Ferdinand von Mueller

1

This volume consists mainly of transcriptions, most in the form of typescript carbon copies, of Joseph Hooker's letters. There is no indication in the volume as to the date or author of the transcriptions, or the location of the originals, and the Archivist at Kew in June 2000 had no knowledge of the provenance of the volume. Folios 152-260 are letters to Sir Henry Barkly, October 1865 to November 1876, with one of 18 August 1866 (possibly an enclosure) to Charles Meller (see below) and ff. 261-3 to Lady Annie M. Barkly, July-August 1867. There are some gaps in the text and a few possible misreadings. Many letters have been annotated or asterisked in red ink or in pencil. Each letter in the Barkly series has been numbered. The subjects of the early letters are Hooker's various difficulties with the Board of Works 'under a department of Govt. already tired of scientific expenditure on Kew' (19 January 1866; f. 154), and Charles Meller's journey to, and health, conduct and position at Mauritius, where Barkly was Governor, that apparently gave cause for concern.

Extracts only are given here, to provide context to comments about M.

No. 1

Buxton, October 9th 1865

My dear Sir Henry

The papers will ere this have announced to you the sad loss I have experienced […] I have lost in my father a companion of 25 years

2

William Hooker died on 12 August 1865.

(we having one commmon object in life) and because the circumstances of his death were peculiarly sad to me. He was but 4 days ill, and on the third I was seized with rheumatic fever and lay imobile in an adjoining chamber during his decease […] after six weeks illness I was brought here where I am recovering […] my father has a very kind unanswered letter from you, dated August 3rd […] The Board of Works […] have given me the Directorship, the duties I shall endeavour to conduct as zealously (though I fear they will never be as efficiently) as my father […] Poor Mueller will miss my father terribly, more perhaps than anyone on that side of the Globe. Bentham and I have both written to him,

3

G. Bentham to M, 21 September 1865; J. Hooker to M, 9 October 1865.

and he is vastly pleased with a box of plants that he has received from Kew.

4

See M to J. Hooker, 24 July 1865.

I shall do everything I can to gratify him. If the Victorian Govt. would recommend him for a Knighthood, I should suppose there will be no difficulty; and if my opinion were worth asking it should be most strongly in his favor, and I would quote Schomburg

5

The explorer Robert Schomburgk, knighted in 1844?

as an in every way inferior precedent.

6

See Lucas (2013a). In later letters to Barkly, Hooker continued to discuss the possibility of M's being knighted. Thus on 23 September 1867, he wrote:

Poor Mueller has broken down in health, and writes Mr. Bentham a dolorous letter about his squabbles with Democracy etc., he has gone to the seaside to recruit, and I sincerely hope for better accounts of him. I see that a batch of Colonial gentlemen are to be knighted, and hope that he will come in for a share. (RBG Kew, archives, Letters from Joseph Hooker vol., Ada-Bar, ff. 170-1)

See also J. Hooker to H. Barkly, 24 September 1868 (in this edition s M68-09-24).

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