9781422277607

Early Years Charles Darwin was born in 1809, in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire county, England, the fourth child of Robert Darwin, a prosperous doctor with a flourishing practice. His mother Susannah, who died while he was still young, was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, owner of the famous pottery. In later life Charles remembered little of her, but enjoyed the company of his Wedgwood cousins, who lived not far away. Doctor Darwin was a huge man who stood over six feet tall and weighed over 300 pounds. Long after he died, Charles spoke fondly of his father as the

largest man he ever saw, and the kindest he ever knew. Charles never met his famous grandfather Erasmus, who had died seven years before he was born. But he heard a great deal about him from his father, the practically minded doctor who did not think highly of Erasmus’s flights of fancy and philosophical nonsense. Charles was a quiet boy, and it was intended that he would become a doctor like his father and grandfather before him. He remained at home until he was nine, having a little schooling from his elder sister Caroline, and accompanying Doctor

Charles’s father, Robert Waring Darwin (1766– 1848), was a physician in Shrewsbury. Charles Darwin wrote in later life that Doctor Darwin was the largest man he ever saw, and the kind- est man he ever knew.

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