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A Royal Showground
A Darwinian
The Osmaston Estate hosted the connection
Royal Agricultural Show five times:
in 1843, 1881, 1906, 1921 and finally The naturalist Charles Darwin
in 1933. was a frequent visitor to
The Royal Shows attracted many Osmaston Hall.
thousands of people from all over Darwin is best known for his
the country, including members of theory of evolution, and his
the royal family.
book On the Origin of Species
The 1933 show was a combined which was published in 1859.
industrial and agricultural exhibition He was the grandson of the
and was attended by King George V physician, philosopher, poet
and Queen Mary. and inventor Erasmus Darwin,
who was a founding member
Below: King George V and Queen Mary of the Lunar Society. Erasmus
photographed at the Royal Agricultural Darwin lived for a time in Full
Show in Osmaston in 1933.
Street in Derby, before moving
to Breadsall Priory shortly
before his death in 1802.
Charles Darwin’s other
grandfather was Josiah
Wedgwood, who founded the
Wedgwood company and is
credited with the industrialisation
Photo: Derby City Council and picturethepast.org.uk Charles Darwin regularly
of the manufacture of pottery.
visited his second cousin
William Darwin Fox at
Osmaston Hall, including a
three week stay in the summer
of 1829. William Darwin Fox
was renting the hall from the
6 Wilmot family at the time.
