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Biography
- Illustration of Hertford Grammar School
- Portrait of Wallace, aged 25
- A trip up the Hudson River
- Wallace's final Darwinism lecture at the Lowell Institute
- Attending seances and Wallace's fame in America
- Wallace's trip to Niagara Falls
- Sketch map of Niagara Falls
- List of Wallace's lectures in the USA
- List of medals in Wallace's The Malay Archipelago book
- Wallace's modesty at receiving a medal
- Wallace sends Violet tickets for London Zoo
- Wallace shares amusing answers to a geography exam
- Information on astronomy and the death of Bates
- Sketch of planet conjunctions
- A local lecture and Wallace's radical social views
- List of payments for lectures
- Cover of The Wonderful Century
- The Wonderful Century chapter headings
- Plans for the cover of The Wonderful Century book
- Photographic proof print of a redwood tree
- List of Wallace's publications before 1862
- Photograph of Neath Free Library
- Portrait of Wallace in old age
- Views on science in 1907
- Science in 1907 manuscript
- Science in 1907 newspaper article
- Wallace is awarded the Order of Merit medal
- Magazine interview with Wallace
- Wallace's funeral
- Wallace's obituary in the journal Nature
- Birthday congratulations and disagreement on socialism
- Birthday congratulations and general admiration
- Birthday congratulations and admiration for socialism
- Wallace's death
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Wallace is awarded the Order of Merit medal
Catalogue number: WP1/1/200
Letter from Wallace to his son William describing his Order of Merit medal, dated December 1908.
In this letter Wallace tells William about being given an Order of Merit medal. This was for distinguished services to science and most notably, his contributions to the understanding of natural selection. Colonel Legge, one of the King's equerries (an officer who attends the royal family) went to Wallace's home at Broadstone in Dorset, to present it.
Wallace mixes pride with a little humour as he says the ribband (ribbon) is 'long enough to go round the neck and hang in the centre of the shirt front - to be seen by all observers!' He was not able to receive the medal in person from the King due to Wallace's old age and bad health. Perhaps this was an excuse, as Wallace made no secret of his dislike for public ceremony.
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Wallace Letters Online
View high resolution scans and transcripts of Alfred Russel Wallace's correspondence, including all surviving letters between him and Charles Darwin.