draft of both letter and enclosure (DAR 262.11: 17 (English Heritage 88206204)).
Horace Darwin asked Ida Farrer to marry him in June 1879, although the engagement was not made public until October (letter from T. H. Farrer, 12 October 1879 and n. 1). CD also intended to send the enclosure to his daughter Henrietta Emma Litchfield, and son William Erasmus Darwin.
The enclosure is in Emma Darwin’s hand.
William’s estimate of CD and Emma Darwin’s property was probably carried out in the context of the forthcoming marriage of his sister, Henrietta, which took place in August 1871 (see Correspondence vol. 24, Supplement, letter from W. E. Darwin, 15 August 1871 and n. 3). Anthony Rich planned to bequeath some London property to CD in recognition of CD’s contribution to human knowledge; CD accepted on behalf of himself and his children (Correspondence vol. 26, letter from Anthony Rich, 7 December 1878, and letter to Anthony Rich, 9 December 1878). The only bequests to CD’s children under the terms of Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s will at the time of his death in 1881 were £100 each to William and George Howard Darwin, who were his executors; the bulk of his estate was left to CD (The Times, 7 October 1881, p. 4).
On CD’s division of his surplus income, see the letter to the Darwin children, 21 February 1879.

Summary

Sends an enclosure [a statement of CD’s finances and estimate of the inheritance his children may expect] for HD and Ida to read; CD very pleased to be able to leave his children comfortably provided for.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-12384
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Horace Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 185: 5, 20
Physical description
ALS 1p, mem 3pp & ADraftS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12384,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12384.xml

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