The Darwin–Wedgwood family are members of two connected families, each noted for particular prominent 18th-century figures: Erasmus Darwin, a physician and natural philosopher, and Josiah Wedgwood FRS, a noted potter and founder of the eponymous Josiah Wedgwood & Sons pottery company. The Darwin and Wedgwood families were on friendly terms for much of their history and members intermarried, notably Charles Darwin, who married Emma Wedgwood.[1]
The most notable member of the family was Charles Darwin, a grandson of both Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood. The family also included at least ten Fellows of the Royal Society, and several artists and poets (among whom was the 20th-century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams). Presented below are brief biographical descriptions and genealogical information, and mentions of some notable descendants. (The individuals are listed by year of birth and grouped into generations.) The relationship to Francis Galton, and to his immediate ancestors, is also given. (Note, however, that the data tree below is not intended to include all descendants, nor is it intended to include all prominent descendants. Also note that Ursula Wood died in 2007, Richard Darwin Keynes died in 2010, and Horace Basil Barlow died in 2020.)
Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) was a noted pottery businessman and a friend of Erasmus Darwin. During 1780, on the death of his long-time business partner Thomas Bentley, Josiah asked Darwin for help in managing the business. As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood and Darwin families, one of Josiah's daughters later married Erasmus's son Robert. One of the children of that marriage, Charles Darwin, also married a Wedgwood – Emma Wedgwood, Josiah's granddaughter. Robert's inheritance of Josiah's money enabled him to fund Charles Darwin's chosen vocation in natural history that resulted in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution. Subsequently, Emma's inheritance made the Darwins a wealthy family.
Josiah Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood (1734–1815), and they had seven children, including:
Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) was a physician, botanist and poet from Lichfield, whose lengthy botanical poems gave insights into medicine and natural history, and described an evolutionist theory that anticipated both Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and his grandson Charles. He married twice, first during 1757 to Mary Howard (1740–1770), who died from alcohol-induced liver failure aged 31. She gave birth to:
He then had an extra-marital affair with a Miss Parker, producing two daughters:
He then became smitten with Elizabeth Collier Sacheveral-Pole, who was married to Colonel Sacheveral-Pole and was the natural daughter of the Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. Sacheveral-Pole died soon afterwards, and Erasmus married Elizabeth and they bore an additional seven children:
Samuel "John" Galton FRS (1753–1832) was an arms manufacturer from Birmingham. He married Lucy Barclay (1757–1817), daughter of Robert Barclay Allardice, MP, 5th of Urie. They had the eight children:
The son of Erasmus Darwin, Robert Darwin was a noted physician from Shrewsbury,[2] whose own income as a physician, together with astute investment of his wife's inherited wealth, enabled him to fund his son Charles Darwin's place on the Voyage of the Beagle and then gave him the private income needed to support Charles' chosen vocation in natural history that led to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution. He married Susannah Wedgwood, daughter of Josiah Wedgwood (see above), and they had the following children.
Josiah Wedgwood (1769–1843) was the son of the first Josiah Wedgwood, sometime resident of Dorset (where he served as High Sheriff and later Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent. He married Elizabeth Allen (1764–1846) and they had nine children:[3]
Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805). Pioneer in developing photography, friend and patron of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the pet. Son of Josiah Wedgwood.
Samuel Tertius Galton married Frances Anne Violetta Darwin (1783–1874), daughter of Erasmus Darwin, see above. They had three sons and four daughters including:
Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin was the son of Erasmus Darwin and Elizabeth (née Collier), daughter of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. Francis was an accomplished travel writer, explorer and naturalist and bravely studied the ravages of the plague on Smyrna at great personal risk. He was the only one to return of his friends who went to the East. A physician to George III, he was knighted by George IV.
On 16 December 1815 he married Jane Harriet Ryle (11 December 1794 – 19 April 1866) at St. George, Hanover Square London. They had many children including:
The most prominent member of the family, Charles Darwin, proposed the first coherent theory of evolution by means of natural and sexual selection.
Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) was a son of Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. He married Emma Wedgwood (1808–1896), a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen. Charles's mother, Susannah, was a sister to Emma's father, Josiah II. Thus, Charles and Emma were first cousins. Charles' sister Caroline married Emma's brother, Josiah Wedgwood III.
The Darwins had ten children, three of whom died before reaching maturity.
The Rev. William Darwin Fox (1805–1880) was a second cousin of Charles Darwin and an amateur entomologist, naturalist and palaeontologist. Fox became a lifelong friend of Charles Darwin after their first meeting at Christ's College, Cambridge. He married Harriet Fletcher, who gave him five children, and after her death married Ellen Sophia Woodd, who provided the remainder of his 17 children.
After his graduation from Cambridge during 1829, Fox was appointed as the Vicar of Osmaston and during 1838 became the Rector of Delamere, a living he retained until his retirement during 1873.
George Howard Darwin (1845–1912) was an astronomer and mathematician. He married Martha (Maud) du Puy of Philadelphia. They had five children:
Francis Darwin (1848–1925) was the botanist son of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin (née Wedgwood). Francis Darwin married Amy Ruck during 1874, who died during 1876 after the birth of their son Bernard Darwin, an author on golf – see below. Francis married Ellen Crofts during September 1883 and they had a daughter Frances Crofts, who married and became known as the poet Frances Cornford (see below). During 1913 he married his third wife Florence Henrietta Darwin (née Fisher); there were no children of this marriage, but he became step-father to Fredegond Shove née Maitland and Ermengard Maitland.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge,[5] where he is interred in the same grave as his daughter Frances Cornford. His third wife and his brother Sir Horace Darwin and his wife Lady 'Ida' are interred in the same graveyard, as well as his step-daughter Fredegond Shove but not her sister Ermengard Maitland.
Leonard Darwin (1850–1943) was variously an army officer, Member of Parliament and eugenicist who corresponded with Ronald Fisher, thus being the link between the two great evolutionary biologists.
Horace Darwin (1851–1928) and Ida Darwin (1854–1946) had the following children:
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife.[5] His brother Sir Francis Darwin is interred in the same graveyard.
Charles Galton Darwin 1887–1962 was the son of George Howard Darwin (see above) and was a noted physicist of the age, and Director of the National Physics Laboratory. His son George Pember Darwin (1928–2001) married Angela Huxley, great-granddaughter of Thomas Huxley.
Gwen Raverat (1885–1957) was the daughter of George Howard Darwin and was an artist. She married the French artist Jacques Raverat during 1911 and had daughters Elizabeth Hambro and Sophie Pryor, later Gurney. Her childhood memoir, Period Piece, contains illustrations of and anecdotes about many of the Darwin—Wedgwood clan.
Margaret Keynes (1890–1974) was the daughter of George Howard Darwin, (see above). She married Geoffrey Keynes, brother of the economist John Maynard Keynes (see Keynes family) and had sons Richard Keynes, Quentin Keynes, Milo Keynes and Stephen Keynes, and a daughter Harriet Frances.Date of birth 22 March 1890.[6] She was the third child, her other siblings are:1. Gwendolen Mary 27 Aug 1885.[7] 2. Charles Galton 9 Dec 1887.[8] 3. William Robert 22 August 1894.[9]
Bernard Darwin (1876–1961) was a golf writer. He married Elinor Monsell (died 1954) during 1906, and they had a son Robert Vere Darwin (7 May 1910 – 30 January 1974), and daughters Ursula Mommens (20 August 1908 – 30 January 2010), and Nicola Mary Elizabeth Darwin, later Hughes (1916–1976).
Frances Cornford (1886–1960) Poet, daughter of Francis Darwin, see above, known to the family as 'FCC'; she was married to Francis Cornford, known to the family as 'FMC'. She is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge,[5] where she is in the same grave as her father Sir Francis Darwin. Her late husband, Francis, was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on 6 January 1943, and his ashes are presumed to be interred in the same grave.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), British composer. His maternal grandmother, Caroline Sarah Darwin, was Charles Darwin's older sister, and his maternal grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood III, was the older brother of Darwin's wife Emma.
