William Erasmus Darwin was the first-born son of Charles and Emma Darwin, and the subject of psychological studies by his father. He was educated at Rugby School and Christ's College Cambridge, and later became a banker at Grant and Maddison's Union Banking Company in Southampton. On the 29th of November 1877 he married an American Sara Price Ashburner Sedgwick (1839 – 1902).

William was a great believer in university education being available to all, and championed the establishment of a university college in Southampton in 1902. The Darwins had no children of their own, and after his wife died, William devoted himself much to his three 'Darwin' nieces: Gwen Raverat, Frances Cornford, and Margaret Keynes. (He and his wife had lived in Bassett, near Southampton.)

THE FAMILY OF CHARLES & EMMA DARWIN : we now have images of the graves of all 21 members of CHARLES & EMMA DARWIN's immediate family: Charles & Emma themselves, 10 children: with 8 wives and 1 husband; TOTAL OF 19 in England & 1 in Wales and 1 in France.

Cambridge, England = 7:
E.W.D., was E.W.C. (Girton)
F.D., Sir (Ascension)
F.H.D., previously Maitland, was F.H.F., Lady (Ascension)
G.H.D., Sir (Trumpington Extension)
‘I’ (E.C.) D., was E.C. F., Lady (Ascension)
H.D., Sir (Ascension)
M.H.D., was M.H.DuP.,Lady (Trumpington Extension, cremated)
Cannes, France = 1 :
R.B.L.
Corris, Wales = 1
A.R.D. (was A.R.R.)
Downe, England = 5
C.W.D.
E.D.
E.D. (was E.W.)
H.E.L. (was H.E.D.)
M.E.D.
Forest Row, England = 2
L.D.
(C.) M. D. (was C.M.M.)
Great Malvern, England = 1
A.E.D.
London, England = 2
E.F.D., was E.F.F. (Putney Vale)
C.D. (Westminster Abbey)
North Stoneham, England = 2
W.E.D.
S.P.A.D. (was S.P.A.S.)


Darwin, William Erasmus.
Adm. pens. at CHRIST'S, Mar. 13, 1858.
S. and h. of Charles Robert (1827). School, Rugby.
Matric. Michs. 1858; B.A. 1862; M.A. 1889.
Adm. at Lincoln's Inn, Apr. 20, 1861.
Member of the Geological and Anthropological Societies.
Director of Grant and Maddison's Union Banking Co. (afterwards amalgamated with Lloyds Bank), Southampton, 1888-1903.
J.P. and C.C. Chairman of the Southampton Water Co. Took an active interest in Hartley College, Southampton.
Married 1877.
After his wife's death in 1902 he settled next door to his brother Leonard, at 11, Egerton Place, London, S.W., where he had many interests and a wide circle of friends.
A keen amateur geologist; some of his observations are recorded by his father in Fertilization of Orchids, ed. 11. 1877, p. 99.
At a banquet given at Cambridge, on June 24, 1909, on the occasion of the Darwin Centenary, he 'gave some charming reminiscences of his father's home life.' Died Sept. 8, 1914, aged 74, at Sedbergh, Yorks., where he was spending the summer with the family of his brother George.

Buried at North Stoneham, near Southampton.

(Peile, II. 555; The Times, June 25, 1909, and Sept. 10, 1914; Christ's Coll. Reg. Obit., 1914.)

"I have indeed been most happy in my family, & I must say to you my children that not one of you has ever given me one minute's anxiety, except on the score of health. There are, I suspect, very few fathers of five sons who could say this with entire truth. When you were very young it was my delight to play with you all, & I think with a sigh that such days can never return. From your earliest days to now that you are grown up, you have all, sons & daughters, ever been most pleasant, sympathetic & affectionate to us & to one another. When all or most of you are at home (as, thank Heavens, happens pretty frequently) no party can be, according to my taste, more agreeable, & I wish for no other society. We have suffered only one very severe grief in the death of Annie at Malvern on April 24th, 1851, when she was just over ten years old. She was a most sweet & affectionate child, & I feel sure would have grown into a delightful woman. But I need say nothing here of her character, as I wrote a short sketch of it shortly after her death. Tears still sometimes come into my eyes, when I think of her sweet ways." (CD)