The Darwin–Wedgwood family is actually two interrelated English families, descended from the prominent 18th century doctor, Erasmus Darwin, and Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the pottery firm, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, the most notable member of which was Charles Darwin. The family contained at least ten Fellows of the Royal Society and several artists and poets (including the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams). Presented below are brief biographical sketches and genealogical information with links to articles on the members. The individuals are listed by year of birth and grouped into generations. The relationship to Francis Galton and his immediate ancestors is also given. Note the tree below does not include all descendants or even all prominent descendants.
The family is distantly linked to William Wedgwood Benn's family of Labour Howard Darwin (see above) and was a noted physicist of the age, and Director of the National Physics Laboratory. His son George Pember Darwin (1928–2001) married Angela Huxley, great granddaughter of Thomas Huxley.
Gwen Raverat (née Darwin) (1885–1957) was the daughter of George Howard Darwin and was an artist. She married the French artist Jacques Raverat in 1911 and had daughters Elizabeth Hambro and Sophie Pryor. Her dryly amusing childhood memoir, Period Piece, contains illustrations of and anecdotes about many of the Darwin — Wedgwood clan.
Margaret Keynes was the daughter of George Howard Darwin, (see above). She married Geoffrey Keynes, brother of the well-known economist John Maynard Keynes (see Keynes family) and had sons Richard Keynes, Quentin Keynes, Milo Keynes and Stephen Keynes.
Bernard Darwin (1876–1961) was a golf writer. He married Elinor Monsell (died 1954) in 1906, and they had a son Robert Vere Darwin (see below), and a daughter Ursula Mommens.
Frances Cornford (née Darwin). Poet, daughter of Francis Darwin, see above.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), British composer. His maternal grandmother, Caroline Sarah Darwin, was Charles Darwin's older sister, and his maternal grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood III, was the older brother of Darwin's wife Emma.
Nora Darwin (1885–1989), the daughter of Horace Darwin (see above), married Sir Alan Barlow. She also edited the Autobiography of Charles Darwin (ISBN 0393310698 (hardback) and ISBN 0393004872 (paperback)). They had the following children:
Josiah Wedgwood (1872–1943), great-great-grandson of Josiah Wedgwood I, was a Liberal and Labour MP, and served in the military during the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was raised to the peerage in 1942.
Capt Charles Tindal-Carill-Worsley, RN, (d1920) a great grandson of Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin, was a successful naval officer in the First World War.
Cmdr Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley, RN, (1886–1966), brother of Charles, naval officer and bon viveur, served in the royal yacht HMY Victoria and Albert III under King Edward VII before World War I. He retired from the Royal Navy after the First World War but was recalled during World War II, when he was commandant of a training school for WRENS (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service). He married Kathleen, daughter of Simon Mangan of Dunboyne Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Meath and a first cousin of Brig Gen Paul Kenna, VC, and had three children.
Erasmus Darwin Barlow (1915–2005) was a psychiatrist, physiologist and businessman. Son of Nora Barlow.
Horace Barlow (b. 1921) was Professor of Physiology, Berkeley, California, USA; Royal Society Research Professor, Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge (1973–87).
John Cornford was a poet. Son of Frances Cornford, see above.
George Erasmus Darwin, (b. 1927) is a metallurgist. Son of William Robert Darwin, see above.
Henry Galton Darwin (1929–1992) was a lawyer and diplomat. Son of Charles Galton Darwin.[2]
Robert Vere "Robin" Darwin (1910–1974) was an artist. He is the son of Bernard Darwin, see above.
Quentin Keynes (1921–2003) was a bibliophile and explorer. Son of Margaret Keynes, née Darwin, see above.
Professor Richard Darwin Keynes FRS (1919–2010) was a British physiologist. Son of Margaret Keynes, née Darwin, see above.
Group Captain Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley (1911–2006) was a RAF bomber pilot during the Second War (known as Nicolas Tindal). Son of Ralph Tindal-Carill-Worsley.
Camilla Wedgwood (1901–1955), Anthropologist, was the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood (see above).
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian. Daughter of Ralph Wedgwood
Martin T. Barlow (b. 1953) is a mathematician; son of Andrew Dalmahoy Barlow.
Phyllida Barlow (b.1944) is a sculptor and art academic; daughter of Erasmus Darwin Barlow.
Matthew Chapman (b. 1950), screenwriter, author, grandson of Frances Cornford see above.
Carola Darwin (b.1967), Singer, musicologist, granddaughter of Charles Galton Darwin, see above, and sister of Emma Darwin the novelist, see below.
Chris Darwin (b. 1961), conservationist and adventurer, son of George Erasmus Darwin, see above, and brother of Sarah Darwin, see below.
Emma Darwin (Novelist) (b.1964), novelist, granddaughter of Charles Galton Darwin, see above.
Sarah Darwin (b.1964), botanist, daughter of George Erasmus Darwin, see above, and sister of Chris Darwin, see above.
Randal Keynes (b.1948), conservationist and author, son of Richard Keynes, see above.
Simon Keynes (b.1952), Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, son of Richard Keynes, see above, and brother of Randal Keynes, see above.
Hugh Massingberd (1947–2007) was an obituaries editor for the Daily Telegraph, a journalist and the author of many books on genealogy and architectural history. He was the great great grandson of Charlotte Langton (née Wedgwood), sister of Emma Darwin (Charles Darwin's wife) and granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood I.[3]
Ruth Padel (b.1946), Poet, granddaughter of Sir Alan and Lady (Nora) Barlow (née Darwin), see above.
R. Sebastian 'Bas' Pease (1922–2004), physicist, Director of Culham Laboratory for Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion (1968–1981), head of the British chapter of Pugwash, grandson of the fourth Josiah Wedgwood (see above). His sister, Jocelyn Richenda 'Chenda' Gammell Pease (1925–2003), married Andrew Huxley.
William Pryor (b.1945), memoirist, entrepreneur, screenwriter, grandson of Gwen Raverat (née Darwin), see above.
Lucy Rawlinson (née Pryor) (b.1948), painter (as Lucy Raverat), granddaughter of Gwen Raverat (née Darwin), see above.
Skandar Keynes (b.1991), actor, played "Edmund" in The Chronicles of Narnia (film series), son of Randal Keynes, see above.
There was a notable history of intermarriage within the family. In the period under discussion, Josiah Wedgwood married his third cousin Sarah Wedgwood; Charles Darwin married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood; his sister, Caroline Darwin, married Emma's brother (and Caroline's first cousin), Josiah Wedgwood III. There were other instances of cousin marriage both up and down the family tree. Cousin marriage was not uncommon in Britain during the 19th century though why is debated: poorer communications, keeping wealth within the family, more opportunity of evaluating a relative of the opposite sex as a suitable marriage partner (unmarried young women of the upper and upper middle classes were closely chaperoned when meeting men outside the family in the 19th century), more security for the woman as she would not be leaving her family (though legal rights for married women increased during the century, as a rule her property became his and she had little legal recourse if he chose to abuse her).
These arms were granted to Reginald Darwin, of Fern, Derbyshire, for himself and certain descendants of his father, Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin, and his uncle Robert Waring Darwin (Father of Charles), on 6 March 1890.[4] As Charles Darwin fell within the destination, they have been used in connection with him, despite being granted after his death. Something similar is used by Darwin College, Cambridge.
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