SMYTH, William Henry, letters, autographs, documents, manuscripts



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SMYTH, William Henry (1788-1865). Admiral and scientific writer.
Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent, 1½ pages 8vo, St John's Lodge, Aylesbury, 26 January 1859. An amusing letter telling of the breakfast-table announcement of Baden Powell's election to his two sons.

'... The two boys, one 8 & the other 9 years, making an endeavour to add one hundred & nothing to 51 in the most amusing manner; they having just had it proved to them that the half of 12 is seven. Such was the occupation, and 51 was under revealment when in came your letter and I stopped the further illustrations of the powers & whims of numbers ...'

Smyth's daughter Henrietta Grace was the third wife of Robert Baden Powell's father so that the sons mentioned here would have been Baden Powell's uncles, he being the son of the sixth son. The Baden Powell referred to here was a well-known and respected physicist and theologian and a staunch defender of the theories of Darwin.

£125 [No: 26571]
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