On This day, 215 years ago, on 25th May 1810, another letter was written by Dawson Turner to Ellen Hutchins. Read the letter of 25th May 1810 HERE. Dawson Turner thanked Ellen for her drawings of a freshwater alga, Conferva foetida ( now Hydrurus foetidus) writing that the drawings ‘are all I could possibly wish…
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On This Day – perhaps, or a few days before or after 7th May, 215 years ago, in 1810, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen Hutchins after a gap of over three months since his last letter. Read the full May 1810 letter HERE. ‘For the last three months’ The date on the letter is illegible.…
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On this day 215 years ago, 18th April 1810, Ellen wrote another short letter to Dawson Turner, this time focusing entirely on botanical subjects. Most unusually for their correspondence there are no mentions of health issues, the weather, family, problems with parcels, or poetry and literature enjoyed. Read the whole letter HERE. The previous letter…
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On This Day, 215 years ago, on 7th April 1810, Ellen wrote to Dawson Turner. It was a very short letter for Ellen. It stemmed from her anxiety about Dawson Turner’s health, having not heard from him since 28th January. Read the whole letter HERE. Anxiousness Ellen shows her anxious nature in other letters, particularly…
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Three weeks ago I was in the archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and in the Cryptogamic Herbarium at the Natural History Museum (NHM), London on Ellen research. I had a young researcher, Grace Barrett, to help me take photographs of Ellen’s drawings of seaweed (Kew) and specimens of liverworts (NHM). The purpose of…
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On This Day, 215 years ago, 20th February 1810, Ellen replied to the letters from Dawson Turner written on 23rd and 28th January (see earlier posts for these letters). Read the 20th February letter HERE. Thank you, but no Ellen turned down the request made in the letter of 23rd January, in which Dawson Turner…
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Anniversaries – 210th and 10th Today, 9th February 2025, is, for a variety of reasons, a significant date for the Ellen Hutchins Festival. It is the 210th anniversary of Ellen Hutchins’ death and the 10th anniversary of the announcement of an Ellen Hutchins Festival in 2015. Correspondence completed Today also marks completion of…
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On This Day, 215 years ago, 28th January 1810, Dawson Turner wrote again to Ellen Hutchins. Read the letter HERE.This was an unusually short letter, with its main purpose being the list it contained, giving Dawson Turner’s opinions on specimens of lichens sent to him by Ellen. He was not able to name all the…
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On This Day, 215 years ago, 23rd January 1810, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen Hutchins starting the process of responding to two letters from her and a parcel recently received. Read the whole letter HERE. The letter helps us see the world of botanical study at Ellen’s time and gives significant information about how Ellen was…
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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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