To John Allen 25 May 1847
Summary
Thanks for JS’s note concerning a proposal [concerning some aspect of education of poor children?] which CD has to decline because of his poor health and his work in Natural History.
Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
Addressee: | John Allen |
Date: | 25 May 1847 |
Classmark: | National Library of Israel (Abraham Schwadron collection, Schwad 03 04 07) |
Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1090F |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Abraham Schwadron collection, Schwad 03 04 07) Charles Robert Darwin Down 25 May 1847 John …
letter | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
Allen, John | (1) |
Darwin, C. R. | (1) |
1847 | (1) |

Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 23 hits
- … (1) Alberts, Karl (4) Alberts, Maurice …
- … (2) Allman, G. J. (4) Althaus, Julius …
- … (1) Atkinson, Edward (4) Aubertin, J. J. …
- … (1) Bailey, W. W. (4) Baillie, A. F. …
- … (1) Bary, Anton de (4) Bashford, Frederick …
- … (1) Behrens, Wilhelm (4) Beke, C. T. …
- … (1) Bianconi, G. G. (4) Bibliogr. Inst. …
- … (8) Blackwall, John (4) Blackwell, A. L. B. …
- … (7) Blair, R. H. (4) Blake, C. C. (3 …
- … (2) Broca, Paul (4) Broderip, W. J. …
- … (1) Browne, Hugh (4) Browne, W. R. …
- … (1) Canning, A. S. G. (4) Capes, Frederick …
- … (1) Cardwell, Edward (4) Carlier, A. G. …
- … (1) Chapman, John (4) Charles, R. F. …
- … (2) Cheeseman, T. F. (4) Chemical supplier …
- … (1) Chester, J. L. (4) Chiantore, G. …
- … (2) Clark, J. W. (b) (4) Clarke, Benjamin …
- … (3) Coan, T. M. (4) Cobbe, F. P. (13 …
- … (2) Crotch, G. R. (4) Crotch, W. D. …
- … (56) Dallinger, W. H. (4) Daly, J. …
- … (11) Dobson, G. E. (4) Dodel-Port, Arnold …
- … (3) Dunker, Wilhelm (4) Dupré, August …
- … (2) Fawcett, Henry (4) Fayrer, Joseph …

Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 4 hits
- … translation, 1863 2d French translation 1865 4 th English edition published, 1866 …
- … Lyell, 11 October [1859] and letter from Charles Lyell, 4 October 1859 ). Despite having …
- … doomed to disappointment. 3 rd to 4 th editions This …
- … Everything which I have read during last 4 years I find is quite washy in my mind . Once …
Darwin And Evolution
Summary
What is evolution? What did Darwin discover and how did he come to his conclusions?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities give an introduction to Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. Specimens brought …
Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
Summary
Learn about Darwin's adventures on his epic journey.
Matches: 1 hits
- … These activities explore Darwin’s life changing voyage aboard HMS Beagle. Using letters home, …
Detecting Darwin
Summary
Who was Charles Darwin? What is he famous for? Why is he still important?
Matches: 1 hits
- … Pupils act as Darwin detectives, exploring clues about Darwin’s life and work. No prior knowledge …

Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
Summary
Darwin made a famous comment about parallels between changes in language and species change. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University, talks about the importance of the development of language to Darwin, what…

Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 7 hits
- … improvement to Jones’s diet ( see letter to T. H. Huxley, 4 October [1865] ). It was not until …
- … for the press in the autumn’ ( letter to John Murray, 4 April [1865] ). In early June, he wrote to …
- … from the Linnean Society ( letter to [Richard Kippist], 4 June [1865] ). The paper was published …
- … to high scientific account’ (A. Gray 1865–6, pp. 273-4). Darwin had also written to Gray on 19 …
- … for him to read attentively ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). The fact that …
- … do it if it ever can be done’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ); the hard work of …
- … keep out of contact with him’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 May [1865] ). Darwin contributed …
Teachers notes: Offer of a lifetime
Summary
The Offer of a Lifetime? Activities for: English Key Stage 3 and 4 When Darwin was 22 he received an exciting and unique opportunity to join HMS Beagle. The voyage changed his life but the letters show how close he came to not going at all! …
Matches: 1 hits
- … Activities for: English Key Stage 3 and 4 When Darwin was 22 he received an exciting and …
Home learning: 7-11 years
Summary
Do try this at home! Support your children’s learning by downloading our free and fun activities for those aged between 7-11 and 11-14 years, using Darwin’s letters.
Matches: 1 hits
- … More Darwin the Collector activities 4 How did Darwin develop his ideas on …

Darwin’s reading notebooks
Summary
In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…
Matches: 9 hits
- … published in Paris (in 2 vols.), so long ago as 1839 4 [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. Said to …
- … et anim: on sleep & movements of plants £ 1 ..s 4. [Dutrochet 1837] Voyage aux …
- … observations on increase & decrease of different diseases 4 to . 1801 [Heberden 1801] quoted …
- … worth reading [Dampier 1697] Sportsman’s repository 4 to . [W. H. Scott 1820]— contains …
- … Audubons Ornithol: Biography [Audubon 1831–9]— 4 Vols. well worth reading [DAR *119: 4v.] …
- … 31 An analysis of British Ferns. G. W. Francis 4 s [Francis 1837]— plates of every …
- … of Rural Sports [Blaine 1840] (at Athenæum?) Book II Chapt. 4 on variation by Blaine .— & on …
- … Yak.— Steudel Botan. Nomenclature [Steudel 1821–4]. Synonym of every plant & country— …
- … Paper on transmutation of shells [Haldeman 1843–4] already (1844) VI. vols. published Lib. …

