Francis Sacheverel Darwin

Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin (17 June 1786 – 6 November 1859) was a physician and traveller who was knighted by King George IV. Francis Sacheverel was a son of Erasmus Darwin and his second wife Elizabeth (née) Collier, widow of Col Edward Pole and natural daughter of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. He was an uncle (and godfather) of Francis Galton, half-brother of Robert Waring Darwin and a half-uncle of Charles Darwin. He graduated from... more

Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin (17 June 1786 – 6 November 1859) was a physician and traveller who was knighted by King George IV. Francis Sacheverel was a son of Erasmus Darwin and his second wife Elizabeth (née) Collier, widow of Col Edward Pole and natural daughter of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. He was an uncle (and godfather) of Francis Galton, half-brother of Robert Waring Darwin and a half-uncle of Charles Darwin. He graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In 1808, at 22, he started with four others, one of whom was his brother-in-law Theodore Galton, on a tour through Spain, the Mediterranean and the East. Travelling was not then what it is now, and they came in contact with war, robbers, privateers and the plague in the diary of this two years' tour in the East. Of the five who started, only Darwin returned alive. The diary of the tour shows a keen antiquarian taste gratified under many difficulties, and it is recognised that Darwin not only loved adventure for... less