Newnham Grange () is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

house on

Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a 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. Cambridge bec ...

, next to the

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from Cambridge to ...

and

The Backs The Backs is a picturesque area to the east of Queen's Road in the city of Cambridge, England, where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam, their grounds covering both banks of the river. National Trust chairm ...

. Since 1962 it has been part of Darwin College,

History and residents

Darwin College - Silver Street - geograph

The building was built in 1793 for the family of Patrick Beales, a local corn and coal merchant and twice Mayor of Cambridge. After the death of Beales's daughters, the house was bought by

George Darwin Sir George Howard Darwin, (9 July 1845 – 7 December 1912) was an English barrister and astronomer, the second son and fifth child of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. Biography George H. Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the fifth chi ...

and his wife

Maud Darwin 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 astronomer Sir George Darwin. Biographical notes She was born as Martha H ...

in 1885 and extensively remodelled. The Darwins had five children: * Gwendoline Mary Darwin, later

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), 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), physicist. * Margaret Elizabeth Darwin (1890–1974), married Sir Geoffrey Keynes. * William Robert Darwin (1894–1970) * Leonard Darwin (1899-1899) Sir George died in 1912, and after the death of his wife, the house subsequently passed to Sir

and his wife Katharine Pember Darwin. They had the following children: * Cecily Darwin (born 1926) became an

X-ray crystallographer X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

and in 1951 married John Littleton of Philadelphia. * George Pember Darwin (1928–2001) worked developing computers, and then (1964) married Angela Huxley, daughter of

David Bruce Huxley The Huxley family is a British family; several of its members have excelled in science, medicine, arts and literature. The family also includes members who occupied senior positions in the public service of the United Kingdom. The patriarch of t ...

. She was also a granddaughter of the writer Leonard Huxley and a great-granddaughter of

Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

, "Darwin's Bulldog". *

Henry Galton Darwin Henry Galton Darwin (6 November 1929 – 17 September 1992) was a British lawyer and diplomat specialising in international law. Biography Darwin was born in Edinburgh, the second son (of four) and third child (of five) of the physicist Sir ...

(1929–1992) was with the British

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, and married Jane Christie. * Francis William Darwin (1932–1999) was a

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

who lectured at King’s College in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, and married in 1976. * Edward Leonard Darwin (born 1934) became a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

. Lady Maud Darwin died at the house in 1947. After Sir Charles Darwin's death in 1962, the house was donated by the family for the foundation of Darwin College in 1964. The house is extensively described and illustrated in Gwen Raverat's childhood memoir '' Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood'', which has a chapter describing the house and flooding from the

. Lady Margaret Keynes also published a book about the house, ''House by the River: Newnham Grange to Darwin College'' In 2003 a

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

commemorating Gwen Raverat and ''Period Piece'' was unveiled at Newnham Grange by Gwen's daughter

Sophie Gurney Sophie Jane Gurney (née Raverat, formerly Pryor; 20 December 1919 – 10 June 2011) was an English artist, linked to many of the leading intellectual and cultural figures of the early 20th century. As an artist she preferred brightly coloured vari ...

, with Sophie's son William Pryor and

Erasmus Darwin Barlow Erasmus Darwin Barlow, FRCPsych, FZS (15 April 1915 – 2 August 2005) was a British psychiatrist, physiologist and businessman. Born in London in 1915, he was the second son of Sir Alan Barlow, son of Sir Thomas Barlow, royal physician. His ...

and his wife Biddy in attendance. The Darwinian, Issue 4, 200

/ref>

References

External links

*Newnham Grange a
British Listed Buildings
{{coord, 52.20086, 0.11393, type:landmark_region:GB, format=dms, display=title Grade II listed buildings in Cambridgeshire Houses in Cambridgeshire Darwin College, Cambridge