JDH informs his wife Frances Hooker, that he has arrived at Tangier having taken a slow boat, the 'Lady Havelock', from Mogadore [Essaouira]. He now hopes to transfer to a China passenger ship bound for London, called the 'Burmah', which will provide a faster passage. [Edward] Crump will complete the journey to England on the 'Lady Havelock' with the luggage.
Transcript
Gibraltar
June 13th /[18]71
Dearest F.*1
We left Mogadore [Essaouira] last Wednesday & arrived at Tangier last night, where I left Ball*2, & came on here. This Boat (the Lady Havelock) is a very slow one & I expect to get take a passage hence to England in the Burmah, a large China passenger ship just put in & which sails at 2 this afternoon for London & will I hope arrive in England on Sunday.
I shall keep this open till the last hour, in case I am disappointed of a passage by the Burmah -- if I add nothing you may expect me by that vessell[sic].
I received yours of 24th May at Tangier -- Many thanks. Crump*3 & luggage come on by this boat.
Ever with much love | Y[ou]r aff[ectionate] | J. D. Hooker[signature]
1. Frances Harriet Hooker née Henslow (1825--1874). Joseph Hooker's first wife, they married in 1851 and had seven children. Frances was the daughter of naturalist John Stevens Henslow (1796--1861). She assisted Joseph Hooker significantly with his publsihed work and translated from French: A General System of Botany, descriptive and analytical by Emmanuel Le Maout and Joseph Decaisne (1873). She died suddenly, perhaps of an undiagnosed heart condition, aged 49.
2. John Ball (1818--1889). Irish politician, naturalist and alpine traveller. Under Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855--1857, in which role he advanced the natural sciences including aiding efforts to publish colonial floras. A keen naturalist he published papers on botany and glaciers but is best remembered as an alpinist. He travelled to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco with Joseph Hooker in 1871.
3. Edward Crump (d.1927/8). Gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1871. Accompanied Joseph Hooker, George Maw and John Ball on a botanical expedition to the Atlas Mountains, Morocco in 1871. Later became a market gardener at Whitnash near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
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