Emma Darwin

Emma Darwin in 1840, shortly after she married Charles, watercolor by George Richmond

Emma Darwin (born Wedgwood , born May 2, 1808 in Maer , Staffordshire , † October 7, 1896 in Downe ) was the cousin and wife of the English naturalist Charles Darwin . They married on January 29, 1839 and had ten children together, three of whom died at an early age.

Childhood and youth

Emma was born on the Maer Hall family home. She was the youngest of seven children of Josiah Wedgwood II and his wife Elizabeth. Her paternal grandfather was Josiah Wedgwood , the founder of the Wedgwood porcelain factory and thus of industrial ceramics, who, like many others of the time who did not belong to the nobility, was a nonconformist member of the Unitarians . Charles Darwin was her cousin through joint grandparents Josiah and Sarah Wedgwood, and since the Wedgwood and Darwin families were closely related, they were intimate from childhood.

She was inseparable from her sister Fanny, and is portrayed as graceful and chaotic at the same time, which earned her the nickname little Miss "Slip-Slop". She helped her older sister Elizabeth attend Sunday School held at Maer Hall Laundry and wrote little moral stories to help give the village's 60 or so children an initial lesson in reading, writing, and religion.

In her youth she was sent to Paris for a while , where she took piano lessons with Frédéric Chopin (“two or three”). She later toured Europe on a grand tour . 1826 began an eight-month stay with her sister Fanny with her aunt Jessie (Madame de Sismondi, wife of the historian Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi ) in Geneva . When her father picked them up, accompanied by his daughter Caroline, he also took their son Charles with him to Paris, where they all met again on the way back before they started their journey home in July 1827. Emma was also passionate about outdoor sports and received an award as an archer.

On August 31, 1831, she was with her family and helped to overrule the objections of Charles Darwin's father Robert against his son's participation in the research trip with the HMS Beagle . During Charles' trip around the world, his sisters kept him up to date with news, including the news of the death of Emma's 26-year-old sister Fanny and the gossip about his brother Erasmus's relationship with Emma's sister-in-law, the married Frances Julia Wedgwood ( Wife of the etymologist Hensleigh Wedgwood); Emma should enter into an official liaison with him in order to avoid serious consequences. After Charles returned on a visit to Maer, she received his travelogues with great interest.

Emma had already turned down various marriage proposals. When her mother became bedridden after a seizure, she cared for both her and her older sister, Elizabeth, who was short of stature and spinal curvature.

Marriage to Charles Darwin

The Darwin couple lived in the Down House (now a museum) from 1842

Emma Darwin with her son Leonard, 1853

At the age of 30 she accepted Charles Darwin's proposal on November 11, 1838, and they were married on January 29, 1839 at St. Peters Anglican Church in Maer. After a short time in London, they moved permanently to Down House near Downe , a small settlement on the outskirts of the city.

Charles and Emma raised their 10 children in a decidedly unauthorized manner, and some of these later became very successful in their chosen careers: George , Francis and Horace became members of the Royal Society .

Emma Darwin is best remembered for her patience and bravery in dealing with her husband's long-term suffering. She also cared for her children for common illnesses and outlasted the deaths of three: Anne, Mary, and Charles Waring. In the mid-1850s she was known throughout the community for helping as a pastor's wife would, advocating food for the needy and financial support for the elderly, giving out sweets to the needy, and giving out medical aid and simple medicines based on Dr. Robert Darwin's old pharmacopoeia.

Emma often played the piano for Charles, and some pages in Darwin's 1871 Human Descent and Sexual Selection deal with the development of musical ability from the point of view of gender selection .

Religious views

Emma's belief was based on Unitarianism , which sets inner feelings above the authority of religious texts or doctrines. Their views were neither simple nor unshakable and were the result of intensive study and questioning. Darwin openly confessed his skepticism before their engagement , and she spoke to him about her conflict between worrying about belief differences and her desire to be close to him and share his thoughts with an open mind. After their marriage, Christianity was the subject of their discussions for many years. She appreciated his openness and also his real uncertainty about the existence and nature of God, which gradually developed into agnosticism . This shared the two, although it did not resolve the tension between their differing views.

