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Darwin, Sir Francis, 1848-1925 (Knight and botanist)

 Person

Biography

Sir Francis Darwin (1848-1925), botanist, was born at Downe, Kent, on 16 August 1848, the son of the naturalist Charles Darwin. He attended the grammar school at Clapham before entering Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1886 (B.A., 1870; M.B. and M.A., 1875). He studied medicine at St George's Hospital, but never went into practice. Darwin worked as his father's secretary and research assistant, 1875-1882. He became Cambridge University lecturer in botany in 1884, and Fellow of Christ's College in 1886. He was reader in botany, 1888-1904. In 1874 Darwin married Amy Ruck, who died in 1876 giving birth to their son Bernard Richard Meiron. After the death of his wife he lived at Downe with his parents and child. After his father's death in 1882 Darwin moved to Cambridge. In 1883 he married Ellen Wordsworth Crofts (1856–1903), a lecturer in English literature at Newnham College (where she had been a student in 1874–77), with whom he had a daughter, Frances, who became known as a poet under her married name of Frances Cornford. After the death of his second wife in 1903 Darwin resigned from the readership in botany and moved to London, but after only about a year returned to Cambridge and continued his botanical research. In 1913 he married Florence Henrietta, née Fisher (d. 1920), the widow of Professor F. W. Maitland. Darwin was knighted in 1913, and died in Cambridge on 19 September 1925.

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:

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DARWIN, Francis, 1910-1913

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Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.10286/1/19
Scope and Contents

Three letters sent from Francis Darwin to Horace and Ida Darwin between August 1910 and January 1913.The letters express sympathy for Ida following her accident (in August 1910), provide news of a planned house move in Cambridge (in October 1910) and reveal news of his engagement to Florence Fisher in January 1913.

Dates: 1910-1913
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
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Darwin Medal correspondence, 1904

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Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8634/A.53
Scope and Contents

Letter from the Royal Society notifying Bateson that he had been awarded the Darwin Medal for 1904, along with letters of congratulations.

Correspondents congratulating Bateson on the award include Francis Darwin, [Adam] Sedgwick, William Huggins, Edith Rebecca Saunders, Alfred Newton, Charles S. Myers, F.D. Godman, Oliver Lodge, Marion Bidder, and Daniel T. MacDougal.

Dates: 1904
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
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Darwin, Sir Francis, 1890-1914

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Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8634/H.4
Scope and Contents

Correspondence re professional and general matters. Darwin, 1848-1925, son of Charles Darwin, was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1882.

Dates: 1890-1914
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
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Letter from Sir Francis Darwin to [J. Peile], 1901 (Circa, undated)

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Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.5944/20/33
Scope and Contents From the Fonds:

Artificial collection of single item or small collection accessions. Includes correspondence, verses, notes and miscellaneous papers.

Dates: 1901 (Circa, undated)
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
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Memorial to the Vice Chancellor, 16 June 1892

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Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.5944/36/3
Scope and Contents Signed by J.D. Duff, J.C. Saunders, A.T. Lyttelton, C.V. Stanford, J.W. Clark, G.W. Prothero, Arthur Tilley, F.W. Maitland, Alex. Hill, J.A. Ewing, W.J. Lewin, Arthur E. Shipley, E.S. Roberts, John B. Lock, William Raynes, W.L. Mollison, Henry Henn, W. Aldis Wright, W. Headlam, R.A. Neil, E.T.S. Carr, J.H. Middleton, W.E. Heitland, F. Pattrick, E.W. Thompson, S.G. Phear, R. Burn, W.S. Hadley, J. Hamblin Smith, W.M. Fawcett, Herbert E. Ryle, W.H. Macaulay, S.F. Harmer, Laurence Humphry, H.R....
Dates: 16 June 1892
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

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