JDH suspects that it was [William] Aiton & [Robert] who arranged the transfer of [Francis] Bauer's drawings to the Botanical Department of the British Museum. JDH recalls a Miss Alderson who was a frequent visitor to his Aunt Palgrave, JDH's cousins Francis Turner Palgrave & William Gifford Palgrave were both in love with her - 'the Passionate Pilgrim'. JDH has spent a month working on Impatiens balsamina, a native of the Devon peninsula which has many forms he is painstakingly dissecting in water & then mounting. He also mentions working hard on Madras [Chennai] herbarium specimens for which labour he could use the assistance of the drawings Harriet Thiselton-Dyer is doing. JDH thanks Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer for sending a photo of 'the house'. Despite having bandaged legs JDH has been to see the sketches from the British Antarctic Discover expedition , he declares them the best from any naval expedition & particularly praises the ornithological drawings of Dr [Edward Adrian] Wilson.
Transcript
Nov[ember] 19 1904*1
THE CAMP,*2
SUNNINGDALE.
My dear Dyer*3
Presumably it was Aiton*4 inspired by Brown*5 who engineered the transfer of the Bauer*6 drawings to the Brit[ish] Mus[eum] Bot[anical] Dep[artmen]t.
I well remember Miss Alderson as a constant visitant for days together at my Aunt's, Lady Palgrave's,*7 at Hampstead. Both Frank [Francis Turner Palgrave] & Gifford [William Gifford Palgrave] were over head & ears in love with her, & I recognised her at once the Passionate Pilgrim.
I am in agonies over the forms of Impatiens Balsamina , & have been
Nov[ember] 19 1904*1
THE CAMP,*2
SUNNINGDALE.
My dear Dyer*3
Presumably it was Aiton*4 inspired by Brown*5 who engineered the transfer of the Bauer*6 drawings to the Brit[ish] Mus[eum] Bot[anical] Dep[artmen]t.
I well remember Miss Alderson as a constant visitant for days together at my Aunt's, Lady Palgrave's,*7 at Hampstead. Both Frank [Francis Turner Palgrave] & Gifford [William Gifford Palgrave] were over head & ears in love with her, & I recognised her at once the Passionate Pilgrim.
I am in agonies over the forms of Impatiens Balsamina , & have been
for a month: the Devon Peninsula is it's headquarters, & the forms are startling -- yet never suggesting a specific difference -- to me at least. In every case I have to dissect a flower under water, which with the removal from the mounting often takes 2 hours. I sketch every one, & all parts on the Herb[arium] sheets & keep the "preparations" gummed on slips of paper in a capsule on the sheet.
The Madras Herbarium specimens have been a heavy labor -- I very much want the drawings that Harriet [Thiselton--Dyer] has in hand. Thanks for the photo of the house; it looks very nice & will no doubt prove so.
I made an effort to see the Antarctic sketches with my legs bandaged up to
the knees (but not painfull), & they are marvellous in number[,] interest & execution -- No naval exped[ition] ever did the like -- the heads & bodies of birds by Dr Wilson*8 are the perfection of ornithological drawing & coloring -- they are absolutely alive.
I hope you will enjoy your short holiday with Harriet.
Ever aff[ectionatel]y your | Jos D Hooker [signature]
1. An annotation by hand on this letter records that it was 'ans[were]d 21. xi. 04'.
2. Joseph Hooker had a residence built in Sunningdale, Berkshire called 'The Camp'. Completed in 1882 he lived there full time, with his second wife Hyacinth and their family, after retiring from RBG Kew in 1885.
3. Sir William Turner 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 previously held professorships at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Royal College of Science for Ireland and the Royal Horticultural Society. He married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
4. William Townsend Aiton (1766--1849). English botanist who succeeded his father as director of Kew Gardens in 1793. Aiton was one of the founders and an active fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society,
5. Robert Brown (1773--1858). Scottish botanist & palaeobotanist who made contributions to botany through his pioneering use of the microscope. He explored Australia with Matthew Flinders. After the division of the Natural History Department of the British Museum into 3 sections, in 1837, he became the the first keeper of the Botanical Department.
6. Franz (Francis) Bauer (1758--1840). Austrian microscopist and botanist who became the first botanical illustrator at Kew Gardens.
7. Elizabeth Palgrave (1799--1852). Joseph Hooker's maternal aunt. Daughter of Dawson Turner and sister of Joseph Hooker's mother. She was married to historian Francis Palgrave (née Cohen).
8. Edward Adrian Wilson (1872--1912). Acted as junior surgeon, zoologist and expedition artist to the British National Antarctic (Discovery) Expedition, 1901--1904, led by Robert Falcon Scott. He later lost his life with Scott on the Terra Nova Expedition in 1912.
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