Horace Darwin
Encyclopedia
Sir Horace Darwin, KBE
, FRS (13 May 1851 – 29 September 1928), a son of the English
naturalist Charles Darwin
, was a civil engineer
.
Darwin was born in Down House
in 1851, the fifth son and ninth child of the British naturalist Charles Darwin
and his wife Emma
, the youngest of their seven children that survived to adulthood.
He was educated at a private school in Woodbridge, Suffolk
and at Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he graduated BA in 1874. He founded the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company
in 1885 and was Mayor of Cambridge
between 1896 and 1897. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1903. He was knighted in 1918.
Darwin married Emma Cecilia "Ida" Farrer (1854–1946), daughter of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer
in January 1880, and they had one son and two daughters:
His family home, "the Orchard", in Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, is now the site of Murray Edwards College.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground
in Cambridge.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FRS (13 May 1851 – 29 September 1928), a son of the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, was a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
.
Darwin was born in Down House
Down House
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
in 1851, the fifth son and ninth child of the British naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and his wife Emma
Emma Darwin
Emma Darwin was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin, the English naturalist, scientist and author of On the Origin of Species...
, the youngest of their seven children that survived to adulthood.
He was educated at a private school in Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben, with a population of about 7,480. The town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with...
and at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where he graduated BA in 1874. He founded the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company was a company founded in 1881 by Horace Darwin and Albert George Dew-Smith to manufacture scientific instruments....
in 1885 and was Mayor of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
between 1896 and 1897. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1903. He was knighted in 1918.
Darwin married Emma Cecilia "Ida" Farrer (1854–1946), daughter of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer
Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer
Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer was an English civil servant and statistician.Farrer was the son of Thomas Farrer, a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Born in London, he was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1840...
in January 1880, and they had one son and two daughters:
- Erasmus Darwin (December 7, 1881 – April 24, 1915) who was killed in the Second Battle of YpresSecond Battle of YpresThe Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front in the First World War and the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil, which occurred in the battle of St...
during the First World War. - Ruth Frances DarwinRuth DarwinRuth Frances Darwin CBE was Commissioner of the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency and an advocate of eugenics....
(1883–1972), married Dr William Rees-ThomasWilliam Rees-ThomasWilliam Rees-Thomas CB MD FRCP DPM was a Welsh pyschiatrist. He was Medical Senior Commissioner for the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency....
, was a notable advocate of eugenicsEugenicsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. - Emma Nora DarwinNora BarlowEmma Nora Barlow was the granddaughter of the British naturalist Charles Darwin, who edited and published previously unseen examples of her grandfather's work.- Biography :...
(1885–1989) edited the 1959 edition of The Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Autobiography of Charles Darwin is the autobiography of the British naturalist Charles Darwin which was published in 1887, five years after his death....
and married the civil servant Sir Alan BarlowAlan BarlowSir James Alan Noel Barlow, 2nd Baronet GCB KBE FSA was a British civil servant and collector of Islamic and Chinese art.- Biography :...
.
His family home, "the Orchard", in Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, is now the site of Murray Edwards College.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground
Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge
The Ascension Parish Burial Ground, formerly St Giles and St Peter's Parish, is a cemetery just off Huntingdon Road near the junction with Storey's Way in the northwest of Cambridge, England. It includes the graves of many Cambridge academics and non-conformists of the 19th and early 20th century...
in Cambridge.