![](https://assets10.geni.com/images/external/twitter_bird_small.gif?1663623393)
![](https://assets10.geni.com/images/facebook_white_small_short.gif?1663623393)
Erasmus Darwin (12 December 1731 – 18 April 1802) was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, abolitionist, inventor and poet. His poems included much natural history, including a statement of evolution and the relatedness of all forms of life. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family, which includes his grandsons Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. Darwin was also a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers. He was a Freemason and a member of Canongate Kilwinning Lodge No. 2, Edinburgh.
Erasmus Darwin House, his home in Lichfield, is now a museum dedicated to Erasmus Darwin and his life's work.
1731 |
December 12, 1731
|
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
|
|
1758 |
1758
|
||
1759 |
1759
|
||
1763 |
1763
|
||
1766 |
May 30, 1766
|
Lichfield, Staffordshire, England
|
|
1767 |
1767
|
||
1772 |
1772
|
||
1774 |
1774
|