TWO MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. Archive of 6 autograph letters and a post card signed by Mr. or Mrs. George Bond Howes to the Reverend Thomas and Mrs. Stebbing, discussing club meetings, the Congress, travel arrangements, reunions, thanks for receipt of zoological specimens, and a note reporting Mr. Howes' death.

1895-1905.

1895-1905 ARCHIVE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN TWO PROMINENT ENGLISH ZOOLOGISTS AND THEIR FAMILIES.

Six letters and a postcard: 1) 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch postcard dated 9/4/95 to Rev. Stebbing from Mrs GB Howes regarding signature of a certificate; 2) 4 1/2 x 7 1/4 inch folded letter dated 19/V/97 from GB Howes to Rev. Stebbing accepting an invitation to his home; 3) 4 1/2 x 7 inch folded letter dated 26/V/97 from GF Howes to Mrs. Stebbing thanking her for her hospitality; 4) 3 3/4 x 6 inch folded letter dated 30/9/99 from GF Howes to Rev. Stebbing regarding a meeting the following month; 5) 4 1/2 x 7 inch folced letter dated June 3, 1901 from GF Howes to Rev. Stebbing expressing concern for the Reverend's wife's health and discussion of an upcoming congress. In his PS he notes, "In my address I am going once again to try to convince people that Limulus is no Arachnid!"; 6) 5 x 8 inch letter dated March 26, '01 from GF Howes to Rev. Stebbing thanking him for an Ostracod "safely received, & for your kindness in having named it. You are very welcome to the one you have retained."; 7) 4 1/2 x 6 inch folded letter dated Feb/6/1905 from Annie Howes to Rev. Stebbing reporting her husband's death and requesting the reverend to "take the service".

THOMAS GEORGE BOND HOWES (1853 - 1905) was an English zoologist. From 1895, Howes was first professor of zoology at the Royal College of Science in South Kensington. After being introduced to Thomas Huxley in 1874, his skill as a draughtsman and enthusiasm as a naturalist led to his being employed as assistant to Huxley. He was tasked with developing a system of practical instruction in biology at the Normal School of Science and the Royal School of Mines at Kensington, where he was appointed demonstrator of biology in 1880. Howes was an eminently gifted teacher. His drawing skills were well above average: the Atlas of Elementary Biology (1885) was illustrated entirely with his drawings. Howes's main interest lay with the comparative anatomy of the Vertebrata, a field to which he made significant contributions. An important account, which Howes co-authored with H. H. Swinnerton, dealt with the development of the skeleton of the Norfolk Island reptile, the Tuatara or Sphenodon and appeared in Transactions of the Zoological Society, 1901. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1897, Legum Doctor at St Andrews in 1898, and Doctor of Science at Manchester in 1899. He was President of the Malacological Society of London (1895-1896), Treasurer of the Anatomical Society, Zoological Secretary of the Linnean Society and a Member of the Council of the Zoological Society of London. In 1881 Howes married Annie, daughter of James Watkins. They had one daughter.

REVEREND THOMAS ROSCOE REDE STEBBING (1835 – 1926) was a British zoologist, educated in London and Oxford. He took on various roles at Worcester College, including that of fellow, tutor, vice-provost and eventually dean, as well as a lecturer in divinity. He was ordained into the Church of England by Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford in 1859. By 1863, Stebbing had begun to work as a tutor in Reigate, Surrey, and took up the study of natural history. In 1877, he moved to Royal Tunbridge Wells, where he benefited from the greater number of students in London, and to be closer to the libraries, museums and scientific circles in the capital. As his finances improved, he was able to give up teaching altogether and concentrate on writing. Having trained as an evangelical Anglican, Stebbing expected to be a staunch opponent of Charles Darwin's recently published theory of evolution by natural selection. He reported that "on reading The Origin of Species, as a preliminary, it has to be confessed that, instead of confuting, I became his ardent disciple", and so he adopted the position of a religious rationalist. His outspoken stance resulted in his being banned from preaching, and he was never offered a parish by the church. Most of Stebbing's scientific works, comprising more than 110 papers, covered amphipod crustaceans. Rev. A. M. Norman, a member of the Challenger Committee, recommended that Stebbing produce a monograph on the amphipods collected on the 1872–1876 expedition by HMS Challenger, which he did. Stebbing was made a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1895 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1896--years spanning the correspondence offered here.