The Reverend William Darwin Fox (23 April 1805 – 8 April 1880) was an English clergyman, naturalist, and a second cousin of

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 fr ...

Early life

Fox was born in 1805 and initially raised at Thurleston Grange near Elvaston, Derbyshire and from 1814 at Osmaston Hall, Osmaston about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. Fox was the son of Samuel Fox (1765–1851) and his second wife, Ann Darwin (1777–1859). Ann was the daughter of William Alvey Darwin (1726–1783) and Jane Brown (1746–1835), and niece of

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

(1731–1802). Fox attended

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...

from 1816 to 1823, when the headmaster was William Boultbee Sleath. Like his second cousin

, Fox prepared for the church at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. He was also a naturalist and

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

, particularly collecting

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

. At Cambridge, Fox and Darwin became friends, and Fox tutored his younger cousin on natural history. Darwin noted in his autobiography: Fox introduced Darwin to another

parson-naturalist A parson-naturalist was a cleric (a "parson", strictly defined as a country priest who held the living of a parish, but the term is generally extended to other clergy), who often saw the study of natural science as an extension of his religious wo ...

John Stevens Henslow John Stevens Henslow (6 February 1796 – 16 May 1861) was a British priest, botanist and geologist. He is best remembered as friend and mentor to his pupil Charles Darwin. Early life Henslow was born at Rochester, Kent, the son of a solicit ...

, who held a weekly open house which undergraduates and some older members of the University interested in science attended in the evenings. Darwin spent three weeks with Fox at Osmaston Hall in the summer of 1829. Throughout his life, Fox remained in regular contact with Charles Darwin, and many of the letters exchanged discussed Darwin's work.

Country vicar

Fox graduated from Cambridge in the winter of 1829 and took up a curacy at Epperstone, near

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robin ...

. He was forced to take sick leave in 1833 and convalesced at

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. It was here that he met his first wife Harriet Fletcher and they were married in 1834. Fox returned to Epperstone for a short time but was appointed vicar of

Delamere, Cheshire Delamere is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Delamere and Oakmere, in the county of Cheshire, England. It is approximately west of Northwich, within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. The population of th ...

in 1838;London Gazette, 6 April 1838. "The Queen has been pleased to present the Rev. William Darwin Fox, M.A. to the rectory of Delamere in the diocese and county of Chester" he remained the incumbent there until he retired through ill health in 1873. Fox was active in the local community at Delamere, especially the local school where he taught, which is now called Fox's school.

Man of letters

The letters that Charles Darwin sent to Fox were recognised as an important primary source of information on the life of Charles Darwin by his son

Francis Darwin Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925) was a British botanist. He was the third son of the naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin. Biography Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848. He was the ...

, and by many biographers since. Some are published in "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" (Edited by F. Darwin, 1887). Most of these letters are at Christ's College, Cambridge. Some of the letters of Fox to Darwin are extant. Darwin used much information given by Fox in his books. Fox also kept a diary from the age of 18 to 1878. Only one year is missing: for 1828, when he resided at Christ's College, Cambridge with Charles Darwin. A microfiche copy of the diaries are in the University Library, Cambridge. Fox never fully accepted Darwin's explanation of evolution. Fox in his own non-scientific but reasoned way contributed to the understanding of the geology of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to ...

and how the Isle of Wight became separated from the mainland when he gave a very informative opinion on this matter in a reply to a correspondent to the ''

Geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alth ...

'' (Fox 1862). When Fox retired as Rector of Delamere in 1873, he returned to the

to live at "Broadlands",

, until his death in 1880 and is buried on the Isle of Wight.

Marriages and children

Fox married twice and had 17 children. His first wife was Harriet Fletcher, (1799–1842), daughter of Sir Richard Fletcher and Elizabeth Mudge, whom he married in 1834. Their children were: *a stillborn girl born in 1834; *Eliza Ann (1836-1874), wife of Rev. Henry Martyn Sanders *Harriet Emma born 1837, wife of Samuel Charlesworth Overton *Agnes Jane (1839–1906) *Julia Mary Anne born 1840, wife of Samuel Everard Woods *and Samuel William Darwin born 1841 His second wife, whom he married in 1846, was Ellen Sophia (1820–1887), daughter of Basil George Woodd and Mary Mitton of Hillfield, Hampstead. Their children were: *Charles Woodd (1847–1908) *Frances Maria (1848–1921), wife of Alexander Pearce *Robert Gerard (1849–1909) *Louisa Mary (1851–1853) *Ellen Elizabeth (1852–1923), wife of Baron Dickinson Webster *Theodora (1853–1878) *Gertrude Mary (1854–1900), wife of Frederick Charles Tindal Bosanquet *Frederick William (1855–1931) *Edith Darwin (1857–1892) *Erasmus Pullien (1859–1939) *Reginald Henry (1860–1933) *Gilbert Basil (1865–1941) Following the birth of the Foxes' 10th child, Charles Darwin made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the size of the Fox family and the trouble boys created compared with girls; in a letter to Fox in 1852.

Confusion with William Fox the palaeontologist

There is considerable confusion between Fox and his less celebrated contemporary the synonymic Rev. William Fox (1813–1881) who was also an amateur scientist and lived and worked on the Isle of Wight at the same time. William Darwin Fox is sometimes ascribed the credit for early dinosaur discoveries. William Darwin Fox was noted for his geological work, and entomology, but is not recorded as having any particular interest in dinosaurs.

William Johnson Fox William Johnson Fox (1 March 1786 – 3 June 1864) was an English Unitarian minister, politician, and political orator. Early life Fox was born at Uggeshall Farm, Wrentham, near Southwold, Suffolk on 1 March 1786. His parents were strict Cal ...

Confusion with social reformer William Johnson Fox

Another source of confusion links to Charles Darwin. Writer

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoreti ...

became prominent through the Unitarian publication The Repository, edited by then-Rev.

. Moving to London around 1830, she joined Fox's social circle of prominent thinkers which eventually linked her to

Erasmus Alvey Darwin Erasmus Alvey Darwin (29 December 1804 – 26 August 1881), nicknamed ''Eras'' or ''Ras'', was the older brother of Charles Darwin, born five years earlier. They were brought up at the family home, The Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng ...

. Charles Darwin moved in with his brother in 1837 and both got to know Martineau to the extent that their family worried about either marrying the outspoken writer. The Darwin were cousins to William Darwin Fox. Meanwhile, Martineau's popularization of

Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book '' An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Ma ...

' theories of population control may have helped lead Charles Darwin to read Malthus.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, William Darwin 1805 births 1880 deaths Parson-naturalists Darwin–Wedgwood family 19th-century English Anglican priests People from South Derbyshire District People from Osmaston, Derby People educated at Repton School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge