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Charles Darwin: Shrewsbury School
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Charles Darwin was one of the most evolutionary thinkers of his time. In fact, Charles Darwin brought the revolution to evolution. Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England at his family home, the famous Mount House.
Charles Darwin's contributions to evolutionary thought had an enormous effect on many fields of science. Charles Darwin came from a Nonconformist background. Though several members of his family were Freethinkers, openly lacking conventional religious beliefs, he did not initially doubt the literal truth of the Bible. He attended a Church of England school, then at Cambridge studied Anglican theology. He intended to become a clergyman, and was fully convinced by William Paley's teleological argument that design in nature proved the existence of God. However, his beliefs began to shift during his time on board HMS Beagle. He questioned what he saw—wondering, for example, at beautiful deep-ocean creatures created where no one could see them, and shuddering at the sight of a wasp paralysing caterpillars as live food for its eggs; he saw the latter as contradicting Paley's vision of beneficent design.
Charles Darwin entered Shrewsbury School as a boarding student in 1822. He left three years later, at the age of 16, called by his father to study medicine with his elder brother, Erasmus, at Edinburgh University. Repelled by the horror of early 19th century surgery, Darwin dropped out of Edinburgh in 1827 and enrolled in Christ College, Cambridge University, studying to be a clergyman in the Church of England. Charles earned his Bachelor's Degree in Theology in 1831. During his tenure as a student at Cambridge, Darwin befriended botanist and mineralogist John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861), one of his professors. It was Henslow who recommended Darwin to Captain Robert FitzRoy (1805-1865) of the HMS Beagle, who was in need of a naturalist.
Charles Darwin in 1880 at the age of 71. Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1809 to his parents Dr. Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgewood. Darwin's mother was a religious woman but his father was, for the most part, a weak deist. Despite his lack of theistic religious belief, the Darwin's father allowed Charles to be baptized into the Anglican Church and encouraged him to become a clergyman. Darwin's mother died in 1817. In 1825 Charles Darwin went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. There, he became horrified with the brutality of surgery before anesthesia was invented and quit his medical studies.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was born in Shrewsbury, England. He was the fifth of six children born to Robert Darwin (1766-1848) and Susannah Wedgwood-darwin (1765-1817). Susannah died when Charles was only eight years old. Charles was the grandson of two very prominent men of the time, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) and Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795). Erasmus, who died several years before Charles was even born, was a dedicated evolutionist. Erasmus' pre-charles Darwin evolutionary writings include Zoonomia, or, the Laws of Organic Life (1794-1796, a two volume work).
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809 at his family home, the Mount House. He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of Josiah Wedgwood on his mother's side, both from the Darwin — Wedgwood family, a prominent English family which supported the Unitarian church. His mother died when he was only eight. He went to the nearby Shrewsbury School the next year as a boarder.
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