To W. D. Fox 4 [September 1863]
Villa nuova | Malvern Wells
Friday 4th.
My dear Fox
I have had a bad amount of sickness of late & came here yesterday; & as I could get no country in Grt. Malvern we are here & I have put myself under Dr. Ayrehurst, though very sorry not to be under Dr. Gully.1 Emma came here a day or two first & took this house.2
And now I come to the painful subject which makes me write at once. Emma went yesterday to the church-yard & found the gravestone of our poor child Anne gone.3 The Sexton declared he remembered it, & searched well for it & came to the conclusion that it has disappeared.4 He says the churchyard a few years ago, was much altered & we suppose that the stone was then stolen.
Now some years ago, you with your usual kindness visited the grave & sent us an account.5 Can you tell what year this was? I was so ill at the time & Emma hourly expecting her confinement that I went home & did not see the grave.6 It is not likely, but will you tell us what you can remember about the kind of stone & where it stood; I think you said there was a little tree planted. We want, of course, to put another stone. I know your great & true kindness will forgive this trouble.
Your affect | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Medical directory: The London medical directory … every physician, surgeon, and general practitioner resident in London. London: C. Mitchell. 1845. The London and provincial medical directory. London: John Churchill. 1848–60. The London & provincial medical directory, inclusive of the medical directory for Scotland, and the medical directory for Ireland, and general medical register. London: John Churchill. 1861–9. The medical directory … including the London and provincial medical directory, the medical directory for Scotland, the medical directory for Ireland. London: J. & A. Churchill. 1870–1905.
Metcalfe, Richard. 1906. The rise and progress of hydropathy in England and Scotland. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co.
Post Office directory of Birmingham: Post Office directory of Birmingham, Warwickshire, and part of Staffordshire. Kelly’s directory of Birmingham, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. London: W. Kelly; Kelly & Co. 1845–1928.
Smith, Brian S. 1978. A history of Malvern. N.p.: Alan Sutton & The Malvern Bookshop.
Summary
His bad health has caused him to return to Malvern.
Emma cannot find the gravestone of their child, Anne. Asks WDF whether he can remember its location.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4292
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Malvern Wells
- Postmark
- SP 4 63
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 140)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4292,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4292.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11
