Charles James Fox Bunbury, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin.
Margery Frape
The information in this article is taken from “The Life of Sir Charles J. F. Bunbury edited by his sister- in – law Mrs. Henry Lyell” unless another source is indicated by a footnote. The article is written primarily for the residents of Mildenhall and Great Barton where Sir Charles James Fox Bunbury was lord of the Manors 1860 – 1886 to show the relationships between Bunbury, Lyell and Darwin.
Charles James Fox Bunbury was born 1809. The family lived at Mildenhall until his father Col. Henry Edward Bunbury became lord of the manors of Mildenhall and Great Barton ( Suffolk) in 1821 and moved to Great Barton. During his childhood Charles Bunbury was encouraged in the love of botany by his mother until in his words “ it became an actual passion.”
Bunbury read mathematics and classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He read two books while he was there, “Introduction to Botany” by Lindsey published 1830 and the first volume of “Principles of Geology” by Lyell published 1831. He writes ”the two books made as deep an impression on me as any book I ever read and gave me entirely new views and ideas of the whole of their respective sciences.” Charles Lyell’s book influenced both Darwin and Bunbury in their approach to geology.
Charles Lyell was born in Kinnordy House near Kirriemuir and was educated at Oxford where he was called to the Bar. His growing interest in geology became his life’s work. He was involved in the compilation of the geological map of Scotland and in 1828 he explored the volcanic region of the Auvergne. His studies led him to formulate a controversial theory on the age of the earth. He proposed in his book, Principles of Geology, that gradual changes caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and erosion could produce large geological change over long periods of time. In 1848 he was knighted by Queen Victoria at Balmoral.
Charles Darwin, the son of a wealthy doctor, was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire 1809. At Cambridge he studied to be a clergyman but preferred the life of a naturalist. The opportunity to develop this interest arose after he had graduated from Christ’s College. In 1831 when he was 22 years old Capt Robert Fitz Roy offered Darwin the post of naturalist on H.M.S. “Beagle” with the purpose of charting of the South American coast and the more accurate determination of longitude. Professor Henslow (Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge) gave Darwin Lyell’s first volume of ” Principles of Geology” as a farewell gift. During the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle he received the second volume of “Principles of Geology” at Montevideo ( Uruguay) and the third volume at Valparaiso ( Argentina). Thus Darwin was introduced to a book which introduced controversial new ideas on the age of the earth 1. Through reading “Principles of Geology” Darwin realised that the earth was older than 5000 years and this gave a time scale for natural selection to occur. Also during the voyage Darwin collected many specimens and made many observations on the variety of natural life which were to form the evidence for his theory of the natural selection of species.
1 Moorehead Alan. 1971 Darwin and the Beagle. p153
Following the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Darwin wrote a book entitled ”A Naturalist’s Voyage. Journal of Researches into the NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGY of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N.” The dedication reads : “To Charles Lyell Esq. F.R.S. This edition is dedicated with grateful pleasure, as an acknowledgement that the chief part of whatever scientific merit this journal and other works of the author may possess, has been derived from studying the well – known and admirable Principles of Geology”.
Bunbury enjoyed attending meetings of the Linnean and Geological Societies and was delighted when he was introduced to Darwin by Whewell in 1837 at a meeting of the Geological Society two years after the return of H.M.S Beagle.
Later when he visited Capel Curig ( North Wales) in 1842 Bunbury unexpectedly met Darwin and spent some time in conversation with him. In 1839 he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood and in 1842 they moved to Down House in Kent to avoid the stress of London life.
Unfortunately Darwin suffered increasingly from chronic ill-health from 1838 onwards throughout his life. He had been bitten by the Benchuga bug in South America which probably infected him with Chagas’s diseas.2 Symptoms include fatigue, body aches, headaches and fever which were possibly taken as evidence of a psycho - somatic illness before the disease was identified in 1909 and not recognised as a major health problem until the 1960s.
2 Ibid, p 184
Gradually his visits to London became fewer as he concentrated on his natural history interests and developing his theory of natural selection. His close friends were Henslow, Lyell and Hooker.
