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Leonard Darwin | |
|---|---|
 Leonard Darwin in April 1916 | |
| Born | (1850-01-15)15 January 1850 Down House,Kent, England |
| Died | 26 March 1943(1943-03-26) (aged 93) Forest Row, England |
| Parent(s) | Charles Darwin Emma Wedgwood |
| Relatives | Darwin–Wedgwood family |
Leonard DarwinFRGS (15 January 1850 – 26 March 1943) was an English politician, economist andeugenicist. He was a son of the naturalistCharles Darwin, and also a mentor toRonald Fisher, a statistician and evolutionary biologist.
Leonard Darwin was born in 1850 atDown House,Kent, into the wealthyDarwin–Wedgwood family. He was the fourth son and eighth child of the naturalistCharles Darwin and his wifeEmma Wedgwood, and the last of Darwin's immediate offspring to die. He considered himself the least intelligent of their children – brothersFrank,George andHorace were all electedFellows of the Royal Society. He was sent to Clapham School in 1862.
Darwin joined theRoyal Engineers in 1871.[1] Between 1877 and 1882 he worked for the Intelligence Division of theMinistry of War. He went on several scientific expeditions, including those to observe theTransit of Venus in 1874 and 1882.
In 1890, Darwin was promoted to the rank of major, but soon left the army and from 1892 to 1895 was aLiberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) forLichfield constituency inStaffordshire,[2] where his grandfather,Josiah Wedgwood II, had also been an MP. He wrote vigorously on the economic issues of the day:bimetallism,Indian currency reform and municipal trade.
Darwin married Elizabeth Frances Fraser on11 July 1882. She died 16 years later, on13 January 1898. On29 November 1900, he married his second cousin, Charlotte Mildred Massingberd, granddaughter of Charlotte Wedgwood, his mother's sister. Their shared ancestor wasJosiah Wedgwood II. His wife Charlotte's paternal grandfather married his paternal aunt, after her grandmother Charlotte's death. Since Leonard's parents were cousins, Charlotte was also a second cousin on his father's side. Leonard had no children from either marriage.
He was president of theRoyal Geographical Society from 1908 to 1911 and chairman of theBritish Eugenics Society from 1911 to 1928 – succeeding his half-cousin once removedFrancis Galton. He became the society's honorary president in 1928. In 1912 theUniversity of Cambridge conferred on him an honorary doctorate of science.[3]
Darwin played an important part in the life of the geneticist and statisticianRonald Fisher, supporting him intellectually, morally and sometimes financially. Fisher, replying to Darwin's congratulations on his election to the Royal Society, replied on25 February 1929, "I knew you would be glad, and your pleasure is as good to me almost as though my own father were still living."[4]
Some years before, Fisher had resigned from theRoyal Statistical Society after a disagreement. Darwin regretted this and engineered Fisher's re-entry by making him a gift of a life-time subscription. Fisher's 1930 bookThe Genetical Theory of Natural Selection is dedicated to Darwin. After Darwin's death in 1943 at the age of 93, Fisher wrote to Darwin's niece, Margaret Keynes, "My very dear friend Leonard Darwin... was surely the kindest and wisest man I ever knew."[5]
Darwin retired to Cripps Corner atForest Row,East Sussex in 1921, with his second wife Charlotte Mildred Massingberd (died 1940), and lived there until his death in 1943.[1] He and Charlotte were buried at Forest Row Cemetery. Leonard Darwin was the last surviving child of Charles Darwin.
Darwin was portrayed by Derek Ensor in the 1985 Central Television serialThe Last Place on Earth, in his capacity as President of the RGS at the beginning of theTerra Nova Expedition.[6]
