Whitwell Elwin (1816–1900) was an English clergyman, critic and editor of the Quarterly Review.
Son of a country gentleman of Norfolk, Whitwell Elwin studied at Caius College, Cambridge, and took orders.[1] He was an important contributor to the Quarterly Review, of which he became editor in 1853.
He undertook to complete Croker's edition of Alexander Pope, and brought out five volumes, when he dropped it, leaving it to be finished by William John Courthope. As an editor he was extremely autocratic, and on all subjects had pronounced opinions, and often singular likes and dislikes.
He is also known for being sent an advance copy of a new book by the naturalist Charles Darwin. Elwin is said to have read the book with interest and agreed that it had merit, but feared that the subject of evolution was too narrow to attract a wide audience. Elwin urged Darwin to write a book about pigeons instead, but his advice was ignored and On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life was published in late November 1859, priced at fifteen shillings.