Bunbury had known Darwin only for a few years when Darwin moved to Down so he was not a close friend. However Bunbury did meet Darwin on the occasions when Darwin visited the Lyells and the Horners in London. The Bunburys frequently went to Bedford Place, the home of Mr Leonard Horner, and on 23 rd Nov 1845 he met Darwin there. Bunbury had not seen him for some time and recorded that Darwin had long been an invalid.
At another party at Bedford Place Bunbury was introduced to Dr. Joseph Hooker April 3 rd 1846. This was the beginning of a close friendship between Bunbury and Hooker. Hooker later became the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Bunbury met Darwin and Joseph Hooker again on May 7 th 1852 at Lord Ross’s Royal Society party and on that occasion Bunbury recorded that Darwin very seldom goes out in the evening.
In July 1858 Lyell was concerned about Darwin’s research which had not been published after 20 years work. Alfred Russell Wallace had written to Darwin with a hypothesis similar to Darwin’s ideas. Hooker and Lyell persuaded Darwin to publish one chapter and present it to the Linnean Society at the same time as a paper from Wallace. The following year, 1859, “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” by Darwin was published by John Murray. Bunbury records that neither Lyell nor Hooker were completely convinced of the veracity of Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. By Nov. 28 th 1859 Charles Lyell was a convert to Darwin’s theory which led to him making changes in his next edition of Principles of Geology.
In March 1860 Bunbury read Darwin’s book with great care but confessed that he was not altogether convinced. He wrote “It is wonderful how much it has been talked about by unscientific people; talked about, of course, by many who have not read it, and by some, I suspect, who have read without understanding it, for it is a very hard book”.
There is no mention by Bunbury of the debate on the Origin of Species at the meeting of the British Association at Oxford in June 1860. There were Bunbury family matters to deal with. Sir Henry Edward Bunbury who had been in poor health died in April 1860. Charles Bunbury inherited the Mildenhall and Great Barton estates and the title. He moved to Barton Hall in May and had to undertake the responsibility for the estates but he hoped there would be time for botany.
In January 1868 Joseph Hooker recounted an amusing anecdote to Bunbury. Charles Darwin offered to give his new book to his brother, if he would promise to read it. “No, I thank you,” said Erasmus, “I would rather buy it than read it”. The book in question is possibly ”Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication” published 1868.
In 1860 Lyell was 63 years old and both Bunbury and Darwin were 51 years. Darwin suffered chronic ill health and was somewhat of a recluse communicating with his friends by writing letters. Both Lyell and Darwin continued with research in their respective natural sciences. Bunbury had the Mildenhall and Great Barton Estates to maintain. However he did find time to botanise and visit Oxford, Wells and Cheddar, for example, as well as London.
In February Sir Charles Lyell died aged 72 years. Bunbury remembered him as a truly invaluable friend. Bunbury had fond memories of their visit together to Madeira and Scotland and recognised his valuable contributions to geology.
Bunbury writes on April 24 th 1882.
“The news of Charles Darwin’s death startled us all on the 22 nd April. It is a great loss to science as well as to his many friends. Old as he was (just eight days younger than I) he had so long been so indefatigable in his pursuits, and had so lately given public evidence of his unabated mental activity and clearness of faculties, that one could not help expecting still more from him ; and at the first moment it seemed strange (though in reality perfectly natural) that such a fount of knowledge should be suddenly cut off. He was decidedly the greatest naturalist of our time and country; perhaps of our time without the limitation of country. What is most remarkable, he was not only transcendently great in the two departments (zoology and geology) to which he chiefly devoted himself, but he threw new and most important light on some branches of botany, particularly on the physiology of plants”.
Sir Charles James Fox Bunbury died peacefully at Great Barton on July 17 th 1886.
Notes
1. Search the internet (Google) for more information on the lives and careers of Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell . Darwin’s letters are also on line.
2. The Life of Sir Charles J. F. Bunbury edited by Mrs Henry Lyell is available at the West Suffolk Record Office, 77 Raingate St. Bury St. Edmunds. Open Mon. – Sat ( 9am. – 5pm ) Tel: 01284 352352 3.
Darwin and the Beagle by Alan Moorehead 1971 ( Penguin Books Ltd. Harmondsworth Middlesex Eng.) contains good illustrations and maps of the voyage. In addition to the account of the voyage there is a valuable chapter entitled The Oxford Meeting.