Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Remarkable Connections - Darwin, FitzRoy, Hawkshaw & Wedgwood . . . .

Herschel was older than Darwin but he wrote to him (by now Sir John!) during the November of his Ilkley hydrotherapy stay. Darwin had met up with Herschel as the 'Beagle' rounded the South African coast during the later part of the voyage and was much impressed with the man whom had written a book, published in 1830, which had influenced Darwin greatly as a young man. He sent him a copy of his first impression of the 'On the Origin . . . '

The response of Herschel to the content was deemed as disappointing to Darwin. Herschel was not opposed to the concept of evolution but his main objection was that Darwin’s natural selection appeared to rely too heavily on undirected variation and chance. He felt that it did not sufficiently explain the apparent purpose and organisation of nature.

However, the first edition of 1,100 books sold out on the first day and a second edition of 3,000 books with corrections and amendments was subsequently published.

Further Remarkable Connections - Halifax, Herschel, Hawkshaw and Gentleman Jack!

Finally, yet another connection. St. John the Baptist church, now the Halifax Minster, is situated only about 100 yards from the Halifax Railway Station of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company and our Penarth Dock Engineer, Mr. John Hawkshaw (1811–1891) was the civil engineer appointed to construct the railway line between Halifax and Bradford which opened in 1850. Upon leaving Halifax station there is a skew-bridge, which was probably re-cycled from another location, followed by the Beacon Hill Tunnel which exits through the lands of the Shibden Hall Estate and on towards Bradford. Shibden Hall, built circa 1420, was the home of 'Gentleman Jack' or Ann Lister (1791–1840)! Ann Lister was interred in St. John the Baptist church, Halifax during April of 1841, after her body was brought back from Kutaisi, Georgia.