Nora Darwin (1885–1989), the daughter of Horace Darwin (see above), married Sir Alan Barlow. She also edited the Autobiography of Charles Darwin ((hardback) and (paperback)). They had the following six children:
Josiah Wedgwood (1872–1943), great-great-grandson of Josiah Wedgwood I, was a Liberal and Labour MP, and served in the military during the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was elevated to the peerage in 1942 on the recommendation of his friend, Winston Churchill.
Capt Charles Tindal-Carill-Worsley, RN, (died 1921) a great-grandson of Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin, served on the Royal Yacht HMY Victoria and Albert (1899) during the reign of King Edward VII, before a successful career in the First World War, where he was commander of HMS Prince George during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915[11] He was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the President of France during 1918.
Cmdr Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley, RN (1886–1966), brother of Charles, naval officer and bon viveur, served on the Royal Yacht with his brother, before serving in the Battle of Jutland in World War I. He retired from the Royal Navy after the First World War but was recalled during World War II, when he was commandant of a training school for WRENS (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service). He married Kathleen, daughter of Simon Mangan of Dunboyne Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Meath and a first cousin of Brig. General Paul Kenna, VC, and had three children.
Sir Ralph L. Wedgwood, 1st Baronet CB CMG (2 March 1874 – 5 September 1956), railway executive, son of Clement Wedgwood.
Erasmus Darwin Barlow (1915–2005) was a psychiatrist, physiologist and businessman. Son of Nora Barlow.
Horace Barlow (1921–2020) was Professor of Physiological Optics and Physiology, Berkeley, California, US (1964–73); Royal Society Research Professor, Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge (1973–87).
John Cornford (1915–1936), was a poet and member of the International Brigades died during the Spanish Civil War. Son of Francis and Frances Cornford, see above.
Christopher Cornford (1917–1993), was an artist and writer. Son of Francis and Frances Cornford, see above.
Henry Galton Darwin (1929–1992) was a lawyer and diplomat. Son of Charles Galton Darwin.[12]
Robert Vere "Robin" Darwin (1910–1974) was an artist. He is the son of Bernard Darwin, see above.
Quentin Keynes (1921–2003) was a bibliophile and explorer. Son of Margaret Keynes, née Darwin, see above.
Professor Richard Darwin Keynes FRS (1919–2010) was a British physiologist. Son of Margaret Keynes, née Darwin, see above.
Ursula Mommens (née Darwin, first married name Trevelyan) (1908–2010) was a well-known potter. Daughter of Bernard Darwin, see above. Her son by Julian Trevelyan is the movie-maker Philip Trevelyan.
Air Commodore Geoffrey Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1908–1996) was a Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War. Nephew of Charles and Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley.
Group Captain Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1911–2006) was a RAF bomber pilot during the Second World War (known as Nicolas Tindal). Son of Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley.
Camilla Wedgwood (1901–1955), anthropologist, was the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood (see above).
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian. Daughter of Ralph Wedgwood
Martin T. Barlow (born 1953) is a mathematician; son of Andrew Dalmahoy Barlow.
Phyllida Barlow (1944–2023) was a sculptor and art academic; daughter of Erasmus Darwin Barlow.
Matthew Chapman (born 1950), screenwriter, author, grandson of Frances Cornford, see above.
Adam Cornford (born 1950), is a poet and essayist. Son of Christopher Cornford, see above.
Chris Darwin (born 1961), conservationist and adventurer, son of George Erasmus Darwin, see above, and brother of Sarah Darwin and Robert Darwin, see below.
Emma Darwin (born 1964), novelist, granddaughter of Charles Galton Darwin, see above.
Sarah Darwin (born 1964), botanist, daughter of George Erasmus Darwin, see above, and sister of Chris Darwin and Robert Darwin, see above.
Randal Keynes (1948–2023), conservationist and author, son of Richard Keynes, see above.
Simon Keynes (born 1952), Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, son of Richard Keynes, see above, and brother of Randal Keynes, see above.
