Pièce 294 - Letter from Robert Sylvester de Ropp to Elizabeth Trevelyan

11 Roxburgh Mansions, Kensington Court, W.8. - Fine weather has welcomed his return to London; is very much enjoying his biological work at the Huxley Building, very different to the 'mathematic struggles' that once took place there; describes the difference in smells between the 'cold musty odour of Maths and Mechanics' on the lower floors and that of the biological science department. Enthuses over discoveries in biology: 'We come very close now to the knowledge of life itself"; is no longer an active socialist, though he maintains his belief in its 'ethical rightness'. Hopes she will visit when in London; the [Vaughan Williams] family has settled in, though the flat is a little bare; hopes he will be able to visit when he returns to Dorking as he enjoyed his stay at the Shiffolds very much.

Pencil annotation dates the letter to '8 Oct 1933'; another identifies the writer as 'Hon. Herbert Asquith', probably mistaking the signature 'Bob' for Asquith's nickname 'Beb'. The references to the Huxley building, biology and Dorking, and the address, however, make it clear that Bob de Ropp, first cousin once removed of Adeline Vaughan Williams, is the writer.