Erasmus Alvey Darwin
Erasmus Alvey Darwin (29 December 1804 – 26 August 1881), nicknamed Eras or Ras, was the older brother of
Education
He was educated at Shrewsbury School between 1815–1822 as a boarder, and as a frail and studious boy his interest was in books and plants rather than friends. His mother died in 1817 and he was joined at the school by his brother Charles in September 1818. Darwin became bored with the classical curriculum and took an interest in chemistry, with Charles as his assistant. They had a garden shed at their home fitted out as a laboratory.
In 1822 Erasmus went on to a medical course at
By 1828 Erasmus was ready to sit his Bachelor of Medicine exam at the University of Cambridge,[2] and early in the new year he was accompanied to Cambridge by his brother Charles who had given up on medical studies and was now starting a course to qualify as a clergyman. That summer he went on a Continental tour to Munich, Milan and Vienna, and on his return home during the Christmas holiday he and Charles visited London, touring the scientific institutions.
Retirement
In the summer of 1829 he gave up medicine as his father Doctor
There was an open secret in the family in 1833 that Erasmus was carrying on with Fanny Wedgwood, Hensleigh Wedgwood's wife, and as his sister Catherine wrote to Charles, "Papa continually prophesies a fine paragraph in the Paper about them". The Wedgwoods had a baby, ending his "junkitting at her house", but the affair resurfaced so Erasmus was "paired off" with Emma Wedgwood to avert "an action in the Papers".
Harriet Martineau
In May 1834 Charles got a letter from his sisters recommending Poor Laws and Paupers Illustrated in
In October 1836 after Charles returned from the voyage he stayed with his brother in a bustling London, where Erasmus enjoyed a life of literary leisure, his week revolving around intellectual dinner parties, spending his days with Miss Martineau. Their father was concerned that her radicalism made her unsuitable as a daughter-in-law, and possibly a bad influence on his boys.[4] Charles wrote that "Erasmus is just returned from driving out Miss Martineau.— Our only protection from so admirable a sister-in-law is in her working him too hard. He begins to perceive, (to use his own expression) he shall be not much better than her 'nigger'.— Imagine poor Erasmus a nigger to so philosophical & energetic a lady.— How pale & woe begone he will look.— She already takes him to task about his idleness— She is going some day to explain to him her notions about marriage— Perfect equality of rights is part of her doctrine. I much doubt whether it will be equality in practice. We must pray for our poor 'nigger'."[5] In December Charles called on Martineau and remarked that "She was very agreeable and managed to talk on a most wonderful number of subjects, considering the limited time. I was astonished to find how little ugly she is, but as it appears to me, she is overwhelmed with her own projects, her own thoughts and own abilities. Erasmus palliated all this, by maintaining one ought not to look at her as a woman."[6]
Eras had a cosmopolitan circle of friends including Martineau and his relative Hensleigh Wedgwood, and arranged intimate dinner parties with guests such as Charles Lyell, Charles Babbage and Thomas Carlyle. Radical and dissenting "heterodoxy was the norm". In the Spring of 1837 Charles moved to nearby lodgings where he could readily visit and attend Eras's dinner parties.
In April 1838 Charles told his older sister Susan that he had seen the rhinoceros in the zoo let out for the first time that spring, "kicking & rearing" and galloping for joy. He then passed on the gossip that Miss Martineau had been "as frisky lately [as] the Rhinoceros.— Erasmus has been with her noon, morning, and night:—if her character was not as secure, as a mountain in the polar regions she certainly would loose it.— Lyell called there the other day & there was a beautiful rose on the table, & she coolly showed it to him & said “Erasmus Darwin” gave me that.— How fortunate it is, she is so very plain; otherwise I should be frightened: She is a wonderful woman".[7]
Before marrying at the start of 1839 Charles moved to Gower Street, London, astounding Erasmus with the amount of his luggage. In the summer of that year Martineau's health broke down during a visit to the Continent and, fearing a tumour she retired to solitary lodgings in Tynemouth near her brother. She and Erasmus remained on good terms, writing to each other. Erasmus's social circle drifted apart, while "[Eras] sticks to his opium with many groans". (Opium was a common medicine at this time.)
"Uncle Ras"
While
As the
By the autumn of 1880 Erasmus was in poorly health, suffering from the effects of time and opium, in constant pain and scarcely able to leave home. In September 1880 Charles stayed with Erasmus while his portrait was painted by
He is buried in St Mary the Virgin Churchyard,
References
- ISBN 9780521828734.
- ^ "Darwin, Erasmus, Alvey (DRWN822EA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Letter 224; Darwin, C. S. to Darwin, C. R., 28 Oct [1833]". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 201
- ^ "Letter 321; Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., (9 Nov 1836)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ "Letter 325; Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, C. S., (7 Dec 1836)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ "Letter 407; Darwin, C. R. to Darwin, S. E., (1 Apr 1838)". Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
Works cited
- Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991). Darwin. London: Michael Joseph, the Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-013192-2.