On This Day, 10th January 1810
215 years ago today and just five days after her last letter to him, Ellen wrote again to Dawson Turner. Read the whole letter HERE.
This letter is an interesting one in showing many aspects of Ellen’s character, both as a person and as a botanist.
In it she shows her dedication to her caring duties for her mother and disabled brother. She expresses her longing for the summer to come, and shows that she ‘burns the candle at both ends’ to fit her botanical studies into her life.
She admires an ‘enterprising zealous spirit’ and says that she values ‘active minds’. She shows her interest in travel, although in her case, because of her own ill heath and caring responsibilities, we know that she is only able to read others’ accounts of their travels.
She expresses her appreciation of beauty in plants, mentioning mosses, seaweeds and lichens. She also loved landscape as well as plants. Here we have a delightful description of place, that also shows how significant botany was to Ellen and how well she could write:
a very favourite spot by the rocky, woody side of a little waterfall particularly dear to me as the place of growth of Jung. trichophylla one of my new species & many mosses. I have spent many happy hours creeping among its rocks & never quitted it without regret. The troublesome little affairs of this world continually deprive one of the enjoyment of such pleasures. But whither am I wandering. Let me return from the rocks & thank you most warmly for all your kindness & for all the information you give me.
From her description on a specimen of Jungermannia trichophylla we know that the waterfall Ellen was describing was in Glengarriff, but think that it was in woods that are now private on the east side of Glengarriff. The photo above, by Deirdre Fitzgerald, is of the waterfall in Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve, a wonderful place to visit to be in Ellen’s world. In her letters, she expresses admiration for seashore, woods, forests, lakes, heath and mountains.
This letter allows us to see how busy Ellen was on botanical matters and the amount of detailed attention she gave to her studies. She shows her appreciation of Dawson Turner’s support and her modesty at her own contributions to the botanical enterprises with which he is involved.
Read the whole of the letter of 10th January 1810 HERE.
The next letter in the correspondence is Dawson Turner to Ellen Hutchins on 23rd January 1810 which contains a fascinating element of Ellen’s story. Read all about it in a post here on 23rd January 2025.
Madeline Hutchins: researcher on Ellen and her great, great grandniece
10th January 2025