Royal Gardens Kew s1

[[1]]

Private

Royal Gardens Kew

April 10 [18]74

My dear Brian*1

There are very few friends so dear as to require me to tell them every thing[sic] that concerns myself -- & in regard to whom the requirement is a gratification -- & you are one of those who will be most glad to hear, that my Colonial Services have been recognised by Lord Carnavon [Carnarvon], by the offer of K.C.M.G.*2

Of course I have declined. I do not covet knighthood, but quite the contrary. I had in

[[2]] fact refused [a] simple knighthood it 5 years ago:*3 the accepting conferring it on me now would therefore be regarded as an inadequate recognition of the Presidency, & not as the ample reward of my service to the Colonies, but if it is to come at all, it must be in the Bath*4 -- as would it did to my two predecessors in the Presidency of the R[oyal] S[ociety], who were made C.B. [Companion] & K.C.B. [Knight Commander] both after being raised to the Presidency. I should be wanting in my duty to the Society if I accepted an order lower than its their President has hitherto received, my own civil service being, I venture to think, far ahead of theirs. There is all the

[[3]] consideration that the rank of K.C.M. [Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael] has never been filled up, why I cannot conceive, & that I was perform recommended for it before I took the Presidency, when I would have accepted it, but when it was refused!*5.

If the late Government which refused it had continued in power, now offered it me again, & n I should have refused with malicious delight: as it is I do so with great pain, it was so charmingly put proffered by Lord Carnavon [Carnarvon]*6 -- he hoped I would gratify him by the acceptance, on the first

[[4]] public act of his official life -- as a measure too long delayed that would gratify the Office, & give great satisfaction to the Colonies. Was it not a cruel trial to refuse? & all the more as though I don’t want knighthood, I coveted this order has representing my many years devotion to Colonial matters on my own &father's part, & as grand testimony to the value of Kew to the public service.

In great haste | ev[er] y[ou]r affe[ctionate] | J. D. Hooker [signature].

ENDNOTES

1. Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801--1894). A pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British civil servant. Joseph Hooker stayed at Hodgson’s house in Darjeeling periodically during his expedition to India and the Himalayas, 1847--1851, and named one of his sons after him.

2. Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George.

3. The text which runs from here is written vertically up the right margin of pages 2 and 3.

4. In the context of this letter The Bath refers to The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (formerly the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath), which is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18th May 1725.

5. A diagonal line has been drawn out over this paragraph.

6. Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon (1831--1890), known as Lord Porchester from 1833 to 1849. British politician and leading member of the Conservative Party. He was twice Secretary of State for the Colonies, in which capacity in 1874 he offered Hooker a knighthood [K.C.M.G.] that was refused. Carnarvon also served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic image(s) of this document where possible.