Anne Elizabeth "Annie" Darwin (2 March 1841 – 23 April 1851) was the second child and eldest daughter of Charles and

Emma Darwin Emma Darwin (; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. Early lif ...

Life

In 1849, Anne caught scarlet fever along with her two sisters, and her health thereafter declined; some authorities believe that she suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. In vain pursuit of help from James Manby Gully's

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...

, Charles Darwin took his daughter to the

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

spa town,

Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and i ...

. She died in Montreal House on the Worcester Road, aged ten, and was buried in the Great Malvern Priory churchyard. Annie's death was a terrible blow for her parents. Charles wrote in a personal memoir "We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace of our old age.... Oh that she could now know how deeply, how tenderly we do still & and shall ever love her dear joyous face."Quoted in Browne 1995, 501. Darwin scholar E. Janet Browne writes: The loss of Charles Darwin's beloved daughter was softened only by the addition of

Horace Darwin Sir Horace Darwin, (13 May 1851 – 22 September 1928), was an English engineer specializing in the design and manufacture of precision scientific instruments. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Personal life and education Dar ...

, who was born only three weeks after Anne's death on 13 May 1851.

Annie's Box

Around 2000, Charles Darwin's great-great-grandson

Randal Keynes Randal Hume Keynes, OBE, FLS ( ; born 29 July 1948) is a British conservationist, author, and great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. Family background Keynes was born in Cambridge, England. He is the son of the Hon. Anne Pinsent (née Adri ...

discovered a box containing keepsakes of Anne collected by Charles and Emma. He wrote a biography of Charles Darwin centred on the relationship between Darwin and his daughter, entitled ''Annie's Box''; the script of the 2009 film '' Creation'' is based on the book.

Notes

References

* Keynes, Randal (2001). ''Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution''. Fourth Estate, London. .
Review

Darwin's memorial of Anne Elizabeth Darwin at the Darwin Correspondence Project, University of Cambridge Original letters about Annie's death at the Darwin Correspondence Project, University of Cambridge
* Browne, Janet (1995). ''Charles Darwin: Voyaging''. New York: Random House. . (The characterization of Anne Darwin appears on p. 499.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Darwin, Anne 1841 births 1851 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Darwin–Wedgwood family Tuberculosis deaths in England Deaths from streptococcus infection People associated with Malvern, Worcestershire English children fr:Famille Darwin-Wedgwood#Anne Darwin Child deaths