Cousins, columns, connections. A little lesson about places, faces and unexpected links.
Written by Keith, edited by Caterina
As part of our regular Zoom catch-up, we recently hosted Olivia Fryman, Curator of Collections and Interiors for South London, as our special guest. It was great to have Olivia with us; she delivered a talk about Charles Darwin and his family home, Down House. Like most English Heritage sites, Down House is closed at the moment, but Olivia made it jump to the top of our priority-places to visit once the lockdown is over. With its Victorian interiors, amazing collection of Darwin’s personal possessions, scientific instruments and stunning gardens (also known as Darwin’s outdoor laboratory), Down House is certainly worth the long trip from central London. Naturally, we also had plenty of questions for Olivia!
There was also some discussion and debate about what the connection was between Leith Hill, its House, and Darwin.
Shortly after our Zoom meeting ended, I received a very interesting email from our colleague Keith, who did a little bit of research about it — thanks Keith!
So here follows Keith’s summary of how Darwin, his family and Leith Hill are connected:
‘I knew that I had just read about Leith Hill from the book I Never Knew That About England which I borrowed from the Apsley House staff room.
‘So, Leith Hill is the highest point in South-East England. The tower was built by Richard Hull of Leith Hill Place in 1766. When he died he requested to be buried under the tower ‘head down’ as he wanted to be ready to meet his maker when the world got turned upside down on Judgement Day. In the 19th century the place belonged to Josiah Wedgewood III.’
The Wedgewoods and the Darwins were closely related. Emma Wedgewood was the youngest daughter of Josiah Wedgewood II, and married her first cousin, Charles Robert Darwin. Josiah Wedgewood III, her brother, bought Leith Hill (as Keith said) and married Darwin’s sister Caroline!
Darwin used to visit his sister and his brother-in-law-cousin. Today at Leith Hill you can still see his ‘wormstone,’ used by the great naturalist to study earthworms.
But Keith had something else to add in his email:
‘The house (Leith Hill Place) fell into disuse but when opened up, every room was stuffed with priceless pieces of Wedgewood. Now, Josiah’s daughter, who re-opened the house, was the mother of Ralph Vaughan Williams.’
So Darwin was the great-uncle of the famous composer, and his sister was, of course, his grandmother.
If you think Keith has made us notice two very interesting connections, then you should get ready for the final (and less notorious) one!
Here is the final part of his message:
‘What is the connection between Down House and Apsley House? Besides English Heritage? Turning to Shrewsbury, Shropshire where Charles Darwin was born…
…and…
Outside the Shirehall in the town is the world’s tallest Doric Column… with a statue on top of Lord Hill… who fought with the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo.
So the connection is that the Duke of Wellington of Apsley House knew Lord Hill whose statue is in Shrewsbury, and Shrewsbury is the birthplace of Charles Darwin. Hence, Apsley and Down are somewhat related.’
This, of all the connections made by Keith so far, is the most unexpected! And it’s only with the help of his memory of places and stories that Keith could have made it; you will not find this on Wikipedia.
As I said to Keith in my reply to him, this is what I love about visiting places, working in a museum environment, and getting to know more about past stories, historical facts and their protagonists. To make connections, understand how different stories are entangled, remember and learn.
After all, learning is the core of the museum experience; not only visitors, but also those who look after historical places can learn something new every day, and connect old and new stories.
