Charles Darwin Died on this Day in 1882

Discussion and analysis of past events and their causes and effects.

Moderators: kiore, Blip, The_Metatron

Charles Darwin Died on this Day in 1882

#1  Postby RichardPrins » Apr 19, 2010 3:52 pm

Sandwalk: Charles Darwin Died on this Day in 1882
Image

Charles Darwin died at Down house during the afternoon of April 19, 1882. Janet Brown describes the moment in her biography (Charles Darwin: The Power of Place p. 495).
He died on the afternoon of 19, April 1882, after sinking very low for two or three days beforehand and suffering what Emma called "fatal attack" at midnight on the 18th. There was no deathbed conversion, no famous last words. "I am not the least afraid to die," he apparently murmured to Emma. "Remember what a good wife you have been." Allfrey signed the death certificate giving "Angina Pectoris Syncope" as the cause of death, the gradual ceasing of the heart. He was seventy-three.

The subtitle of Janet Browne's book (The power of Place) alludes to the remarkable status that Darwin achieved following publication of On the Origin of Species. Darwin was buried in Westminster Abbey at a huge funeral held on Wednesday, April 26, 1882. He was buried next to Sir John Herschel near the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, "... an honorable place but not as close to [Charles] Lyell as Emma had hoped" (Browne, p. 497).

Here's a list of the pallbearers from AboutDarwin.com.
George Campbell - The 9th Duke of Argyll
William Cavendish - The 7th Duke of Devonshire
Edward Henry Stanley - The 15th Earl of Derby
James Russell Lowell - The American Ambassador to Britain
William Spottiswoode - Mathematician, physicist, the Queen's Printer, and friend of Darwin
Joseph Dalton Hooker - Darwin's close friend and champion of his Theory of Evolution
Thomas Henry Huxley - Darwin's close friend and champion of his Theory of Evolution
Alfred Russel Wallace - Darwin's friend and the co-founder of Natural Selection
Sir John Lubbock - The 1st Baron of Avebury, Darwin's next door neighbor and close friend

Here's the report of the funeral published in The Times on Thursday, April 27, 1882 [Wikisource]. (...)

Image
Image
Image
User avatar
RichardPrins
THREAD STARTER
 
Posts: 1525
Age: 57

Netherlands (nl)
Print view this post

Re: Charles Darwin Died on this Day in 1882

#2  Postby ymitchell » Apr 19, 2010 4:29 pm

This should answer the inevitable question ..

Religious Belief by Charles Darwin
User avatar
ymitchell
Banned User
 
Posts: 541
Age: 55
Male

United Kingdom (uk)
Print view this post

Re: Charles Darwin Died on this Day in 1882

#3  Postby Tbickle » Apr 19, 2010 4:30 pm

Happy death day?? :dunno:
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
-Thomas Paine
User avatar
Tbickle
 
Posts: 3919

Holy See (Vatican City State) (va)
Print view this post


Return to History

Who is online

Users viewing this topic: No registered users and 1 guest