From ‘Bronsomerulay’ Frazier1 [2 November 1877]
Handed in at the Edinboro Nicholson St Office at 11.10 .M. Received here at 12.10 .M.
From | Bronsom[erualy] Frazier | 8 Tarvit St | Ellinboro2
To | Dr Charles Darwin | Down | Beckenham Kent
At Meeting of Students at Ellingburgh University it was Unanimously agreed that you be requested to allow yourself to be nominated as Candidate for Lord [Rectoghh]3 Immediate reply Nominate tomorrow
Footnotes
The name Bronsomerulay Frazier is an artefact of the telegraph system, and may represent more than one surname. The telegram is a pink carbon copy, accompanied by a separate address slip cut from a form and filled in with ink. The slip, which may have been requested by CD to clarify the name of the sender, clearly reads ‘Bronsomerulay Frazier’, whereas the apparent forename on the telegram is unclear.
Eight Tarvit Street, Edinburgh, was a tenement building containing several households (Scottish census returns). One or more of them may have rented a room to a student.
The lord rector was elected by the students to represent them on the governing body of the university. In 1877, Spencer Cavendish, eighth duke of Devonshire, was elected rector (The Times, 20 November 1877, p. 4).
Summary
A student meeting at Edinburgh University has unanimously voted to nominate CD as candidate for lord rector, if he will agree to stand.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11224
- From
- ‘Bronsomerulay’ Frazier
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Edinburgh
- Postmark
- NO 2 77
- Source of text
- DAR 202: 102
- Physical description
- T
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11224,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11224.xml
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