---
title: "Darwin–Wedgwood family"
chunk: 1/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin–Wedgwood_family"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:28.334677+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The Darwin–Wedgwood family are members of two connected families, each noted for particular prominent 18th-century figures: Erasmus Darwin FRS, a physician and natural philosopher, and Josiah Wedgwood FRS, a noted potter and founder of the eponymous Josiah Wedgwood & Sons pottery company. The Darwin and Wedgwood families were on friendly terms for much of their history and members intermarried, notably Charles Darwin, who married Emma Wedgwood.
The most notable member of the family was Charles Darwin, a grandson of both Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood. The family also included at least ten Fellows of the Royal Society, and several artists and poets (among whom was the 20th-century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams). Presented below are brief biographical descriptions and genealogical information, and mentions of some notable descendants. (The individuals are listed by year of birth and grouped into generations.) The relationship to Francis Galton, and to his immediate ancestors, is also given. (Note, however, that the data tree below is not intended to include all descendants, nor is it intended to include all prominent descendants. Also note that Ursula Wood died in 2007, Richard Darwin Keynes died in 2010, and Horace Basil Barlow died in 2020.)

== The first generation ==

=== Josiah Wedgwood ===

Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795) was a noted pottery businessman and a friend of Erasmus Darwin. During 1780, on the death of his long-time business partner Thomas Bentley, Josiah asked Darwin for help in managing the business. As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood and Darwin families, one of Josiah's daughters later married Erasmus's son Robert. One of the children of that marriage, Charles Darwin, also married a Wedgwood – Emma Wedgwood, Josiah's granddaughter. Robert's inheritance of Josiah's money enabled him to fund Charles Darwin's chosen vocation in natural history that resulted in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution. Subsequently, Emma's inheritance made the Darwins a wealthy family.
Josiah Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood (1734–1815), and they had seven children, including:

Susannah Wedgwood (1765–1817) (later Darwin; see below)
Josiah Wedgwood (1769–1843) (see below)
Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805) (see below)

=== Erasmus Darwin ===

Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) was a physician, botanist and poet from Lichfield, whose lengthy botanical poems gave insights into medicine and natural history, and described an evolutionist theory that anticipated both Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and his grandson Charles. He married twice, first during 1757 to Mary Howard (1740–1770), who died from alcohol-induced liver failure aged 30. She gave birth to:

Charles Darwin (1758–1778) (not Charles Robert Darwin)
Erasmus Darwin the Younger (1759–1799)
Elizabeth Darwin, 1763 (survived 4 months)
Robert Waring Darwin (1766–1848, see below)
William Alvey Darwin, 1767 (survived 19 days)
He then had an extra-marital affair with a Miss Parker, producing two daughters:

Susanna Parker (1772–1856)
Mary Parker (1774–1859)
He then became smitten with Elizabeth Collier Sacheveral-Pole, who was married to Colonel Sacheveral-Pole and was the natural daughter of the Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore. Sacheveral-Pole died soon afterwards, and Erasmus married Elizabeth and they bore an additional seven children:

Edward Darwin (1782–1829)
Frances Anne Violetta Darwin (1783–1874); married Samuel Tertius Galton; mother of Francis Galton (see below)
Emma Georgina Elizabeth Darwin (born 1784)
Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin (1786–1859)
Rev. John Darwin (1787–1818)
Henry Darwin (born 1789)
Harriot Darwin (1790–1825); later Harriott Maling.

=== Samuel "John" Galton ===

Samuel "John" Galton FRS (1753–1832) was an arms manufacturer from Birmingham. He married Lucy Barclay (1757–1817), daughter of Robert Barclay Allardice, MP, 5th of Urie. They had the eight children:

Mary Anne Galton (1778–1856), married Lambert Schimmelpenninck in 1806
Sophia Galton (1782–1863) married Charles Brewin in 1833
Samuel Tertius Galton (1783–1844) (whose son Francis Galton was also notable).
Theodore Galton (1784–1810)
Adele Galton (1784–1869) married John Kaye Booth, d.s.p.
Hubert John Barclay Galton (1789–1864).
Ewen Cameron Galton (1791–1800), died aged 9.
John Howard Galton (1794–1862), father of Douglas Strutt Galton.

== The second generation ==

=== Robert Darwin (1766–1848) ===

The son of Erasmus Darwin, Robert Darwin was a noted physician from Shrewsbury, whose own income as a physician, together with astute investment of his wife's inherited wealth, enabled him to fund his son Charles Darwin's place on the Voyage of the Beagle and then gave him the private income needed to support Charles' chosen vocation in natural history that led to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution. He married Susannah Wedgwood, daughter of Josiah Wedgwood (see above), and they had the following children.

Marianne Darwin (1798 – 18 July 1858), married Henry Parker (1788–1858) in 1824.
Caroline Sarah Darwin (1800–1888), married Josiah Wedgwood (grandson of the first Josiah Wedgwood)
Susan Elizabeth Darwin (1803–1866)
Erasmus Alvey Darwin (1804–1881)
Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882) (see below)
Emily Catherine Darwin (1810–1866), was Charles Langton's second wife.

=== Josiah Wedgwood ===

Josiah Wedgwood (1769–1843) was the son of the first Josiah Wedgwood, sometime resident of Dorset (where he served as High Sheriff and later Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent. He married Elizabeth Allen (1764–1846) and they had nine children: