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Letter 1628

Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, J. W. (b)

10 Jan [1855]

    Summary Add

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    Reports that his intercession with Folliott Baugh [Rector of Chelsfield, Kent] has had no effect. Baugh still believes Farnborough's rights have not been attended to if entire fund is applied to the school at Down.

Transcription

Down.

Jan 10th

Dear Sir John Lubbock

I had a long interview with Mr Baugh yesterday, but fear I did no good. I gathered from his conversation that he is fully resolved (& thought himself so bound on account of his Parish) to apply to the Charity Commissioners, if you did not agree to an arbitration or pay to Farnborough half the Fund or £200; this I said I felt convinced you wd not do: He also talked of the Court of Equity, but I do not think he will keep to this, as he seemed to agree that the whole Fund wd be absorbed in Expences; & he repeated he was far from wishing to injure the Down School.—

I told him that you had stopped the workmen at the School, & that if Proceedings went on, you intended to reinvest the trust money in the Funds & turn the school into Cottages; but I do not think that this had any effect whatever, for he seemed to think it made no difference in regard to the claims of Farnborough, whether the money was still in Funds or spent on the Building.— He complains much that he was not consulted on the subject, before the foundations of the school were laid, & declares that he had no idea, till near the end of September last, that the trust-money was going to be used for the Down School. My <sta>tement regarding the impossibility of finding a site (as you yourself wd not grant one) between the two Parishes, I think, had some effect. But appar-ently he is resolved to proceed to enforce what he considers the rights of Farnborough.—

I wish I could have been of more service in this very unfortunate business. Pray believe me | Dear Sir John | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

    Footnotes Add

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    f1 1628.f1
    Folliott Baugh, rector of Chelsfield, the parish adjoining Down.
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    f2 1628.f2
    Lubbock planned to establish a school for the poor at Down dedicated to the memory of his father, Sir John William Lubbock Sr. See letters to J. W. Lubbock, 6 September [1853] and 11 October [1853]. Unfortunately, no records pertaining to the national school at Down before the 1870s have been preserved. From CD's letter, it seems likely that Baugh's parish authorities had contributed to the fund in the belief that the new school would include the children of the Farnborough area as well as those of Down. The rectory of Chelsfield and the curacy of Farnborough were in the gift of All Souls' College, Oxford. Down, on the other hand, was a benefice of the diocese of Canterbury. See letter to J. W. Lubbock, 15 [January 1855]. There was already an infant school in Farnborough supported by John William Lubbock (Post Office directory of the six home counties 1855).
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