Sophie Cat 56 - Sophie Dupre

Clive Farahar & Sophie Dupré, XV The Green, Calne, Wilts, SN1 8DQ, Tel: (01249) 821121 54
391. THOMSON (Sir Charles Wyville, 1830-1882, FRS,
Scottish chief Naturalist on the Challenger )
ALS to the Secretary of the Palaeontographical Society,
saying that he and Dr. Carpenter (W.B., 1813-1885) have
been working on papers for the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society, his own “will form the basis of the
Natural History introduction to the Monog: of the
Crinoids”, which has delayed him giving a firm date, he
now thinks Marsupites belong to the Palaeozoic group, not
Comatula, but will “complete my study of your specimens
and bring them ... to London ... early in Summer”, he details
the contents of the monograph’s three parts, “Comatulae ...
Apiocrines &c. ... and Marsupites”, he may have to get
another artist for the plates, as to his subscription, “A friend
made me apresent of the whole series up to last year and I
cannot afford ... a second, my foreign book account is
necessarily so large”, but discusses back numbers for the
College and himself, he himself would like to start with “the
first part of Salter’s Trilobites”, (J.W., 1820-1869, whose
monograph appeared in the Pal. Soc.’s journal 1864-1867),
7sides 8vo., Strandtown, Belfast, 17th March n.y., c. 1870,
joined at pages 4-5 by old transparent strip, small defect on
side 7 from former laying down [SD50183]£750
Thomson greatly enlarged the knowledge of the ocean floor,
finding living creatures in abundance down to 650 fathoms, many
of which were previously thought extinct, and that deep-sea
temperatures were not so constant as supposed, indicating an
oceanic circulation. His researches were incidentally of great
importance for cable-laying.
See Thomson’s ‘The Depths of the Sea’ (1873) for the dredging
voyages of Lightning (1868) and Porcupine (1869, 1870).
The Challenger Expedition was sent out to make a series of
soundings and dredgings in the three great ocean basins, to
ascertain the temperature and character of the water, to collect
specimens of the fauna and flora on the surface and from all
possible depths, and to study as far as possible certain rarely
visited oceanic islands. The Challenger was a corvette of 2,306
tons, specially fitted up and placed under command of Captain Sir
George Nares, with a naval surveying staff. Thomson, who had
been granted leave of absence by his university, was appointed
chief of the civilian scientific staff (six in number). They left
Sheerness on 7 Dec. 1872, crossed the Atlantic from the Canary
Isles to the West Indies, when after skirting its American side as
far north as Halifax they recrossed to Madeira by the Azores. Then
they sailed southward of the Cape de Verde Islands and St. Paul's
Rocks toFernando Noronha and the Brazil coast, crossing the
southern Atlantic by way of Tristan da Cunha to the Cape of Good
Hope. From this they made for the Antarctic Ocean by way of the
Crozets and Kerguelen land, and reached the ice-pack a little
south of the Antarctic circle, beyond which it was unsafe to
venture in an ordinary vessel. From there they proceeded to
Australia, and after touching at Melbourne and Sydney, sailed for
Fiji. A devious course took them through the Australasian islands,
and then they visited Japan and the Sandwich Islands. After
sailing due south to the tropic of Capricorn, they took an easterly
course to Valparaiso, and made their way into the southern
Atlantic through the Magellan Strait. After calling at Montevideo
they visited the Canaries, and returned to England by a variation
of their former route, arriving at Spithead on 24 May 1876, having
travelled in this remarkable voyage 68,890 nautical miles, and
having made observations by soundings at 362 stations. An
enormous mass of material had been obtained for study, and
Thomson (who was knighted on his return) was appointed director
of the Challenger expedition commission to superintend the
arrangement of the collections and the publication of the results at
the public expense. He also resumed his university duties,
delivered the Rede lecture at Cambridge in 1877, and the
combination of all this work was too much for him and he became
ill and he died at his house, Bonsyde, near Linlithgow, on 10
March 1882.
392. THORNHILL (Cudbert Bensley, d. 1868, Secretary
to the Governor, North West Provinces, during the siege of
Agra, 1857, Commissioner of Allahabad, 1861)
Signed Copy Letter to (Sir) George St. Patrick Lawrence,
1804-1884, Chief Agent (Resident) and Brigadier-General
Commanding in Rajputana, saying that he has seen the
letter of 7th August from Lieutenant (Arthur St. John)
Mildmay, 1823-1884, detailing the assistance given by the
Maharajah of Bikanir and the forces under his personal
command in reoccupying Sersal and Hissar, and enclosing
“a Khureelah expressive of the Lieutt. Governor’s
acknowledgment of the Services of the Maharajah”, to be
forwarded to the latter unless “subsequent circumstances”
dictate otherwise, 1 side folio, Fort Agra, 4th September
1857, afewlight grease marks [SD50021]£75
The letter gives no hint of the current anxiety at Fort Agra, where
the Lieutenant-Governor, John Russell Colvin, 1807-1857, had
gathered all the Christian population of the cantonments and the
city, and, though dangerously ill, had succeeded in preserving
calm.
For Sir George Lawrence’s remarkable services in Afghanistan,
see DNB.
393. TREMATON (Rupert, 1907-1928, Elder Son of
Alexander, Earl of Athlone, 1874-1957, Viscount)
Very fine large photograph, signed ‘Trematon’, showing
him three-quarter length seated, 11” x 9”, n.p., n.d. 1927
[SD14624]£150
Viscount Trematon and his father were Princes of Teck, titles
exchanged for British ones in 1917. His mother, Princess Alice
daughter of Prince Leopold, was the last surviving granddaughter
of Queen Victoria. He died in a road accident in France in 1928.
394. TROLLOPE (Anthony, 1815-1882, Novelist)
Fine unpublished ALS to Charles Banning aying he has
received an "invitation to meet C. Dickens at a dinner to
be given for him at Liverpool ... which I have accepted. I
want to take my son with me ..." and asking if he can secure
a ticket for his son as he feels he cannot ask himself as he is
a guest, 3sides 8vo., address removed, 13th March n.y.,
[1869], the top left hand corner has been torn off with the
loss of the address but no text, professionally repaired
[SD26558]£895
This meeting of the two great novelists is not mentioned in any of
the major biographies of Trollope. The dinner was held in
Dickens' honour on the 10th April 1869 and is briefly noted in R.
C. Terry's 'Trollope Chronology' but seems to have been otherwise
unnoticed by Trollope scholars. It is rare to find letters of
Trollope mentioning Dickens: less than twenty are known. Letters
of Trollope to Banning, a post office colleague, are even rarer:
only one other survives. Trollope at this time was anxious about
his sons making their way in the world. Although both sons were
around -- Fred had just returned from Australia but was intending
to leave England again in late April -- it is more likely it was
Harry whom he wished to introduce to society, perhaps with the
hope that the boy's job prospects would improve as a result. A
few months following this dinner, Harry did indeed secure
employment -- with Chapman & Hall, Dickens' publishers, whose
high-ranking staff would almost certainly have been present at this
dinner.