A Brief Biography of Emma Wedgwood Darwin

Emma, Wife of Charles Darwin, Was Granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood

Jan 5, 2010
Katharine Garstka

Emma Darwin - George Richmond

Emma Wedgwood, Charles's cousin and wife, was neither a scholar nor an evolutionist, but she was both loved and highly respected by her husband and family.

Emma Wedgwood was born May 2, 1808, at Maer Hall in Staffordshire, in the district known as the Potteries. She was the youngest child of the eight born to Josiah II and Elizabeth Allen Wedgwood; her grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood I, was the founder of the famous Wedgwood Pottery business. Emma’s family history is described in greater detail in the article, Ancestry of Emma Wedgwood Darwin.

Emma's Education and Travels

The Wedgwood household and extended family were generally cheerful, and the home was reported to be a happy one. The girls were mostly educated at home, though Emma and her older sister Fanny were sent to a boarding school near London for a year. Of more importance to her education, however, was a trip to Europe in 1818 when she was ten years old. Her father took the four sisters to Paris, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Milan.

They toured museums and churches, attended cultural and social events, and met many famous people, since the elder Wedgwoods had many friends in the literary and scientific world. During this trip Emma took piano lessons with the celebrated composer Frédéric Chopin, and she learned to speak fluent French. Later, in 1826, Emma and Fanny spent six months in Geneva with their aunt Jessie Allen Sismondi, whose husband was a well-known Italian historian.

Charles Darwin’s Voyage on the Beagle

Emma was at home at Maer Hall on that fateful day in August of 1831, when her cousin Charles Darwin came to discuss his invitation to sail as a naturalist on the exploratory voyage of the Beagle. It was her father, Charles’ uncle, who was able to convince Dr. Darwin that Charles should be allowed to go.

The constant interactions between the Darwin and Wedgwood families meant that numerous letters kept everyone informed of family news throughout his trip. When Charles returned in October of 1836, he wasted no time in visiting Maer to see his relatives; Emma joined in the crowd of listeners to the tales that Charles had to tell.

Shortly thereafter Charles took rooms in London and began work on organizing and classifying specimens, and writing scientific papers. Although he was quite busy, he did take some time to consider the question of marriage, writing out the pros and cons on a slip of paper. Why it took him almost three years to decide on Emma, a girl he had known his entire life, is unknown. Whatever the reasons, when he finally did propose, in November of 1838, she accepted immediately.

Charles and Emma’s Marriage

Their engagement didn’t last long— two months later they were married, on January 29 at St. Peter's Anglican Church at Maer. A week afterwards, Emma wrote to her sister Elizabeth that she was “spoilt as much as heart can wish, and I do think, though you and Char may keep this to yourself, that there is not so affectionate an individual as the one in question to be found anywhere else. After this candid and impartial opinion I say no more.”

After just a few years in London, the Darwins decided that a quieter home would best suit them, especially since Charles’ health was a continual problem. Consequently, they chose a spacious, but undistinguished house (called Down House) at Downe, in Kent.

Life at Down House

Emma did not share Charles’ agnosticism, and it pained her that he could not share her faith. She did not let this difference of opinion get in the way of their relationship, however – she remained ever devoted and sympathetic of his frequent illnesses, which may have been a result of parasites or ills contracted on his journey.

Emma’s married life was marked by the pleasures and pains of life at the time – the birth (and occasional loss) of children, the companionship of a loving husband, and the constant interaction with numerous friends and family members.

Charles died at the age of 73, on April 19, 1882, at Down House. His last words to Emma are recorded: "Remember what a good wife you have been to me,” a sentiment he apparently felt all during their life together. Charles was buried in Westminster Abbey, as befitted his distinguished status.

After his death, Emma continued her active, energetic life, making numerous trips and hosting visits from her large circle of family and friends. She spent most of the year at Down House, although she also acquired a house in Cambridge, where she lived in the wintertime near two of her sons.

Emma died at the age of 88, on October 7, 1896. She was buried at St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Downe, in Kent, where she shares a tombstone with Charles' elder brother Erasmus.

Emma Darwin’s Character

Emma’s daughter Henrietta Litchfield summed up her mother’s personality when she wrote:

“Her judgment was good, and there was about her a bright aliveness, and a many-sided interest in the world in books, and in politics. Her utter sincerity gave a continual freshness to her opinions and there were delightful surprises in her way of taking things. She had, too, a happy enjoyment of fun or humour. To the very end of her eighty-eight years she kept an extraordinary youthfulness of mind. It was, I think, almost her most remarkable quality.”