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Epsilon (Alfred Russel Wallace Correspondence Project): letters on Hampden and the wager

Visit: 2026-10-10 (STEP I run 1). Access: curl for letter pages; Chrome for the search page (the cookie banner was left unanswered). Found via Google: "The Field" "19 March 1870" OR "26 March 1870" Walsh umpire decision Wallace Hampden convexity of water.

https://epsilon.ac.uk/search?keyword=Hampden%20flat&sort=date-asc returned 45 items (first page read). Records seen: | Record | From -> To | Date | Note | |---|---|---|---| | WCP5561 | J. H. Walsh -> Wallace | [March?] [1870] | the umpire's letter (text below) | | WCP4571 | Wallace -> Robert McLachlan | 25 Nov 1871 | sending 100 copies of his reply to Hampden | | WCP6753 | Hampden -> Committee of the Entomological Society | June 1871 | | | WCP3589 | Hampden -> [C. R. Markham] | 23 Oct 1871 | | | WCP6911 | Hampden -> Wallace | 4 Nov 1872 | covering note to his signed apology | | WCP6734 | Hampden -> Wallace | 1874 | quoted in the 1875 libel trial reports | | WCP6754 | Hampden -> J. P. Edwards | 10 Sep 1874 | | | WCP3370 | Wallace -> Alexander Macmillan | 28 Mar 1876 | | | WCP3587 | Hampden -> Henry Austin Bruce | 1 June 1880 | | | WCP6755 | Hampden -> R. A. Proctor | April 1883 | | | WCP1947 | Darwin -> Wallace | 12 July 1871 | editorial note on Hampden |

Texts read [web]

  • WCP5561 (https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5561): Walsh tells Wallace he is "now authorized in writing by Mr. Hampden to settle the matter in dispute between you and Mr. Coulcher, as umpire". He asks for Wallace's report and diagrams and proposes to decide "next Friday at 1 p.m.". The text comes from Wallace (1871), Reply to Mr Hampden's Charges. Bearing: Walsh says Hampden authorized him in writing, which bears on Hampden's later complaint that the decision was improper. (The transcription has "between you and Mr. Coulcher", but Coulcher was Wallace's own referee. This is as printed; it may be a slip in the 1871 printing or in the transcription. Check Wallace 1871, Reply, at WKU S202.)
  • WCP6911 (Hampden to Wallace, 4 Nov 1872): Hampden says the apology "as dictated by yourself" has been signed, but that he signs it only "in the sense in which you yourself understand it". He calls such apologies "charitable formalities and wholly devoid of any legitimate or bona fide construction". Bearing: the record of the libel cases and how sincere the apology was (historical record).
  • WCP6734 (1874; text from the 1875 newspaper trial reports): Hampden writes that he has written "thousands of letters declaring your conduct to be that of a cheat and swindler" and means to go on. This is the origin of the "cheat" charge. It is Hampden's own accusation, made in letters that were the subject of the libel prosecution, not a court finding.
  • WCP1947 editorial note (https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1947): it cites the Daily News, 13 July 1871, p. 2 ("A Geographical Dispute"). Hampden was charged before the Stratford magistrates with writing a letter "menacing his life" (addressed to Mrs Wallace); unable to pay the sureties, he was "imprisoned for a week". The note gives Hampden's dates as 1819-1891. It cites Raby 2002, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life, pp. 206-207.

Bearing on the claims and on claims.md's correction note

  • The TFES statement that a court found Wallace "cheated" (claims.md, Corrections) traces most plausibly to Hampden's own "cheat and swindler" letters. The courts dealt with those letters as libel or threats; the 1876 civil case (Hampden v. Walsh) decided only who owned the deposit (see WKU note). No court finding that Wallace cheated has been found.
  • Wallace's referee "Mr. Coulcher, of Downham Market" is styled "Dr Coulcher" by Rowbotham (1870) and "a local 'sawbones'" by Hampden.

Next run

Read the remaining 35 search results (pages 2-3), especially Hampden 1871-1883 letters and any Carpenter or Coulcher letters.