[[1]]
The Camp,
Sunningdale
Jan 8/[18]86
My dear Brian*1
This reciprocates your affectionate good wishes & would if possible bear interest, but
that I know is not possible for you are my most affectionate friend in the world. & are
ever in my thoughts.
We have had a peaceful time at the Camp, but rather worried about Kew, where,
Dyer*2 is all alone in the garden, with Smith seriously ill & he himself (Dyer) not over
well. & he naturally "troubled with much serving". -- Harriet*3 is partly well but has
[[2]] had a sharp touch in the throat & chest. This happily yielded at once to
treatment [.] We are not "out of the wood" in the matter of change of quarters. My
books still lie packed in boxes at Kew ready for transport here when my library is
shelved, which will be I hope next week.
We have settled quickly[?] in a little house at Kew, where there are 2 rooms for
Hyacinth*4 & myself [.]
I had a nice letter from Charlotte Colvile on seeing my retirement in the paper
[[3]] I must try & get to see her when next I visit my sister at Torquay, who I have not
seen for 3 or 4 years! -- When spring comes we propose to go there, & I shall also
go to L[or]d Blachford's*5, who has invited me over & over again.
This is not much of a place for fun, but we continue to make very agreeable
acquaintances in the neighbourhood.
I go on laying out my ground, chiefly with -- Rhododendrons & ornamental
[[4]] bushes & trees. I have no word yet about my pension which is awkward, as I
must now determine my style of living, which will depend upon it. -- & I have still
outhouse & other expensive items to meet.
With Hyacinth's best love to you both & thanks for the flowers some of which are now
on my desk.
Ever dear Brian | your affectionate & ever old[?] | Jos D Hooker [Signature]
Joey*6 sends his love & a Kiss to Susy[?]*7. -- He reads Robinson Crusoe & the
History of England every evening[?] with me for 1 ½ hours enthusiastically & so
beautifully in expression & tone.
ENDNOTES
1. Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801--1894). A pioneer naturalist and ethnologist
working in India and Nepal where he was a British civil servant. Joseph Hooker
stayed at Hodgson’s house in Darjeeling periodically during his expedition to India
and the Himalayas, 1847--1851, and named one of his sons after him.
2. Sir William Turner Thiselton--Dyer (1843--1928). British botanist and third Director
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after
serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He was also married to Hooker's
eldest daughter Harriet.
3. Harriet Anne Thiselton--Dyer née Hooker (1854--1945). Oldest child of Joseph
Hooker and his first wife Frances. Botanical illustrator and wife of William Turner
Thiselton--Dyer. Her husband was Assistant Director of RBG Kew (1875--1885) and
later Director (1885--1905), succeeding her father.
4. Lady Hyacinth Hooker, née Symonds then Jardine (1842--1921). Joseph Hooker's
second wife, they married in 1876.
5. Frederic Rogers, 1st Baron Blachford (1811--1889). British civil servant. Between
1857 and 1859 he was engaged in government missions abroad, connected with
colonial questions, and in 1860 he was appointed permanent Under--Secretary of
State for the Colonies.
6. Joseph Symonds Hooker (1877--1940). The first of Hyacinth & J D Hooker's two
sons. Aged nine in 1886 when the letter was written and known as Joey.
7. Susan (Susie) Hodgson née Townshend (1844--1912). Photographer and second
wife of naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801--1894), they married in 1869 or
1870.
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