Darwin's Mentor
John Stevens Henslow, 1796–1861

A biography of the man best known for his formative influence on Charles Darwin; John Stevens Henslow.

S. M. Walters (Author), E. A. Stow (Author), Patrick Bateson (Foreword by)

9780521117999, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 August 2009

368 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

Review of the hardback: 'The publishers are to be commended for such a lavish production, richly complemented by beautiful illustrations … Strongly recommended.' Naturalist

John Stevens Henslow is known for his formative influence on Charles Darwin, who described their meeting as the one circumstance 'which influenced my career more than any other'. As Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, Henslow was Darwin's teacher and eventual lifelong friend, but what of the man himself? In this biography, much previously unpublished material has been carefully sifted and selected to produce a rounded picture of a remarkable and unusually likeable academic. The time in 1829–31 when Darwin 'walked with Henslow' in and around Cambridge was followed directly by Darwin's voyage around the world. The gradually changing relationship between teacher and pupil over the course of time is revealed through their correspondence, illuminating a remarkable friendship which persisted, in spite of Darwin's eventual atheism and Henslow's never-failing liberal Christian belief, to the end of Henslow's life.

Foreword P. Bateson
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of colour plates
Part I. Origins: 1. Family background: growing up in Kent and London
Part II. Cambridge: 2. The young Henslow at Cambridge
3. Henslow: men who influenced him at Cambridge
4. Harriet
5. The young Professor
6. Educating Charles Darwin and others
7. The middle years: politics, policing and publication
8. The Botanic Garden: old and new
9. A liberal churchman
Part III. Hitcham: 10. Early years as Rector of Hitcham
11. The Rector
12. The later years
Epilogue
Appendix 1. Genealogical tables
Appendix 2. Chronology
Appendix 3. Dramatis personae
Appendix 4. Eponymous taxa
Appendix 5. Local botanical records
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]