The life and times of Charles Darwin

Failed medical student, brilliant naturalist, dedicated family man – there was much more to Charles Darwin than just the results of his years of research. We take a look at the man behind the legend. 

• Born in Shrewsbury on February 12, 1809. 

• In 1825, Darwin begins studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh but doesn’t feel suited to it. He enrols at Cambridge University to study theology in 1828, but enjoys collecting beetles more. 

• Darwin joins the exploratory voyage of the HMS Beagle around South America, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in 1831. During the five-year trip he sends home 1,529 species preserved in spirit and 3,907 labelled skins, bones and other dried specimens. 

• He returns to Cambridge in 1836, and spends the next two years working on material gathered during the Beagle voyage. 

• On January 29, 1839, Charles marries his first cousin Emma Wedgwood, the granddaughter of pottery manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood. 

• The couple move from London to Down House, Kent, in September 1842. They had 10 children, three of whom died before reaching adulthood. Their deaths prompted Darwin to fret that inbreeding – marrying his first cousin – was to blame. 

• The family kept horses, cows, pigs and poultry – and Darwin studied domestic pigeons to provide evidence for his theory of evolution by natural selection, building a pigeon house in his garden in 1885. 

• In 1858 Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who had reached similar conclusions about evolution, present their ideas to the Linnean Society, to muted response. 

• On The Origin of Species is published in 1859, amid massive controversy. 

• Darwin begins growing his famous beard in 1862, following a period of poor health. 

• The Descent of Man is published in 1871, shocking Darwin’s opponents. 

• Darwin dies on April 19, 1882 and is given a state funeral. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. 

• Darwin beat off stiff competition from author Charles Dickens to become the face of the new £10 note in 2000.