Museum Practl Geology
Jermyn St
St James’s
26 April 1852
Dear Sir
On receiving your letter I immediately forwarded it to Mr Le Neve Foster <1> 92 Chancery Lane – with a request that he should write you. I have had a long conversation with Mr Bolton <2> and informed him of the objections taken to some of our rules – He will of course write you. I hope to morrow to meet some of the friends of the Society <3> – after which I shall be in a position to say more on the subject.
I must assure you that I desire to occupy perfectly neutral ground in the question. I cannot either directly or indirectly be affected by them – I have every desire to admit your high claims – but I feel it would not be prudent to place you as president of a society – many members of which are disposed to quarrel with your patents. – Mr Fenton <4> writes me “Would it not be as well to have a specific clause in the agreement defining the position of the society as a neutral one, so that this position may not be merely an inferential one?” – I really fear that at the present time a Society cannot be founded on a satisfactory basis –
I am Dear Sir Yours very truly
Robert Hunt
Well Court
Queen St
City
Hy Fox Talbot Esqr/pr>
Notes:
1. Peter Le Neve Foster (1809–1879), photographer & microscopist.
2. John Henry Bolton (1795–1873), solicitor, London.
3. The Photographic Society of London, which subsequently became The Royal Photographic Society.
4. Roger Fenton (1819–1869), photographer & lawyer.