Lehrjahre and Wanderjahre 193
brother. On October 9 the party moved to 57 Marina, where Mrs Galton and her daughter Bessy joined them. A fortnight afterwards (October 23) Tertius Galton died, and to Francis Galton fell the melancholy task of accompanying his father's coffin to Claverdon, .where the funeral took place on October 31. Bessy, writing to her aunt Hubert Galton soon after her father's death,. says
"Yet none but his children can know what a daily, what an hourly loss he is to them. All our occupations and pleasures were so connected with him, that everything now seems a blank and it will be a very long time before we shall cease to be constantly reminded of him in everything we do."
Such losses leave always a deep impress on our feelings, and often
a still deeper impress on our careers, but as in the case of the death
of Samuel Galton the loss meant a shifting of responsibilities and the
members of the younger generation stood free to follow their individual
bents. Some changes bearing on Francis Galton's future life must
here be noted. The home at No. 29 Lansdowne Place was given up ;
Mrs Galton went in the May of the following year to live at Claverdon.
On May 13 Adele Galton, " Sister Delly," was married to the Rev.
Robert Shirley Bunbury, only to be left a widow in the following year
with one child, Millicent, afterwards Mrs Lethbridge, Francis Galton's
much loved niece. On December 31, Elizabeth Galton, "Sister
Bessy," was married to Mr Edward Wheler, and on November 13, 1845,
Emma Galton started on extensive French, Italian and German travels
which lasted till June 5, 1846. She was again abroad from May to
November of 1847, thus illustrating the hereditary Galton Wander
lust. The independence that had come to each member of the family
with the death of Tertius influenced not less the life of Francis. There
can be little doubt that had Tertius lived Francis would have followed
the strong desire of his father and would have had a profession in life'.
To those at that time viewing his actions, there must have been some
hesitation in judgment ; the next five or six years were to be spent
without definite object, apparently in the pursuit of rather idle pleasures,
1 Bessy Galton writes emphasizing the gravity of her father's illness in 1844. "He regrets not hearing from you so do, dearest Francis, write immediately a nice steady letter telling him what you are studying etc., and talk of your profession with pleasure, it would do him more good than anything, and make a point of writing at least once a fortnight." The home letters to Francis Galton show how keen Tertius Galton was that his son should follow a definite profession, and how anxious the family circle had become about his roving tendencies-both in space and in mind.
P. G. 25
