Erasmus Darwin House

Erasmus Darwin House

Erasmus Darwin House
Beacon Street
Lichfield
Staffordshire
WS13 7AD

Tel: 01543 306 260
Fax: 01543 306 261
E-Mail: erasmus.d@virgin.net

Web: Erasmus Darwin House

About Erasmus Darwin House

After Samuel Johnson, Darwin is the most significant of Lichfieldians. Darwin settled in Lichfield in 1756, living in the large house by the West Gate entrance to the Close in Beacon Street.
He established a reputation as a doctor, scientist, inventor and literary man and built up a national reputation for his humane and efficient treatment of medical problems, particularly insanity.
His scientific and technological studies contributed much to the work of the Lunar Society. This group - which also included Josiah Wedgwood, James Watt and Matthew Boulton - was one of the intellectual forces behind the Industrial Revolution. It would occasionally meet in Lichfield. Like many members of the Society, Darwin had radical political and religious views and on his few meetings with Johnson these may have been a cause for dispute. But, like Johnson, Darwin had a vast range of interests. At his gardens at the Abnalls and by Stowe Pool he did much botanical research and his opinions on evolution anticipated those of his grandson, Charles.
His literary career began after he and his second wife moved to Derbyshire in 1781. His poetry was an influence on poets like Shelley and Coleridge and is well seen in his most famous books, 'The Botanic Garden' and 'Zoonomia' which date from the