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…
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Ellen Hutchins wrote to Dawson Turner, beginning her letter with: How shall I thank you, my dear Sir, for your kind wish to gratify me by writing as soon as my little parcel arrived, & for the pleasure your letter gave me. Its arrival on New Year’s day I take as a good omen, &…
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30th November 1814, ‘On This Day’ 210 years ago, Ellen Hutchins wrote to Dawson Turner. This is the last letter of their seven and a half year correspondence. Read the letter HERE ‘Send me a moss’ Ellen ends poignantly with ‘Send me a moss anything just to look at’. There is no record to show…
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Dawson Turner’s letter to Ellen on 1st November, ‘On This Day’ 210 years ago, expresses his relief at the news, heard from Thomas Taylor, that Ellen was thought to be recovering from her ‘dreadful illness’ and ‘even pronounced to be out of danger’. Dawson Turner repeated his hope that Ellen would be able to journey…
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On this day, 11th September, 210 years ago, in 1814, Dawson Turner wrote a long, friendly, and carefully composed letter to Ellen Hutchins. Read the whole letter HERE. Ellen, in her letter to Dawson Turner on 4th August, wrote of ‘the value of your friendship. It has been one of the best blessings of an…
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On 3rd April 1807, Ellen wrote to her youngest brother, Sam, about her study of botany and a range of other topics. Read the full letter HERE In 1807 Ellen was 22 years old and Sam 20 years. Sam was about to go to Trinity College to study law. He was living in London with…
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4th August 1814 – ‘On This Day’ 210 years ago, Ellen Hutchins wrote to Dawson Turner, and it was her first letter to him since March. She explained that ‘my health is miserably bad & my life little to be depended upon’ and she confirmed how much she valued Turner’s friendship and letters, signing off…
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210 years ago, ‘On This Day’, 24th July 1814, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen. (Read the whole of the letter HERE. ) He was anxious not to have heard from her since March and he said that his correspondence with her had for many years given him “one of the sweetest & purest sources of…
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Dawson Turner’s letter to Ellen Hutchins written ‘On This Day’, 26th April, in 1814, connects with historical events. April 1814 saw the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of Paris and the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau in which he abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba. The letter contains fascinating information…
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On this day, 19th April, in 1808, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen Hutchins. His letter includes a piece of moss – Splachnum ampullaceum – which he calls “a most beautiful plant”. Ellen had written in March that she was “busy preserving mosses, at which I have been employed almost night and day since I got…
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