Over the past week I have been cataloguing letters received from the American Museum of Natural History. They had 49 letters relating to Wallace in their Special Collections and the majority of the correspondence is between Wallace and Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell covering the years 1890 to 1912. TDA Cockerell (1846-1948) was born in Norwood, England and was the brother of Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (who was the Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge from 1908-1937). TDA Cockerell was educated at Middlesex Hospital School and went on to work in a diverse range of places; from Jamaica where he was curator of the public museum to the New Mexico Agricultural College where he held professorships in zoology and entomology from 1893-96, finally settling in Colorado where he taught various subjects from entomology to evolution. Cockerell’s research in entomology saw him become a specialist on bees.
Cockerell and Wallace kept up a healthy dialogue over the years, with scientific discussions prevalent in the letters as well as more personal sentiments about their respective families, revealing they were in fact friends as well as scientific colleagues. Their professional relationship saw Cockerell review Wallace’s second edition of “Island Life” before publication in 1892.
There were two letters that really stood out to me from this collection. One was from Wallace to Cockerell’s Biology Students at the University of Colorado dated 12th January 1912. Wallace had written in an accompanying letter to Cockerell that he was writing in response “to the very kind greetings of the members of your class of general Biology” and that they can have “no more capable and enthusiastic teacher”. In his letter to Cockerell’s students, Wallace gives a fascinating insight into his feelings of nature that he describes as the “solace of my life”. He goes on to write “my first views of the grand forests of the Amazon; thence to the Malay Archipelago, where every fresh island with its marvellous novelties and beauties was an additional delight – nature has afforded me an ever increasing rapture”. Wallace describes how his love of nature has not dwindled over the years but has in fact been cultivated in a different way through his “wild garden and greenhouse”. Wallace’s letter to the Biology students is very touching and insightful and the students were extremely privileged indeed to receive such a letter. I can imagine a parallel of this today might be of a budding young naturalist receiving a letter of encouragement from Sir David Attenborough!
The pleasure Wallace gets from gardening and connecting with nature is very evident in later letters to his children, particularly when he is building Old Orchard, the last home he built and lived in, in Dorset, where he talks about the layout and development of his garden as well building the house. There are many letters where Wallace thanks Cockerell for the box of plants sent, so I imagine his garden was extremely well-stocked and colourful!
Alfred Russel Wallace in his greenhouse at Old Orchard, Dorset.
Copyright: A.R. Wallace Memorial Fund and G. W. Beccaloni
The other letter which caught my eye was in fact a letter written by Wallace’s son, William to Cockerell on 25th January 1914. William writes of the affection Wallace had for Cockerell and describes how his father used to joke that Cockerell was an “illustrious slugophilite” who was appointed “slug-catcher to her Majesty’s… island of Jamaica”. William confided in Cockerell that Wallace was “very fond of jokes of that kind but always about people he had kindly feelings for”.
Cockerell wrote a touching memoir of Wallace in Science on 19th December 1913, entitled “Recollections of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace” (Science, Vol. 38, no. 990, pp.871-877) writing that Wallace was “keenly anxious to see and know, loving nature and man, always wishing to communicate to others some of the pleasure and knowledge he had gained”. Talking of Wallace’s advocacy for, as Cockerell writes “unpopular causes” he affirms that “we must admire a man who always had the courage of his convictions” (p.871). Touching sentiments indeed.
It has been extremely interesting cataloguing the letters Wallace wrote to Cockerell and they have really highlighted the love Wallace had for nature; a love that lasted a lifetime.
-Caroline-
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