Annie Darwin

Anne Elizabeth "Annie" Darwin (2 March 1841-22 April 1851) was the second child and eldest daughter of Charles and Emma Darwin. According to biographers she was a delightful child who brought much happiness to her parents. The eminent Darwin scholar Janet Browne writes of her thus:

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.

In 1849, Anne caught scarlet fever along with her two sisters and youngest brother, the last dying of the disease, and her health thereafter declined; some authorities believe that she suffered from tuberculosis. Her death at age ten was a terrible blow for both Charles and Emma, and is said by Browne to have driven Darwin to atheism. As a young man Darwin had intended to become a pastor.

Further reading

• Keynes, R. Annie's Box Fourth Estate, London.Review
• Browne, Janet (1995) Charles Darwin: Voyaging. New York: Random House. ISBN 0691026068. The characterization of Anne Darwin appears on p. 499.