| RefNo | MS/928/6/1/3 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from Adam Sedgwick, Cambridge, to 'My dear Sir' [Christopher Erle?] |
| Date | 24 July 1860 |
| Description | Sedgwick describes his movements after the 1860 British Association meeting at Oxford, noting that he spent the week with an old friend at Bristol and Clifton. Miss Phillips [Anne Phillips (1803-1862) geologist, sister to John Phillips FRS] promised to pack the pliosaurus humerus in order to forward it to Cambridge and the Oxford box has arrived at Cambridge. Sedgwick sent the fossil to a 'bone-setter' and he hopes to see it in the Museum with the fracture reduced. 'It is a glorious specimen'. Sedgwick notes that the [Woodwardian] Museum will be visited by 'your Brother - the Chief Justice - & the Chief Baron' who will judge the fossil. The verdict will be to raise it to a place of honour. He notes that the Cambridge geological museum is the oldest in England, although his predeccessors were 'dumb dogs'. He breaks off to go for breakfast with the Provost of King's where he will meet the two judges.
The letter is most likely to a member of the Erle family, possibly Christopher Erle, Rector of Hardwick, a Fellow of the Geological Society. Erle had previously been involved with the discovery of plesiosaur and other fossils at Hardwick in Buckinghamshire. These were viewed at the British Association meeting at Oxford in 1847, Geological Section. Professor Sedgwick requested that he should present them to the Woodwardian Museum as a benefaction to the University of Cambridge. Erle subsequently presented them to the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, London. In 1860, the Chief Justice of Common Pleas was Sir William Erle FRS (1793-1880); Chief Baron of the Exchequer was Frederick Pollock FRS (1783-1870). |
| Extent | 3p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | On paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA3549 | Sedgwick; Adam (1785 - 1873) | 1785 - 1873 |