Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Remarkable Connections - Darwin, FitzRoy, Hawkshaw & Wedgwood . . . .

A meeting of two worlds

The subject itself is significant since Clarke's essay concerned life in the depths of the sea — an area that was still poorly understood in the nineteenth century. Darwin had been fascinated by the relationship between geology, marine environments and the distribution of life since the voyage of HMS Beagle. His thinking about evolution depended upon understanding how organisms varied, survived and changed over immense periods of time. Clarke's observations and arguments therefore touched directly upon questions that Darwin was still considering.

Darwin was sufficiently interested to make detailed comments on the essay and to consider whether it might be suitable for publication. The essay apparently remained unpublished, but the surviving draft and Darwin's letter preserve a fascinating moment of scientific exchange.

From Penarth Dock to the depths of the sea

There is a final irony. Hawkshaw's professional world was one of iron, steel, railways, docks, bridges and ships. Darwin's was one of fossils, animals, geology and the origins of species. Clarke Hawkshaw's essay brought those worlds together through the study of the deep sea — the same marine environment that had fascinated Darwin since the Beagle voyage.

'On Ilkla Mooar Baht 'at' - Darwin's Journey North — and yet another Wedgwood connection

In October 1859, immediately after completing the proofs of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin travelled north to Ilkley in Yorkshire to undergo the fashionable 'water cure' at the spa town. Darwin left on the 2nd October and reached Ilkley a few days later by road. The railway connection to Ilkley did not arrive until 1865.

There was an intriguing family connection during the journey. While Darwin was already at Ilkley, Emma Darwin's diary records 'Came to Barlaston' on 7th October. On 14th October Darwin wrote that his family would come from Barlaston to join him, and Emma's diary records their arrival at Ilkley on 17th October. Barlaston was part of the Darwins' longstanding Wedgwood family world.