Charles Darwin: a Companion

CHARLES DARWIN: A COMPANION Charles Darwin aged 59. Reproduction of a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, original 13 x 10 inches, taken at Dumbola Lodge, Freshwater, Isle of Wight in July 1869. The original print is signed and authenticated by Mrs Cameron and also signed by Darwin. It bears Colnaghi's blind embossed registration. [page 3] CHARLES DARWIN A Companion by R. B. FREEMAN Department of Zoology University College London DAWSON [page 4] First published in 1978 © R. B. Freeman 1978 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the publisher: Wm Dawson & Sons Ltd, Cannon House Folkestone, Kent, England Archon Books, The Shoe String Press, Inc 995 Sherman Avenue, Hamden, Connecticut 06514 USA British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Freeman, Richard Broke. Charles Darwin. 1. Darwin, Charles – Dictionaries, indexes, etc. 575′. 0092′4 QH31. D2 ISBN 0–7129–0901–X Archon ISBN 0–208–01739–9 LC 78–40928 Filmset in 11/12 pt Bembo Printed and bound in Great Britain by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham [page 5] CONTENTS List of Illustrations 6 Introduction 7 Acknowledgements 10 Abbreviations 11 Text 17–309 [page 6] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Charles Darwin aged 59 Frontispiece From a photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron Skeleton Pedigree of Charles Robert Darwin 66 Pedigree to show Charles Robert Darwin's Relationship to his Wife Emma 67 Wedgwood Pedigree of Robert Darwin's Children and Grandchildren 68 Arms and Crest of Robert Waring Darwin 69 Research Notes on Insectivorous Plants 1860 90 Charles Darwin's Full Signature 91 [page 7] INTRODUCTION THIS Companion is about Charles Darwin the man: it is not about evolution by natural selection, nor is it about any other of his theoretical or experimental work. A glance will show what it contains, and only a brief introduction is needed. It is intended to make easily available the facts of Darwin's life, his ancestry, collaterals and descendants, his friends and a few enemies, and his scientific correspondents. It covers what he wrote, and where he went, when and why. It also includes some more personal things, such as his appearance, including details of pictures of him, his day to day habits, and a little of his political and social views. Darwin's name occurs in every relevant work of reference from about the time of his election to the Royal Society in 1839 until his death, and in superabundance from then onwards. In the British Museum's General catalogue of printed books, (1959–1966), the appendix of titles relative to Darwin contains more than 400 entries, whilst that for Galileo has about 150 and that for Newton less than 130. This excess is exacerbated because his name also occurs in every work on evolution and in every student textbook of biology as well as in many works about the religious and social implications of evolutionary theory. It is however ameliorated because the number of works which contain facts about him is small. Basically, there are seven volumes, three of Life and letters, and two each of More letters and Emma Darwin. To these may be added a handful of later books and papers which contain many new facts, and a larger number, mostly biographies of other people and works containing previously unpublished letters, which contain some information. The basic three works were all edited by two of his children and published within the lifetimes of many people who knew him. Biographies by children of their subject have the advantage that the facts are probably right, but the disadvantage that the children are too close to see what will be of interest to later readers. Life and letters also has the disadvantage of being published within five years of Darwin's death, so [page 8] that parts which might have been libellous or caused offence to the living had to be omitted. His autobiography, which is first printed there, has omissions for his widow's sake and its full text did not become available until seventy years later. All the entries here are degressive. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the further the subject is from Darwin himself, the less need there is for a comprehensive entry. Gladstone, Tennyson and Ruskin met Darwin, and all could have had long entries, but their contact was slight and their entries are therefore brief; his butler, Parslow, and his secretary-servant, Covington, deserve and get longer entries. Similarly, Paris, Dublin and Belfast, each of which he visited once, briefly, get little notice, but Tierra del Fuego, the Galapagos Islands and Glen Roy were much more important to him. The second reason for degression is ignorance. I have used a large number of reference sources and have sought the help of many friends, but there remains information which I would like to have entered which has escaped me. Much of this is about people that Darwin saw almost every day of his life, sometimes for years, such as the domestic staff at Down House, but if Francis Darwin or his sister merely mention Mary or Maryann, it is impossible to go further. There are also a number of villagers in Downe who are in a similar position. Amongst relatives, there are some, particularly women, whose dates of birth are available because these are given in the pedigrees made by people who knew them, but apparently they never die, because they did nothing to rate an entry in standard works of reference. The scientists are usually easy, although there are a few, such as 'old Jones' on page 177, who elude me. The two other main groups of entries, places and Darwin's works, present no difficulties. About forty per cent of the entries are about people. These I have tried to keep uniform and I have used two conventions: women will be found under their maiden surnames, when these are known to me; even Emma Darwin will be found under Wedgwood: titles, whether of honour or plain Mr, Mrs or Miss, are always given in italic. A full entry for a person starts with forenames followed by dates of birth and death, occupation in general, titles of honour and membership of important learned societies, marriage, children, blood relationship to Darwin if any. This is followed by a brief note of the post or posts which they held, and relevant dated quota- [page 9] tions to show Darwin's connection with the subject of the entry. Finally, I have mentioned their more important published works, particularly those which relate to Darwin, and have listed a few biographies for the more important people, although in most cases I have made a reference to the Dictionary of national biography or Who was who suffice. Many of the entries for people are, intentionally, not nearly as full as this. Darwin's books have been entered under short titles and all editions are listed, although mere reprints are ignored; first editions printed in America and in foreign languages are also listed. Foreign language editions are also entered under the language, so that a complete list is available of those of his works which have been translated into any given language; there is a similar list for English Braille. Almost all his books have appeared in facsimile in recent years and the dates of these are entered. Papers published in periodicals are entered by short title; these are widely scattered and some were not easily accessible until the most useful publication of a complete set by Paul H. Barrett in 1977; the page numbers of Barrett's reprints are given in each case. Much of the material which was left in manuscript by Darwin has also been published; most of it was never intended for publication, being notebooks or rough drafts. The titles of these have been consolidated under the heading 'Darwin, Charles Robert, Manuscripts', but their editors have been entered in the main list. This work is a compilation, with almost nothing in it that has not appeared in print before. I have tried to stick to facts, although matters of opinion have crept in here and there. Darwin himself, in a letter to Huxley in 1859, said 'The inaccuracy of the blessed band (of which I am one) of compilers passes all bounds, The difficulty is to know what to trust.' I know that there are many omissions here and I am sure that there are errors, but hope that most of the facts are correct. [page 10] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS MY indebtedness to works of reference is large. Many of these are listed below, under Abbreviations, but others are, as usual, taken for granted. I give my thanks to the editors and compilers of hundreds of such works. More personally, I should like to thank the three great Cambridge darwinians, Nora Lady Barlow, Dr Sydney Smith and P. J. Gautrey: all three have answered my questions over the years with unfailing patience, as they have those of so many others. Peter Gautrey, sitting as he does on the Darwin archive in the University Library, has had to bear the brunt. I am indebted to many Librarians in National and University libraries, but especially to Joseph Scott, Librarian of University College London, whose library has been my daily haunt. The excellence of his reference rooms and the learning of his staff has saved me much journeying and letter writing. I would like to thank three of his staff by name: Joan Nash, who has looked after the Biological Sciences Library for many years; Susan Gove, in charge of the Thane Medical Library, who enjoys chasing obscure physicians and surgeons; and John Spiers, in charge of information, who regards chasing people as light relief from on-line reference retrieval.

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