- Anne Darwin
"You may be looking for the Anne Darwin who was involved in the
John Darwin disappearance case "Anne Elizabeth "Annie" Darwin (
2 March 1841 –23 April 1851 ) was the second child and eldest daughter of Charles andEmma Darwin . According to biographers, she was a delightful child who brought much happiness to her parents. Eminent Darwin scholarE. Janet Browne writes of her::"Anne was .. the apple of her proud father's eye, his favourite child, he confessed to" [his friend and cousin William Darwin] Fox. "More than any of the other children she treated him with a spontaneous affection that touched him deeply; she liked to smooth his hair and pat his clothes into shape, and was by nature self-absorbedly neat and tidy, cutting out delicate bits of paper to put away in her workbox, threading ribbons, and sewing small things for her dolls and make-believe worlds." [Brown 1995, 499]
In 1849, Anne caught
scarlet fever along with her two sisters, [Brown 1995, 498] and her health thereafter declined; some authorities believe that she suffered fromtuberculosis . In vain pursuit of help from Gully's water cure, Charles Darwin took his daughter to theWorcestershire spa town ,Great Malvern . She died in Montreal House on the Worcester Road, and is buried in theGreat Malvern Priory Church yard.Her death at age ten was a terrible blow for both Charles and Emma. Charles wrote in a personal memoir "We have lost the joy of the household, and the solace of our old age ... Oh that she could now know how deeply, how tenderly we do still & and shall ever love her dear joyous face." [Quoted in Browne 1995, 501.] .
Around 2000, Charles Darwin's great-great-grandson
Randal Keynes discovered "Annie's Box" containing keepsakes collected by Charles and Emma. He wrote a book with this material.Notes
References
*Keynes, R. "Annie's Box". Fourth Estate, London. [http://www.aboutdarwin.com/literature/Review.html Review]
*Browne, Janet (1995). "Charles Darwin: Voyaging". New York: Random House. ISBN 0-691-02606-8. (The characterization of Anne Darwin appears on p. 499.)
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