From Emma Wedgwood [3 January 1839]
Summary
Emma is surprised how quickly CD has moved into the new house and understands his feeling of triumph. Wants him and Fanny [Mrs Hensleigh] Wedgwood to settle on hiring a cook.
Is reading Mansfield Park [Jane Austen (1814)], which she finds "very suitable".
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [3 Jan 1839] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 158 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-482 |
To William Whewell 4 [January 1839]
Summary
Informs him of J. B. Jukes’s plans concerning the Newfoundland survey post.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Whewell |
| Date: | 4 [Jan 1839] |
| Classmark: | Trinity College Library, Cambridge (Add c 88: 5) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-483 |
From Robert FitzRoy [20 March 1839]
Summary
Has objected to loading Narrative with advertisements, but thinks CD’s Zoology and Geology might be advertised. Mentions other details of the final stages of publication.
| Author: | Robert FitzRoy |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [20 Mar 1839] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 146 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-500 |
To A. Y. Spearman 4 February 1839
Summary
Submits the account of Smith, Elder & Co. for the third number of part two and second number of part three of the Zoology.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alexander Young Spearman, 1st baronet |
| Date: | 4 Feb 1839 |
| Classmark: | The National Archives (TNA) (T1/4524 paper 25824) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-494A |
To William Whewell 16 April [1839]
Summary
Thanks WW for wedding gift.
Expresses admiration for his History of the inductive sciences [1837].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Whewell |
| Date: | 16 Apr [1839] |
| Classmark: | Trinity College Library, Cambridge (Add c 88: 6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-506 |
From William Lonsdale 15 June 1839
Summary
Acknowledges Journal of researches.
| Author: | William Lonsdale |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 15 June 1839 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 182 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-521 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from Alexander Caldcleugh dated 18 February 1839, which may have arrived from Chile by mid-June, was read at the meeting of 6 November. It contained a translation of an account of a supposed submarine volcanic eruption near the island of Juan Fernandez on 12 February 1839 ( Proceedings of the Geological Society 3 (1838– …
To William Shoberl [21 March 1839]
Summary
Captain FitzRoy has no objection to appending advertisement of other works connected with Beagle voyage to CD’s volume [Journal of researches].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Shoberl; Henry Colburn |
| Date: | [21 Mar 1839] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.18) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-501 |
From Benjamin Silliman Sr and Benjamin Silliman Jr 24 May 1839
Summary
Thanks for copies of the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, with a request for items (listed) missing from their set.
Offer to supply, if they can, any copies missing from the Geological Society’s run of the American Journal of Science.
| Author: | Benjamin Silliman, Sr; Benjamin Silliman, Jr |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin; William John Hamilton |
| Date: | 24 May 1839 |
| Classmark: | Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/233) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-511F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1838. The American Journal of Science and Arts had been founded by Benjamin Silliman Sr. The first issue of the Proceedings was for the 1826–7 session; issue 47 was for the 1836–7 session. Another hand has inserted ‘4’ before ‘5’, and all the numbers from 4 to 47 have been ticked. A note at the top of the letter …
From Andrew Smith 16 March 1839
Summary
Sends his congratulations and best wishes on CD’s marriage.
| Author: | Andrew Smith |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 16 Mar 1839 |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 172 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-498 |
To Emma Wedgwood 2 [–3 January 1839]
Summary
His dinner with the Carlyles. "He is the best worth listening to of any man" – but CD cannot get up much admiration for Mrs C, partly because of her Scots accent, which makes her difficult to understand.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | 2 [–3 Jan 1839] |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.8: 10 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-481 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from Emma Wedgwood, [7 January 1839] ). According to the ‘Journal’ ( Correspondence vol. 2, Appendix II), CD went to Shrewsbury on Friday the 11th, to Maer on the 15th, returned to London on the 18th, then to Shrewsbury on the 25th and to Maer on the 28th for the wedding. Francis Beaufort’s marriage to Honora Edgeworth took place on 8 November 1838. …
From J. G. Malcolmson 7 October 1839
Summary
Sends notes on soundings made on coral banks in the China Sea.
His recent geological observations.
Finds a difficulty with CD’s erratic block theory.
| Author: | John Grant Malcolmson |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 7 Oct 1839 |
| Classmark: | DAR 39: 12–14 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-535 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … letter from J. G. Malcolmson, 30 November 1839 . CD used James Brands Allan’s information about Aldabra and other islands in Coral reefs, pp. 185–6. Macclesfield Bank in the China Sea is briefly described in Coral reefs, p. 182, as a very large coral bank of irregular depths. Scrope 1825 . Horsburgh 1809–11 . From 1838 …
To William Herbert [c. 1 April 1839]
Summary
Questions on breeding of plants: variation in established versus new varieties; predominance of wild species and old varieties when crossed with newer forms; predominance of males versus females; correlations between ease of hybridisation and tendency to vary and undergo cultivation; reversion; correlations between hybridisation and geographic distribution.
