Emma Darwin - Early Life

Early Life

She was born at the family estate of Maer Hall, Maer, Staffordshire, the youngest of seven children of Josiah Wedgwood II and his wife Elizabeth "Bessie". Her grandfather Josiah Wedgwood had made his fortune in pottery, and like many others who were not part of the aristocracy they were nonconformist, belonging to the Unitarian church. Charles Darwin was her first cousin because their shared grandparents were Josiah and Sarah Wedgwood, and as the Wedgwood and Darwin families were closely allied, she had been acquainted with him since childhood.

She was close to her sister Fanny, the two being known by the family as the "Doveleys", and was charming and messy, accounting for her nickname, "Little Miss Slip-Slop". She helped older sister Elizabeth with the Sunday school which was held in Maer Hall laundry, writing simple moral tales to aid instruction and giving 60 village children their only formal training in reading, writing and religion.

For a time in her youth she was sent to Paris, where she studied piano with the celebrated composer Frédéric Chopin, and conducted a grand tour of Europe. In 1826 she went with her sister Fanny to stay with their Aunt Jessie (Madame de Sismondi, wife of the historian Jean Charles Leonard de Sismondi) for eight months near Geneva. When her father went to collect them he was accompanied by Caroline Darwin and also took Charles Darwin as far as Paris, where they all met up again before returning home in July 1827. She was keen on outdoor sports and became a "Dragoness" at archery.

At Maer on 31 August 1831 she was with her family when they helped Charles Darwin to overturn his father's objections to the Voyage of the Beagle. During the voyage Charles' sisters kept him informed of news including the death of Emma's sister Fanny at the age of 26, and the gossip that his brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin was "paired off" with Emma to avert "an action in the Papers" over his "carrying on" with Hensleigh Wedgwood's wife. When Charles returned and was quick to visit Maer, she joined in the interest in his travels.

Emma herself had turned down several offers of marriage, but after her mother suffered a seizure and became bedridden Emma had to nurse her as well as care for her elder sister Elizabeth who suffered from dwarfism and severe spinal curvature.