JDH confides to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer that he is worried Asa Gray is travelling more than is wise given his health & age, Mrs Gray has informed JDH that Gray has gone to Washington for a Smithsonian meeting. Gray & [Miles Joseph] Berkeley are the last surviving old friends of JDH's father Sir Willliam Jackson Hooker, JDH has known Gray since 1838. JDH has just heard of the death of his brother in law Henry Francis 'Frank' Symonds. JDH thanks WTTD for his & [George] King's honoraria payment for the Straits' Flora. JDH reports that he has had many letters regarding his speech & will send WTTD a copy; he never writes down his speeches beforehand but can recall what he said & record it for WTTD. He also thanks WTTD for his personal & professional sympathy regarding the Copley [medal] affair. JDH asks WTTD to second Sir Edmund Giles Loder's candidature for the Athenaeum Society.
Transcript
greif[sic]--she must be a person of no ordinary ability.
The Honoraria for the Straits' Flora that you have suggested is abundant & I thank you much. I hope that King*5 will so consider his, & I do not doubt it.
I am overwhelmed with letters about my Speech! Though none are so welcome as yours, for your generous sympathy with the whole Copley*6 affair in its Scientific aspect; quite apart from personal feeling, or rather over & above that--, has touched me deeply, both one & the other. I had, when your letter arrived, just written it out for Lady Hooker*7 -- who will send you a copy. I had no difficulty in doing this verbatim -- for though I never write out a sentence of my addresses, I [1 deleted word illeg] cover[?] them so assiduously that I can put down afterward every word that I intended to say, & believe I did say -- & could add
THE CAMP,
SUNNINGDALE
4/12/[18]87*1a
Sunday
My Dear Dyer*1
This is sad news about A Gray*2 -- I fear he may harm himself being out in his illness. A letter from Mrs. Gray, two days ago, spoke of his setting off for Washington to attend a meeting of the Smithsonian, which I should have thought to be rash at his age, & in an American winter. To me it is very sad, he & Berkely*3 are the last of my father's old friends. I remember him from 1838, when we passed some[?] time in London together, after he had been for 6 weeks a guest of my father's in Glasgow.
This morning too arrived the [1 deleted word illeg] sorrowful details of poor Frank Symond's*4 end -- it was painless. His wife writes a most admirable letter, though in an agony of
greif[sic]--she must be a person of no ordinary ability.
The Honoraria for the Straits' Flora that you have suggested is abundant & I thank you much. I hope that King*5 will so consider his, & I do not doubt it.
I am overwhelmed with letters about my Speech! Though none are so welcome as yours, for your generous sympathy with the whole Copley*6 affair in its Scientific aspect; quite apart from personal feeling, or rather over & above that--, has touched me deeply, both one & the other. I had, when your letter arrived, just written it out for Lady Hooker*7 -- who will send you a copy. I had no difficulty in doing this verbatim -- for though I never write out a sentence of my addresses, I [1 deleted word illeg] cover[?] them so assiduously that I can put down afterward every word that I intended to say, & believe I did say -- & could add
more that I did intend to say, but forgot in the excitement of the moment.
It reads awfully tame to me. Will you second E. Lader's*8 candidature for the Athenaeum when in town. I proposed him, [1 deleted word illeg.] following the late W.E. Hubbard*9, a few years ago, but I had not asked anyone to second him -- as I make a rule of leaving that to the last, in the hope of seconding a member who would be present at the election. His No. in the book of Candidates is 6164. Dec[ember] 17/[18]72
With love to Harriet*10 | I am affectionately yours | Jos. D. Hooker [signature]
1a. This date has been added in a hand not that of Joseph Hooker.
1. Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). British botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (1885--1905). He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He also married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
2. Asa Gray (1810--1888). American botanist, traveled with Joseph Dalton Hooker through the American West in 1877
3. Miles Joseph Berkeley (1803--1889). English cryptogamist, mycologist and clergyman
4. Henry Francis Symonds (1855--1887). Son of Rev. William Symonds and brother of Lady Hyacinth Hooker. British vice-Consul in Tonga from 1880--1886, he transferred to Samoa where he became gravely ill. He returned to Tonga, where he died in the mission house at Nuku'alafa in October 1887, aged 32.
5. Sir George King (1840--1909). Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta and Cinchona cultivation in Bengal, 1871--1898. First Director of the Botanical Survey of India, 1890--1898. King was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1901. He was recognized for his work in the cultivation of cinchona and for setting up a system for the inexpensive distribution of quinine throughout India through the postal system
6. Hooker was awarded the Copley Medal, the oldest and most prestigious award of the Royal Society, in 1887
7. Lady Hyacinth Hooker, née Symonds then Jardine (1842--1921). Joseph Hooker's second wife, they married in 1876.
8. Sir Edmund Giles Loder, 2nd Baronet, (1849--1920). English aristocrat, landowner and plantsman.
9. William Egerton Hubbard (1812--1883). Merchant whose family had established business interests in Arkhangelsk Saint Petersburg, Russia.
10. Harriet Anne Thiselton-Dyer née Hooker (1854--1945). Oldest child of Joseph Hooker and his first wife Frances. Botanical illustrator and wife of William Thiselton-Dyer.
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