In the spring of 1837 Darwin already came up with the idea of ​​the transmutation of species . After he decided to marry, he visited Emma on July 29, 1838 and spoke to her about his thoughts on transmutation. On November 11th, he asked for her hand. He spoke again about his ideas, and ten days later she wrote him a letter expressing her concerns about possible ideological differences.

Darwin had wondered at the materialism that his ideas brought with it. Emma's letter again shows her dichotomy between her concern that differences of faith could separate her and her deep desire for closeness and an impartial exchange of ideas. Emma believed in the afterlife and her concern was that they should "belong together" forever. Darwin, however, stumbled upon certain passages from the Gospel of John ( John 15.6  EU ) and wrote: “I really can hardly see why anyone should wish that the Christian faith was true; for if it were true, the text would arguably prove very clearly that people who do not believe, including my father, my brother, and almost all of my best friends, will be punished forever. And that's a damnable lesson. "

After their marriage in January 1839, they continued the discussion of Christianity for many years. They met with the Unitarian clergymen James Martineau and John James Taylor and read their works as well as those of other Unitarian and Liberal Anglican authors such as Francis William Newman. In Downe Emma attended the Anglican Church regularly , but as Unitarians the family always turned in silence when the Trinitarian creed was read by Nicaea .

Soon after their wedding, Emma wrote to her husband: "The attitude I want to keep towards you is the feeling that you cannot be wrong as long as you act consciously and in earnest effort in an effort to learn the truth." She saw the scientific habit of not believing anything until it is checked as a threat to belief, but confirmed her hope that Darwin did not consider his opinion as formed. It was not unbelief but rather methodical doubts and reservations that determined Darwin's relationship to nature and enabled him to make new discoveries. This enabled them to maintain an open relationship with one another.

Late years

Emma Darwin

After Charles' death in 1882, Emma spent the summers at Down House, buying a large house at The Grove on Huntingdon Road, Cambridge , where she lived through the winters. Her son Frances also built a house he named Wychfield on The Grove's grounds . He stayed there most of the winters while he was in Gloucestershire in the summer . Emma's son Horace had also built a building on the property, The Orchard .

Emma Darwin's grave is in Downe, next to Charles' brother Erasmus Alvey. Darwin himself was buried in Westminster Abbey .

children

• William Erasmus Darwin (1839-1914)
• Anne Elizabeth Darwin (1841-1851)
• Mary Eleanor Darwin (1842–1842)
• Henrietta Emma "Etty" Darwin (1843–1927)
• George Howard Darwin (1845-1912)
• Elizabeth Darwin (1847-1926)
• Francis Darwin (1848-1925)
• Leonard Darwin (1850-1943)
• Horace Darwin (1851-1928)
• Charles Waring Darwin (1856-1858)

present

In 2001, a biography of Emma Darwin by Edna Healey was published , which, however, has been criticized for attempting to attribute credit to Emma for Darwin's ideas, while most historians agree that she has very little, if any, scholarly content.

In 2009 the film Creation was released , which particularly addresses Darwin's relationship with his eldest daughter Anna, but also that between Emma and Charles (played by Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany ).

In January 2009, Cambridge City Council approved the college's planning committee to demolish Emma Darwin's gatehouse at Grove Lodge , which is now part of Murray Edwards College . After residents and university officials voiced their concerns and started a campaign against the demolition, the council decided to consider possible alternatives and finally decided in late September 2009 to maintain and restore Grove Lodge.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, ISBN 0-7181-3430-3
2. ↑ Freeman, pg. 293
3. ↑ Down House , the former residence of Charles and Emma Darwin
4. ^ Darwin Correspondence Project, Nov 1838
5. ^ Darwin Correspondence Project, Nov 1838
6. ↑ Darwin Online, Autobiography, p. 87 : “I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine. "
7. ↑ Darwin Correspondence Project, Relationship of the Unitarians to the Anglican Church ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Darwin Correspondence Project, Feb 1839 : "The state of mind that I wish to preserve with respect to you, is to feel that while you are acting conscientiously & sincerely wishing, & trying to learn the truth, you cannot be wrong."
9. ↑ Freeman, pg. 293
10. ^ Edna Healey: Emma Darwin: The Inspirational Wife of a Genius ( ISBN 978-0747262480 )
11. ↑ Successful rescue of Darwin Lodge. Page of the Liberal Democrats, Castle Ward / Cambridge ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.