Edward Levett Darwin

Who was Edward Levett Darwin?

Capt. Edward Levett Darwin was the author under the pen-name High Elms of Gameskeeper's Manual, a guide for gamekeepers on large estates which shows keen observation of the habits of various animals.

Edward Levett Darwin was the son of Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin and his wife Jane Harriet Ryle. He was a cousin of Sir Francis Galton and half-cousin of Charles Darwin, their shared ancestor being their grandfather, physician and poet Erasmus Darwin.

He grew up at Breadsall Priory, near Derby. He was a captain in the Derby Regiment of Militia from 1856. In 1850 he married Harriett Jessopp, daughter of Francis and Ann Jessopp of Derby. The 1851 Census records Darwin and his wife residing at Dale House in Matlock Bath with his occupation as solicitor, while Kelly's Directory of 1855 records him as a solicitor living in Matlock Bath. Darwin had settled in the area where Erasmus Darwin had recommended the waters to Josiah Wedgwood.

Edward Levett Darwin is buried along with his wife in the churchyard of St John the Baptist's Church at Burbage, Derbyshire.