In WH’s Amaryllidaceae [1837], does he intend to say crossing is inimical to fertility?
[Sent via J. S. Henslow; note to amanuensis Syms Covington.]
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Herbert, dean of Manchester |
| Date: | [c. 1 Apr 1839] |
| Classmark: | DAR 185: 62 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-502 |
To T. C. Eyton [30 November 1839]
Summary
Sends bird specimens for examination by TCE [for Birds].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
| Date: | [30 Nov 1839] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.17) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-547 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … 1838 , especially pp. 258, 262, 265). Blyth’s articles were a major source of information for CD’s notes on transmutation during the years 1837–42 (see Sheets-Pyenson 1981 , which briefly reviews the literature about Blyth’s influence on CD, including Eiseley 1959, Beddall 1972 , and Manier 1978 ). A reference to Swainson’s espousal of the quinary system of classification (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter …
| letter | (13) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Darwin, Emma | (1) |
| FitzRoy, Robert | (1) |
| Lonsdale, William | (1) |
| Malcolmson, J. G. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (6) |
| Whewell, William | (2) |
| Colburn, Henry | (1) |
| Darwin, Emma | (1) |
| Eyton, T. C. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (13) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Wedgwood, Emma | (2) |
| Whewell, William | (2) |
| Colburn, Henry | (1) |
Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'
Summary
The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of …
Darwin’s species notebooks: ‘I think . . .’
Summary
I have lately been sadly tempted to be idle, that is as far as pure geology is concerned, by the delightful number of new views, which have been coming in, thickly & steadily, on the classification & affinities & instincts of animals—bearing…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I have lately been sadly tempted to be idle, that is as far as pure geology is concerned, by …
Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
Darwin's health
Summary
On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend Joseph Hooker from Great Malvern in Worcestershire, where Dr James Manby Gully ran a fashionable water-cure establishment. Darwin apologised for his delayed reply to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 28 March 1849, ten years before Origin was published, Darwin wrote to his good friend …
Science: A Man’s World?
Summary
Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Discussion Questions | Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth …
Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
Summary
This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the geology of the Beagle voyage, and other publications on geological topics. Author-date citations refer to entries in the Darwin Correspondence Project’s…
Matches: 1 hits
- … This list includes papers read by Darwin to the Geological Society of London, his books on the …
Dining at Down House
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's Domestic Life While Darwin is best remembered for his scientific accomplishments, he greatly valued and was strongly influenced by his domestic life. Darwin's…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Dining, Digestion, and Darwin's …
Religion
Summary
Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Design | Personal Belief | Beauty | The Church Perhaps the most notorious …
Darwin on marriage
Summary
On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, …
Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
Summary
The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University …
Species and varieties
Summary
On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most famous book, and the reader would rightly assume that such a thing as ‘species’ must therefore exist and be subject to description. But the title continues, …or…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On the origin of species by means of natural selection …so begins the title of Darwin’s most …
George Robert Waterhouse
Summary
George Waterhouse was born on 6 March 1810 in Somers Town, North London. His father was a solicitor’s clerk and an amateur lepidopterist. George was educated from 1821-24 at Koekelberg near Brussels. On his return he worked for a time as an apprentice to…
Matches: 1 hits
- … George Waterhouse was born on 6 March 1810 in Somers Town, North London. His father was a …
Thomas Burgess
Summary
As well as its complement of sailors, the Beagle also carried a Royal Marine sergeant and seven marines, one of whom was Thomas Burgess. When the Beagle set sail he was twenty one, having been born in October 1810 to Israel and Hannah Burgess of Lancashire…
Matches: 1 hits
- … As well as its complement of sailors, the Beagle also carried a Royal Marine sergeant and …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
Charles Lyell
Summary
As an author, friend and correspondent, Charles Lyell played a crucial role in shaping Darwin's scientific life. Born to a wealthy gentry family in Scotland in 1797, Lyell had a classical and legal education but by the 1820s had become entranced by…
Matches: 1 hits
- … As an author, friend and correspondent, Charles Lyell played a crucial role in shaping Darwin's …
What did Darwin believe?
Summary
What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory of evolution for religious faith? These questions were asked again and again in the years following the publication of Origin of species (1859). They are…
Matches: 1 hits
- … What did Darwin really believe about God? the Christian revelation? the implications of his theory …
Journal of researches
Summary
Within two months of the Beagle’s arrival back in England in October 1836, Darwin, although busy with distributing his specimens among specialists for description, and more interested in working on his geological research, turned his mind to the task of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The Journal of researches , Darwin’s account of his travels round the world in H.M.S. Beagle …
Darwin and the Church
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It …
1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
Summary
< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more …
Darwin’s observations on his children
Summary
Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children,[1] began the research that …