The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 6 hits
- … mammoth ( Correspondence vol. 8, letter to Charles Lyell, 4 May [1860] and n. 3; Hutchinson 1914, …
- … partly inspired by the controversies associated with it. 4 One area of controversy centred …
- … admiration for Lubbock’s book ( letter to J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1865] ). A week later he sent …
- … of the situation was succinct. In his letter to Hooker of [4 June 1865] he warned that no one …
- … Gardens, Kew, Letters to J. D. Hooker, vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 15. Letter from T. H. Huxley …
- … Gardens, Kew, Letters to J. D. Hooker, vol. 14, doc. 183–4). 32. See Anthropological …
New material added to the American edition of Origin
Summary
A ‘revised and augmented’ American edition of Origin came on the market in July 1860, and was the only authorised edition available in the US until 1873. It incorporated many of the changes Darwin made to the second English edition, but still contained…

Darwin and vivisection
Summary
Darwin played an important role in the controversy over vivisection that broke out in late 1874. Public debate was sparked when the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought an unsuccessful prosecution against a French physiologist who…

Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 4 hits
- … of Descent , he wrote to Philip Lutley Sclater on 4 January , ‘Heaven knows, whether the book …
- … produce physiological changes ( letter from Michael Foster, 4 June [1871] ). Pangenesis …
- … can hardly sit up, so no more’ ( letter to A. R. Wallace, 4 August [1871] ). On 23 September he …
- … good as twice refined gold’ ( letter to H. E. Litchfield, 4 September [1871] ). The months …
People featured in the Dutch photograph album
Summary
List of people appearing in the photograph album Darwin received from scientific admirers in the Netherlands for his birthday on 12 February 1877. We are grateful to Hester Loeff for providing this list and for permission to make her research available.…
Matches: 7 hits
- … 4 Ankum H.J. van (Hendrik Jan) Professor of Zoölogy …
- … Groningen 7 December 1845 Groningen 4 July 1940 Zeist …
- … Burghal School Leeuwarden 4 July 1833 Den Haag 17 May 1890 …
- … http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/retroboeken/nnbw/#source=4&page=276&view=imagePane …
- … http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/retroboeken/nnbw/#source=4&page=332&view=imagePane …
- … High Burghal School. Tilburg 4 December 1836 Werden am Ruhr …
- … Shell collector; painter 65 Utrecht 4 December 1812 Den Haag …

Darwin in letters, 1879: Tracing roots
Summary
Darwin spent a considerable part of 1879 in the eighteenth century. His journey back in time started when he decided to publish a biographical account of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin to accompany a translation of an essay on Erasmus’s evolutionary ideas…
Matches: 7 hits
- … me’, Darwin wrote enthusiastically to Reginald Darwin on 4 April , declaring that reading it was …
- … independent of him as possible’, Francis told Darwin on 4 July, after reporting that he had …
- … with Ubba about your return’, Darwin wrote to Francis on 4 July , ‘He said “it is likely he will …
- … neither cross nor ennuied’ (Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin, [4 August 1879] (DAR 219.1: 125)). Darwin …
- … has opposed it’ (letter from Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin, [4 August 1879] (DAR 219.1: 125)). Nothing …
- … ‘to be planted in my honour!’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 4 November [1879] ). While in Coniston, …
- … frog be published in Nature ( letter to J. N. Lockyer, 4 and 6 March [1879] ). When Darwin’s …

Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Matches: 5 hits
- … curs in London’ ( letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, [4 February 1876] ). 'The heat of …
- … as stemming a torrent with a reed’, he told Romanes on 4 June , but added, ‘Frank … who sputters …
- … the previous year ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [after 4 September 1876] ). ...all sorts of …
- … say is do not commit suicide’ ( letter to G. H. Darwin, [4 June 1876] ). By midsummer, Darwin …
- … size of pollen grains & state of stigma’, he told Gray on 4 December. Darwin also adopted …

Climbing plants
Summary
Darwin’s book Climbing plants was published in 1865, but its gestation began much earlier. The start of Darwin’s work on the topic lay in his need, owing to severe bouts of illness in himself and his family, for diversions away from his much harder book on…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 4 (1857-60): 98-9 ) by the Harvard …

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 5 hits
- … He expressed his views to his daughter Henrietta on 4 January : ‘I wd gladly punish severely …
- … eyes of one variety into another ( Variation 2d ed. 1: 420–4, 2: 360). Darwin had encouraged …
- … become wholly white’ ( letter from G. J. Romanes, [before 4 November 1874] ). Testing …
- … am very glad indeed of your work,’ Darwin replied on 4 November , ‘though I cannot yet follow all …
- … occasions and finally arranged a visit to Down House on 4 May, but was not content with just one …