| Authorised form of name | Darwin; Sir; Horace (1851 - 1928); civil engineer and manufacturer of scientific instruments |
| Dates | 1851 - 1928 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Down House, Down, Kent, England |
| Date of birth | 13 May 1851 |
| Place of death | The Orchard, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, England |
| Date of death | 22 September 1928 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
St Giles' cemetery, now Ascension Cemetery, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Scientific Instrument maker |
| Research field | Engineering |
| Activity | Education:
Clapham grammar school; MA (Cantab)
Career:
Served a three-year apprenticeship with Easton and Anderson, engineers, of Erith, Kent, returning to Cambridge upon its completion; consulting engineer on land reclamation and drainage schemes; founded the ‘Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company’ in partnership with Albert Dew-Smith (1881); took sole control of the company (1891); moved to larger premises due to due increasing demand for scientific instruments by researchers in the University laboratories becoming a Limited Liability Company (1895); the company assisted the war effort by undertaking work for the Ministry of Munitions (1914-1918).
Honours:
KBE 1918
Memberships:
Institution of Civil Engineers 1877
Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1878 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 11/06/1903 |
| Age at election | 52 |
| Proposer | Charles Vernon Boys; John Perry; William de Wiveleslie Abney; George Forbes; John Milne; Raphael Meldola; John William Strutt; William Edward Ayrton; Shelford Bidwell; James Alfred Ewing; George Howard Darwin |
| John Newport Langley; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; Ernest Howard Griffiths; William Napier Shaw; Richard Tetley Glazebrook; Francis Henry Neville; Charles Thomas Heycock; Henry Woodward; Henry Selby Hele-Shaw; Silvanus Phillips Thompson; David Gill |
| Relationships | Parents: Charles Robert Darwin (FRS 1839) and Emma (1808–1896), daughter of Josiah Wedgwood.
Grandfather: Robert Waring Darwin (FRS 1788)
Great grandfather: Erasmus Darwin (FRS 1761)
Siblings: George Howard Darwin (FRS 1879) and Francis Darwin (FRS 1882)
Spouse: Hon. Emma Cecilia (Ida) (1854-1946), daughter of Thomas Henry Farrer, first Baron Farrer (1880).
Children: Erasmus Darwin IV (killed in WWI in 1915); Ruth Frances Darwin; Nora Barlow. |
| General context | Remembered for his precision in designing and manufacturing scientific instruments.
He was mayor of Cambridge between 1896 and 1897. |
| Image | 
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| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1929 vol 122 pp xv-xviii, plate, signed by R T G
References:
Meg Weston Smith, 'E A Milne and the Creation of Air Defence: Some Letters From an Unprincipled Brigand, 1916-1919' in NR 1990 vol 44 pp 241-255
James R Moore, 'On the Education of Darwin's Sons: The Correspondence Between Charles Darwin and the Reverend G V Reed, 1857-1864' in NR 1977-8 vol 32 pp 51-70 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/62346547 |
| Royal Society code | NA7966 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MS/928/6/2/8 | Postcard from Horace Darwin, The Orchard, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, to Geoffrey Vernon Boys, Trinity College, Cambridge | 28 January 1920 |
| MS/928/2/46 | Letter from Horace Darwin, The Orchard, Huntington Road, Cambridge, to Charles Vernon Boys | 10 May 1890 |
| NLB/5/401 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Horace Darwin | 3 June 1891 |
| NLB/13/67 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Horace Darwin, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 3 June 1896 |
| RR/16/122 | Referee's report by Horace Darwin, on a paper 'The elasmometer, a new interferential form of elasticity apparatus' by Alfred Edward Howard Tutton | June 1903 |
| NLB/19/52 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor John Wesley Judd, Fellow of the Royal Society | 9 June 1899 |
| NLB/29/184 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Horace Darwin, Fellow of the Royal Society | 22 July 1904 |
| NLB/31/72 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Horace Darwin, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 June 1905 |
| NLB/40/672 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Horace Darwin, FRS [Fellow of the Royal Society], The Orchard, Cambridge | 16 July 1909 |
| NLB/41/4 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Horace Darwin, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 September 1909 |
| NLB/40/626 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to The Secretary, Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna | 9 July 1909 |
| NLB/45/268 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Horace Darwin FRS | 30 January 1912 |
| NLB/47/807 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Horace Darwin FRS | 15 April 1913 |
| NLB/53/214 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Horace Darwin Esq., FRS | 29 May 1916 |
| MS/928/2/45 | Letter from Horace Darwin, The Orchard, Huntington Road, Cambridge, to Charles Vernon Boys | 8 May 1890 |
| MS/928/2/47 | Letter from Horace Darwin, The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, St Tibb's Row, Cambridge, to Charles Vernon Boys | 10 May 1890 |
| MS/928/2/49 | Letter from Horace Darwin, Abinger Hall, Dorking, to Charles Vernon Boys | 8 November 1891 |
| NLB/53/521 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Horace Darwin Esq., FRS | 24 October 1916 |
| NLB/55/265 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Horace Darwin Esq., FRS | 07 February 1918 |
| NLB/55/580 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to unknown correspondent | 18 June 1918 |
| NLB/62/15 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Horace Darwin, FRS | 15 November 1921 |
| IM/001066 | Darwin, Sir Horace | 1922 |
| NLB/34/755 | Copy letter from Archibald Geikie, to Professor Herbert Hall Turner, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 March 1907 |
| EC/1903/04 | Darwin, Sir Horace: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MS/928/2/48 | Letter from Horace Darwin, Howick Rectory, Lesbury, Northumberland, to Charles Vernon Boys | 5 September 1891 |
| MC/27/82 | Letter from Horace Darwin, The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, Limited, Chester Road, Cambridge, England | 26 January 1912 |
| MC/32/68 | Letter from Horace Darwin, The Orchard, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, to Dr [Arthur] Schuster, Royal Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1 | 13 August 1917 |