[[1]]
Royal Gardens Kew
Ja[nuar]y 9 / [18]85
My Dear Mrs Hodgson *1
The time elapsed & elapsing since which I have seen Brian *2 drags an ever lengthening
chain & I find the links of my thoughts of him get closer & closer & I ask myself when
shall I see him.
Now it is clear to me that under the most favourable circumstances that I can hope
for, Hyacinth *3 won't be able to travel for many weeks, so I write to ask
[[2]] whither if all goes well with her I might go to you for his birthday on the 1st. -- I
should enjoy so much being with him then.
I could go across on the Saturday 31st & stay till Tuesday if all goes on well here.
Hyacinth is at Camp *4, & expects next week I do hope that it will not be delayed as she
suffers a great deal though
[[3]] neither unnaturally nor unexpectedly.
Best love to Brian | Y[ou]rs | Ever affectionately | J D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Susan (Susie) Hodgson née Townshend (1844--1912). Photographer and second
wife of naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson, they married in 1869.
2. 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.
3. Lady Hyacinth Hooker, née Symonds then Jardine (1842--1921). Joseph Hooker's
second wife, they married in 1876.
4. The Camp was the residence Joseph Hooker had built in Sunningdale, Berkshire.
Completed in 1882 he lived there full time, with his second wife Hyacinth and their
family, after retiring from RBG Kew in 1885.
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