![Lady George Darwin by Cecilia Beaux 1889](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Lady_George_Darwin_by_Cecilia_Beaux_1889.jpeg)
Martha Haskins, Lady Darwin ( du Puy; July 27, 1861 - 6 February 1947), known as Maud Darwin, was an American
socialite and the wife of the English
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
astronomer
Sir George Darwin.
Biographical notes
She was born as Martha Haskins du Puy in 1861 in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, the daughter of Charles Meredith du Puy (1823- 1898), author of ''A Genealogical History of the DuPuy Family'' and his wife, Ellen Maria Reynolds, daughter of John Reynolds, an English born clergyman and his wife, Eleanor Evans. Her aunt,
Caroline Lane Reynolds, travelled to England and married
Richard Claverhouse Jebb
Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (27 August 1841 – 9 December 1905) was a British classical scholar.
Life
Jebb was born in Dundee, Scotland. His father Robert was a well-known Irish barrister; his mother was Emily Harriet Horsley, daughter of ...
. In turn, Maud visited her aunt in Cambridge.
She rejected twice the marriage proposals of
Henry Martyn Taylor
Henry Martyn Taylor, FRS, FRAS (6 June 1842, Bristol – 16 October 1927, Cambridge), was an English mathematician and barrister.
Henry Martyn Taylor was the second son of the Rev. James Taylor and Eliza Johnson. He was educated in Wakefie ...
.
However, while travelling in Italy, she met up with George Darwin, son of the naturalist
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
, who had commenced his travels independently although he was a member of her social circle, and they became engaged there.
She married Darwin, in 1884 in
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...
, in an article lavishly described by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.
The Jebbs were able to join them.
In 1885, they bought
Newnham Grange in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
. They had five children:
*
Gwen Raverat
Gwendolen Mary "Gwen" Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885 – 11 February 1957), was an English wood engraver who was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Her memoir '' Period Piece'' was published in 1952.
Biography
Gwendolen ...
(1885–1957), the artist.
*
Charles Galton Darwin
Sir Charles Galton Darwin (19 December 1887 – 31 December 1962) was an English physicist who served as director of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during the Second World War. He was a son of the mathematician George Howard Darwin an ...
(1887–1962), the physicist.
* Margaret Elizabeth Darwin (1890–1974), who like her mother was the wife of a
Cambridge don
A don is a fellow or tutor of a college or university, especially traditional collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. The usage is also found in Canada and in the United States.
Lik ...
,
Sir Geoffrey Keynes.
* William Robert Darwin (1894–1970), known as "Billy", a London stockbroker
* Leonard Darwin (born-died 1899)
She became Lady Darwin on her husband's knighthood in 1905; she was widowed in 1912. She died at
Newnham Grange in 1947 and was given an obituary in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'',
which noted her campaigning for
women police officers
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
. She was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on February 10, 1947; her husband is buried in Trumpington Extension Cemetery in Cambridge with their daughter Gwen (Raverat); also baby son Leonard Darwin.
Her daughter Gwen's childhood memoir ''
Period Piece
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
''
contains Maud as a central maternal character, illustrated several times. It also describes her role as the wife of an
Oxbridge don
Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croati ...
. Many of her letters were included in her aunt's biography.
Her other daughter, Lady Margaret Keynes, also wrote a book containing many references to Maud, this being principally a book about her home,
Newnham Grange and its inhabitants.
A chapter in
Frances Spalding
Frances Spalding (née Crabtree, born 16 July 1950) is a British art historian, writer and a former editor of ''The Burlington Magazine''.
Life
Frances Crabtree studied at the University of Nottingham and gained her PhD for a study of Roger Fr ...
's biography of Gwen Raverat also contains her life story.
References
[The Times, Friday, Feb 07, 1947; pg. 7; Issue 50679; col D]
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darwin, Maud
1861 births
1947 deaths
People from Philadelphia
American socialites
American expatriates in England
Darwin–Wedgwood family
Wives of knights