Hugh Massingberd (1947–2007) was an obituaries editor for The Daily Telegraph, a journalist and the author of many books on genealogy and architectural history. He was the great-grandson of Emily Langton Massingberd, and the great-great-grandson of Charlotte Langton (née Wedgwood), sister of Emma Darwin (Charles Darwin's wife) and granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood I.[13] [14]
Ruth Padel (born 1946), poet, granddaughter of Sir Alan and Lady (Nora) Barlow (née Darwin), see above.
R. Sebastian 'Bas' Pease (1922–2004), physicist, Director of Culham Laboratory for Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion (1968–1981), manager of the British chapter of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, grandson of the fourth Josiah Wedgwood (see above). His sister, Jocelyn Richenda 'Chenda' Gammell Pease (1925–2003), married Andrew Huxley.
Lucy Rawlinson (née Pryor) (born 1948), painter (as Lucy Raverat), granddaughter of Gwen Raverat (née Darwin), see above.
Managing director of Tindal wine merchant and youngest son of Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley.[15] Father of Harriet, William and Henry Tindal. Lives in Wicklow Ireland.
Ralph Wedgwood (born 1964), philosopher, great-grandson of Ralph L. Wedgwood.[16]
Anna Raverat (born 1969), author, daughter of Lucy Rawlinson.
Francis Hoar (born 1977), barrister (including in Erlam & Ors v Rahman & Anor and the judicial review brought by Simon Dolan against the UK government's 'lockdown' regulations). Son of Jacqueline (née Tindal) and grandson of Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley, nephew of Anthony Tindal.[15] [17]
Eddie Peake (born 1981), contemporary artist, son of Phyllida Barlow.[18]
Soumaya Keynes (born 1989), economist and journalist, daughter of Randal Keynes.
Skandar Keynes (born 1991), political advisor and former actor, played Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia, son of Randal Keynes.
There was a notable history of intermarriage within the family. During the period being discussed, Josiah Wedgwood married his third cousin Sarah Wedgwood; Charles Darwin married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood; his sister, Caroline Darwin, married Emma's brother (and Caroline's first cousin), Josiah Wedgwood III. There were other instances of cousin marriage as well. Cousin marriage was not uncommon in Britain during the 19th century though why is debated: poorer communications, keeping wealth within the family, more opportunity of evaluating a relative of the opposite sex as a suitable marriage partner (unmarried young women of the upper and upper middle classes were closely chaperoned when meeting men outside the family during the 19th century), more security for the woman as she would not be leaving her family (though legal rights for married women increased during the century, as a rule her property became his and she had little legal recourse if he chose to abuse her).
These arms were granted to Reginald Darwin, of Fern, Derbyshire, for himself and certain descendants of his father, Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin, and his uncle Robert Waring Darwin (Father of Charles), on 6 March 1890. As Charles Darwin was part of the destination, they have been used in association with him, despite being granted after his death. Something similar is used by Darwin College, Cambridge.
| Reginald Darwin | |
| Notes: | The arms of Reginald Darwin (1818–1892)[19] and his heirs consist of: |
| Crest: | Upon a wreath of the colours, in front of a demi-griffin Vert, holding between the claws an escallop Or, three escallops fesswise Argent. |
| Escutcheon: | Argent, on a bend Gules cottised Vert, between two mullets each within an annulet Gules, three escallops Or. |
| Motto: | Cave et aude (Beware and dare) |
A variant without mullets was being used by the Darwin family long before 1890. Erasmus Darwin used it with the motto E conchis omnia (All things out of shells),[20] reflecting his belief that all life descended from one simple form. Charles' father Robert adopted the same motto, displaying it on his bookplate.[21] Stephen Glover described in 1829 the older variant quartered with the Waring coat of arms (sable, a chevron between three storks' heads erased, argent).[22]
| Erasmus Darwin | |
| Crest: | A demi-griffin segreant, Vert, holding in his claws an escallop, Or. |
| Escutcheon: | Argent, on a bend Gules cottised Vert, three escallop shells, Or. |
| Motto: | E conchis omnia (All things out of shells) |