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Charles Robert Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin

Male 1809 - 1882  (73 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and 70 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Charles Robert Darwin 
    Birth 12 Feb 1809  The Mount, Shrewsbury, Sal Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christening 15 Nov 1809  St Chad, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 19 Apr 1882  Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 5 Siblings 
    Person ID I33052  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2000 

    Father Dr Robert Waring Darwin,   b. 30 May 1766, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 13 Nov 1848, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Sal Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years) 
    Mother Susannah Wedgwood,   c. 23 Jan 1765, Burslem, Staffordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 13 Jul 1817, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Sal Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 52 years) 
    Marriage 18 Apr 1796  St Marylebone, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F13891  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Emma Wedgwood,   c. 22 May 1808, Maer, Staffordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Oct 1896, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 88 years) 
    Marriage 29 Jan 1839  Maer, Staffordshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. William Erasmus Darwin,   b. 27 Dec 1839, 12 Upper Gower Street, St Pancras, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Sep 1914, Sedburgh, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years)
     2. Anne Elizabeth Darwin,   b. 2 Mar 1841, 12 Upper Gower Street, St Pancras, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Apr 1851, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 10 years)
     3. Mary Eleanor Darwin,   b. 23 Sep 1842, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     4. Henrietta Emma Darwin,   b. 25 Sep 1843, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Dec 1927, Burrows Hill, Gomshall, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years)
    +5. George Howard Darwin,   b. 9 Jul 1845, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Dec 1912, Newnham Grange, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 67 years)
     6. Elizabeth Darwin,   b. 8 Jul 1847, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Jun 1926, Burrows Hill, Gomshall, Surrey, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 78 years)
    +7. Francis Darwin,   b. 16 Aug 1848, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Sep 1925, Madingley Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years)
     8. Maj. Leonard Darwin,   b. 15 Jan 1850, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 Mar 1943, Cripps Corner, Forest Row, Sussex, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 93 years)
    +9. Horace Darwin,   b. 13 May 1851, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Sep 1928, The Orchard, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years)
     10. Charles Waring Darwin,   b. 6 Dec 1856, Downe House, Downe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1858 (Age 1 year)
    Family ID F53934  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2000 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsChristening - 15 Nov 1809 - St Chad, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Photos
    Charles Robert Darwin
    Charles Robert Darwin

  • Notes 
    • Considered the father of evolution, Charles Darwin has been one of the most respected and most reviled figures in history. Like all famous figures, he has been surrounded by some mythology as well.
      While still a young man, Darwin set sail aboard the Beagle to see the world before returning to England to become, as he planned, a country gentleman and parson. (He halfway succeeded -- he remained a country gentleman the rest of his life.) Legend holds that Darwin happened upon one of science's most important theories during his travels aboard the Beagle, through his unbiased observation of nature. In fact, Darwin devised no great theory until after his return to England, and he was not the first person to propose evolution. In fact, evolution was widely discussed -- at least in scientific circles -- long before Darwin published any of his theories. The question was, how did evolution occur? The reason Charles Darwin is a household name is because he proposed a viable mechanism for evolution, namely natural selection.
      Here's how natural selection works: In any population, there will be variations. Individuals born with certain characteristics, e.g., strong legs, keen eyesight, good camoflage, will enjoy an advantage over their peers. If these individuals can pass these traits on to their offspring, their offspring will enjoy the same advantages. If the surrounding environment gradually changes, it may come to pass that new characteristics are more advantageous than old ones, for instance, a new color that makes better camoflage. As the environment changes, individuals with these new characteristics will do better, live longer and produce more offspring
      until eventually, the population will look very different from its original version. If the population changes enough to satisfy some taxonomist, it will be classified as a new species. In other words, new species arise when the environment favors new characteristics over old ones.
      What sounds pretty simple was in fact very controversial for Darwin's time (and it still is today in many parts of the Western world). What his theory basically stated is that life on earth is simply the result of billions of years of adaptations to changing environments. What this theory implied, and what Darwin stated more clearly in his book The Descent of Man, is that humans, like every other organism on earth, were the result of evolution. In short, Darwin's idea was unflattering. It also conflicted with the 19th-century confidence in the "designfulness" that organisms exhibited for their environments, a design that looked intentional.
      Just as some people refused to accept Darwin's theories at all, others were all too happy to accept his teachings -- and exploit them. Another myth attached to Darwin is that he coined the phrase "survival of the fittest". He didn't. Darwin developed the theory of natural selection to explain differences between species, but many of his contemporaries used his ideas to promote Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism maintains that certain peoples are poorer than others and more likely to be used as slave labor because they're "less evolved" and therefore inferior. (Keep in mind that racism masquerading as science didn't get its start with Social Darwinism. Before that, it thrived in the form of the "Great Chain of Being".)



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