Robert Darwin
Robert Darwin FRS | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Waring Darwin 30 May 1766 |
Died | 13 November 1848 | (aged 82)
Burial place | St Chad's Church, Montford, Shropshire |
Occupation | Medical doctor |
Spouse | |
Children | Marianne Parker Caroline Wedgwood Susan Darwin Erasmus Alvey Darwin Charles Darwin Emily Langton |
Parent(s) | Erasmus Darwin Mary Howard |
Relatives | See Darwin–Wedgwood family |
Robert Waring Darwin
Biography
Darwin was born in Lichfield, the son of physician Erasmus Darwin and his first wife, Mary Howard. He was named after his uncle, Robert Waring Darwin of Elston (1724–1816), a bachelor. His mother died in 1770 and Mary Parker, the governess hired to look after him, became his father's mistress and bore Erasmus two illegitimate daughters.
In 1783, Darwin began his studies of medicine at the
Career
In 1787, when he was still under 21 years old, Darwin set up practice in
With small inheritances from his mother and an aunt, Darwin invested in housing, buying the
Erasmus Darwin reached an understanding with his close friend Josiah Wedgwood that his son Robert would marry Wedgwood's favourite daughter, Susannah, when able to support her. Josiah died in January 1795, leaving £25,000 to Susannah. By then Robert Darwin was well established, and they married on 18 April 1796. Their first child, Marianne, was born at The Crescent. Robert Darwin purchased land overlooking the River Severn and had a large red-brick house built there around 1800 which was named The Mount, where all their other children were born. He took great pleasure in the large garden, and had it planted out with ornamental trees and shrubs as well as having particular success in growing fruit-trees.[3][6]
A large man of 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), he reportedly stopped weighing himself when he weighed 24 stone (336 lb, 153 kg). He required his coachman to test the floorboards of houses he was visiting, and had to have special stone steps made for him to enter his carriage.
He held his experience in Edinburgh in such high regard that he sent his son Charles to study there. He at first refused to let his son join the survey voyage of HMS Beagle, but was persuaded otherwise.
Scientific contributions
Robert Darwin provided the first empirical evidence that small eye movements are made even when people attempt to keep them fixed. This he found during his studies of the afterimages of colored stimuli in which he noticed that while a person tried to fixate a colored circle, a lucid edge appeared on the adjacent white-paper background. He concluded "as by the unsteadiness of the eye a part of the fatigued retina falls on the white paper".[7][8]
Family
On 18 April 1796 he married
- Marianne Darwin (1798–1858), married Henry Parker (1788–1858) in 1824.
- Caroline Sarah Darwin (1800–1888) married her cousin Josiah Wedgwood III
- Susan Elizabeth Darwin (1803–1866), unmarried.
- Erasmus Alvey Darwin (1804–1881)
- Charles Robert Darwin(1809–1882)
- Emily Catherine Darwin (1810–1866), married 1863, Charles Langton clergyman and widower of her cousin Charlotte Wedgwood.
He, his wife, and their daughter Susan are buried in St Chad's Church, Montford, near Shrewsbury.
Notes
- Darwin Correspondence Project. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 10
- ^ a b c Darwin 1887, pp. 8–10
- ^ Phillips 1974, pp. 477–478
- ^ Browne 1995, p. 8
- ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 11
- JSTOR 106628. (communicated by Erasmus Darwin)
- PMID 19683016.
References
- ISBN 978-1-84413-314-7
- Phillips, W. (1974), "A Biographical Sketch of Charles Darwin's Father", in Barrett, P. H. (ed.), Early writings of Charles Darwin, London: Wildwood House, pp. 477–479
- Darwin, Charles (1887), Darwin, Francis (ed.), The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter, London: John Murray, retrieved 9 September 2009
- ISBN 978-0-7181-3430-3