Darwin, Charles Robert, 1809-1882 (naturalist)
Biography
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-82), naturalist and writer, was born in Shrewsbury and died at Down House, Downe in Kent in. The most celebrated naturalist of the nineteenth century, he graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1831. A grandson of Erasmus Darwin of Lichfied and of Josiah Wedgwood, he early in life showed an interest in collecting and natural history but it was to read medicine that he entered the University of Edinburgh in 1825, intending to follow his father Robert's career as a doctor. However, Darwin found himself uninspired and in some areas repelled by his studies, including that of geology, and left Edinburgh without graduating in 1827. With the intention of entering the church, Darwin came up to Cambridge in 1828, and though not finding the formal studies any more to his taste than those at Edinburgh he formed a friendship with the Professor of Botany, John Stevens Henslow, and enthusiastically began to study the subject. Having graduated, Darwin was recommended by Henslow to Robert Fitzroy, commander of HM Sloop 'Beagle', as a naturalist to sail on a circumnavigational voyage Fitzroy was planning. Returning from the Beagle voyage in 1836, Darwin enjoyed a publishing success with his volume "Journal of Researches" drawn from his collecting and observations undertaken during the Voyage of HMS Beagle. He married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and in 1842 moved to the Kent village of Down, where he spent the rest of his life. It was at Down House that Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection", 1859, and a series of monographs in botany, entomology and anthropology of the greatest importance.
The catalogue to the Charles Darwin Papers: http://darwin.amnh.org/browse.php?mode=uc&pid=72001
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Darwin Correspondence Project Archive
The archive is divided into two sections, covering the Bennington, Vermont, office and the Cambridge, UK, office. There may therefore be some duplication. Most aspects of the DCP's activities are covered, including appeals for funding, the search for letters, editorial policy, early computerisation, reports, publicity, outreach, and correspondence.