From E. F. Lubbock to Emma Darwin [c. 29 November 1873]1
Dear Mrs. Darwin
Why do the heathen so violently rage together? he will have all the parish against him. I don’t know whether Beaumont is still on the School board—or if he was only on the Farnboro’ one—but I have written to him on the chance. We shall get our way, I don’t doubt, & I will break out with a chessboard or some more books if we do.2
I hate begging—so now you will perceive I am going to beg. Yesterday I was at the Busks’, & Mr. Busk was groaning & lamenting over his Presidency of the Anthro—(I never can spell the horrid word)—Society—the name irritates him, as it does John, & it isn’t the right one.3 We never wanted to be merged & swallowed whole in and by this mushroom society, with no good men in it— So I said well, why not alter it back to the Ethnological, which was the first & real root of the thing?4 To which he said despondently that they were in debt £700.
I said we would collect it: on which he brightened up & said if we could screw together half that, he should be in a position to say “take this if you become the Ethnological again: otherwise it will be returned to those who gave it.”5
Now I want Mr. Darwin if he will to head the subscription: his name will go so far— I don’t ask for the actual money, because we may never come to realize the sum wanted: but I ask for his name & a promise of something, if we see our way. John would help I know, but I don’t like to speak for him. Poor old Mr. Crawford would have given every penny he had, in fact I should think he turned in his grave when his pet Society was named after his bitterest enemies.6 Will you ask Mr. Darwin to suggest a few people we might apply to.—
I am afraid I beg badly— I never did it but once before—but I am rather heart & soul in this matter. You see John was President for some years & the amalgamation or rather swamping of his society vexed him very much.7
I hope you won’t think me very meddlesome I felt so sorry for Mr. Busk—I don’t think he’s well, either.
With love to you all I am yours affectionately EFL
Footnotes
Bibliography
Moore, James Richard. 1985. Darwin of Down: the evolutionist as squarson-naturalist. In The Darwinian heritage, edited by David Kohn. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press in association with Nova Pacifica (Wellington, NZ).
Rainger, Ronald. 1978. Race, politics, and science: the Anthropological Society of London in the 1860s. Victorian Studies 22: 51–70.
Stepan, Nancy. 1982. The idea of race in science: Great Britain 1800–1960. London: Macmillan in association with St Anthony’s College, Oxford.
Stocking, George W., Jr. 1987. Victorian anthropology. New York: The Free Press. London: Collier Macmillan.
Summary
Wants the Anthropological Society renamed the Ethnological Society. Is trying to raise funds toward payment of the Society’s debt.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8700
- From
- Ellen Frances Hordern/Ellen Frances Lubbock
- To
- Emma Wedgwood/Emma Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 170: 16
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8700,” accessed on 11 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8700.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21