Characterisation, especially by Letters 571 



42, Rutland Gate, S.W. May 14, 1906. 

 My dear Lucy*, 



X Laduarood 



' Re ^_ - _^ Xr, aa > 

 Duddeston 



X L&rckes 



My impression is that the three places f are the corners of an equilateral triangle, three 

 miles to the side — but I have no map of Birmingham whereby to verify. Ladywood is by the 

 "Crescent," to the right of the road from the Town Hall to the Five- Ways. Duddeston is located 

 1 >v 8t Anne's Church, and the Larches by Sparkbrook ; I can give no more exact reference to the 

 latter. The River Rea, once sparkling, subsequently filthy beyond compare and finally diverted 

 into a sewer, fed the Duddeston ponds. One was called the Mill Pool and, I presume, not only 

 had acted but did act during my grandfather's life-time, as such, to the Duddeston Water Mill, 

 which subsequently was partly if not wholly replaced by steam power. 



I am very glad that Arthur takes kindly to the idea. He is not handicapped, as I am, by 

 crowds of ancient recollections, which had my Father and Mother, Uncles and Aunts, as their 

 focus, and are with difficulty adjustable to the focus in which you are concerned, namely, your 

 Mother. 



I feel as if I did not deserve to be forgiven for my blunder about the paper of dates. 

 It confirms a strong impression I have long had, that the way to mislay a document is to put 

 it in some peculiarly safe place. Ever affectionately, Francis Galton. 



42, Rutland Gate, S.W. May 15, 1906. 



I lEABBST Milly, It is a relief to hear that the picture arrived safely. Glass, when cracked 

 over a water-colour, does or may do great harm. Our letters will get again into order this week. 

 To-morrow we go to Cambridge for the day to see Montagu Butler and my portrait. Also, some 

 of the Darwins, not George I am sorry to say, who will be away on business. Eva went 

 yesterday with Gwen Chafy to see both Lucy Studdy and the memorial window at Ettington 

 which they both liked greatly, I was glad to learn. Eva is much better. Guy must be glad of 

 a fortnight of his old work, which he does so well. What an account you send of Johannesburg 

 lity. I have arranged to have a look shortly at the Identification Department in Scotland 

 Yard. The Chief Commissioner', Mr Henry, was, as you may remember, lent by the India 

 Office to the Colonial Office, in order to get the Johannesburg Police into order, before taking 

 ii]i his present appointment under the Home Office. He told me that for Kaffir police purposes, 

 ;i great desideratum was that each man should have, and be always compelled to use, the same 

 readable txunr.. It would be all the more necessary with the Chinese, whose names have less 

 variety than those of Scotchmen (Highlanders). We have been very quiet at home. Last week 

 there was a "gentlemen's soiree" at the Royal Society, where one of the most beautiful exhibits 

 was a set of four large maps including only a small part of the Milky Way. The multitude of 

 small stars that photography reveals far exceeds what could have been imagined, and the brilliancy 

 of these multitudes of specks is astonishing. Edward Wheler comes to us on Thursday for two or 

 three nights. He has much business to get through — the Land Agents' Society, and so on. I am 

 going to subscribe to the Times library and shall put down the Bishop's Apron on my first list. 



* Mrs Studdy, daughter of "Sister Bessy." It may interest the reader to know, that on the 

 death of her mother, Mrs Wheler, she came into possession of several Darwin relics, and of 

 these she left, on her death, the armchair of Dr Erasmus Darwin and silhouettes of his second 

 wife and him to the Galton Laboratory. 



f With regard to these three homes of the Galtons, closely associated with Francis Galton's 

 boyhood, see our Vol. I, pp. 50-51 and Plates XXIX, XLV. 



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