DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ('Charles Darwin') to Lord Sackville Cecil, Down, 8 June 1876, his sister (Caroline) has returned safely to Leith Hill Place, and he thanks the recipient for his 'unbounded kindness' in organising a 'special train' for her: 'Whether she will ever recover is very doubtful after so terrible an illness, but her husband is old & delicate, & if he had been taken ill in the same small sea-side villa, it would have killed her with distress', two pages, 8vo (somewhat creased and soiled).

DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ('Charles Darwin') to Lord Sackville Cecil, Down, 8 June 1876, his sister (Caroline) has returned safely to Leith Hill Place, and he thanks the recipient for his 'unbounded kindness' in organising a 'special train' for her: 'Whether she will ever recover is very doubtful after so terrible an illness, but her husband is old & delicate, & if he had been taken ill in the same small sea-side villa, it would have killed her with distress', two pages, 8vo (somewhat creased and soiled).

Leith Hill Place was the home of Darwin's sister, Caroline (1800-1888), and her husband (also the brother of Darwin's wife, Emma), Josiah Wedgwood III (1795-1880). In the year before this letter their daughter Margaret had returned to live with them after the death of her husband, together with her three children -- the youngest of whom, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, later donated the house to the National Trust. Lord Sackville Cecil (1848-1898) was the 5th son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. Not listed by the Darwin Correspondence Project.