Order of the proceedings at the Darwin celebration held at Cambridge, June 22-June 24, 1909 : with a sketch of Darwin's life.
- University of Cambridge
- Date:
- 1909
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Order of the proceedings at the Darwin celebration held at Cambridge, June 22-June 24, 1909 : with a sketch of Darwin's life. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![A SKETCH OF DARWIN’S LIFE^ 1809 Charles Robert Darwin, born Feb. 12, at The Mount, Shrewsbury (Plate I), the house of his father, Dr Robert Waring Darwin (b. 1766, d. 1848), who was the son of Erasmus Darwin (b. 1731, d. 1802), Poet, Physician and Evolutionist. On the mother’s side Charles Darwin was grandson of Josiah Wedgwood (b. 1730, d. 1795), the founder of the Etruria Pottery Works, Staffordshire. Charles Darwin retained a strong feeling of love and respect for his father’s memory. His recollection of everything connected with him was peculiarly distinct, and he spoke of him frequently, generally prefacing an anecdote with some such phrase as “ My father, who was the wisest man I ever knew.” “He was about 6 feet 2 inches in height, with broad shoulders, and very corpulent, so that he was the largest man whom I ever saw—His chief mental characteristics were his powers of observation and his sympathy, neither of which have I ever seen exceeded or even equalled.” Darwin’s Autobiography. The house is charmingly placed on a steep bank above the Severn. The terraced bank is traversed by a long walk leading from end to end, still called “ The Doctor’s Walk.” At one point in this walk grows a Spanish chestnut, the branches of which bend back parallel to themselves in a curious manner, and this was Darwin’s favourite tree as a boy where he and his sister Catherine (Plate 11) had each their special seat. 1817 “At 8-^ years old I went to Mr Case’s school.” [A day-school at Shrews- bury kept by the Rev. G. Case, Minister of the Unitarian Chapel.] “By the time I went to this day-school my taste for natural history, and more especially for collecting, was well developed. I tried to make out the names of plants, and collected all sorts of things, shells, seals, franks, coins, and ' The quotations are taken for the most part from Charles Darwin’s Autobiography (^Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. i. Chapters i and ii), from the Pocket Diary, and from letters published in the Life and Letters or in More Letters of Charles Darwt?i.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2898383x_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
