To W. E. Darwin 11 September [1876]
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Sept. 11th
My dear dear William
All is over. She was quite unconscious all yesterday & the Doctors thought her sinking yesterday afternoon, but she lasted till this morning & expired at before seven, & I saw her expire.1
There is only one miserable consolation that she did not suffer in the least & never knew that she was leaving Frank for ever, Poor dear sweet gentle creature.— And, now I am going to beg a favour of you in the strongest terms.— I know that you will wish to come to the Funeral (which I hope & suppose will be here) but I request you not to come: the journey will be bad for you & the grief & agitation. I will hereafter explain to Frank that you do not come at your Father’s earnest request.2
God knows what will become of poor Frank, his life will be a miserable wreck. He is too young to care for the Baby, which must be brought here & I trust in God we may persuade him to come here & not to live in his house surrounded by memorials of her.3 It is the most dreadful thing which has ever happened, worse than poor Annie’s death, though not so grievous to me.4 I cannot bear to think of the future. No Father ever had better children then we have & you are one of the best of all.— God bless you.— I hope you keep pretty well Tell us always about yourself.—
Your mother keeps up her strength well & I have persuaded her to take some opium which has answered well.— Poor Bessy suffers terribly.
Your affectionate Father | C. Darwin
P.S | They have decided that she shall be buried in Wales.5
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Keynes, Randal. 2001. Annie’s box. Charles Darwin, his daughter and human evolution. London: Fourth Estate.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Post Office directory of the six home counties: Post Office directory of the six home counties, viz., Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78.
Summary
Reports the death of Francis’ wife, Amy.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10593
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Erasmus Darwin
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- SP 11 76
- Source of text
- DAR 210.6: 143
- Physical description
- ALS 7pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10593,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10593.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24