The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: 24/1/76. ¶ ¶ I have to propose an other Candidate for the L.S., ¶ Linnean Society. ¶ ¶ dear Mr Kippist, namely Jesse Young Esq, the Astronomer and bot Collector of Mr Giles's last Expedition. ¶ SeeE...

Document information

Physical location:

Linnean Society, London, Miscellaneous loose letters, Fellows'files, Mueller, F von, letter no.1. 76.01.24a

Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Richard Kippist, 1876-01-24 [76.01.24a]. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1870-9/1876/76-01-24a-final.odt>, accessed May 15, 2026

Annot at ed [? by Kippist]: Wrote to Mr Peckover, encl Certifs &c, March 28/76. Alexander Peckover ' s address used by the society was Harecroft House, Wisbeach.

24/1/76.

I have to propose an other Candidate for the L.S.,

Linnean Society.

dear Mr Kippist, namely Jesse Young Esq, the Astronomer and bot Collector of Mr Giles's last Expedition.

See E. Giles (1889) for descriptions of Young's roles; he is not specifically described as 'astronomer' or 'botanical collector', although there are many mentions of Young collecting plants.

There is no Jesse Young listed in the 'Lists of the Linnean Society of London 1875-84'.

His Adress in London is in Rawling's Hotel, [J]ermyn Street, his country adress Osborne House, Wisbeach, Cambridgeshire.

Should Mr Guilfoyle, the Curator of the bot Garden here, present himself anew for a Candidate, after he not paid his former subscription, then I am not supporting his election again.

For William Guilfoyle ' s original nomination , see M to R. Kippist, 18 March 1869 (in this edition as 69-03-18a), and notes thereto.

Guilfoyle claimed in a letter to the Linnean Society on 8 December 1893 (Miscellaneous letters, vol. 3. p. 6) that after he was first elected (1869) he was in trouble 'owing to the failure of my sugar plantation', but that 'rather than seek reelection I paid up for the six or seven years that intervened'. The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of Lon d o n, session 1875-6, p. v, report that Guilfoyle was elected at the meeting of 6 April 1876. Guilfoyle's 1893 letter explained that he was again in debt. Although in arrears he formally resigned his Fellowship by a letter, 25 February 1894 (p. 20), as he was in debt '£3200 to Land Companies' and faced insolvency. An annotation on the letter indicates that he was £3 in arrears when he resigned.

Is he elected? He makes use of the FLS in print, yet I see not his name in the last list.

Should Mr Guilfoyle ... last list has been crossed through with a faint double pencil line.

Regardfully

Ferd von Mueller.