STAFF at a Lichfield museum are celebrating the discovery of ‘lost’ original letters penned by Dr Erasmus Darwin, shedding new light on his life and ideas.
The letters were snapped up by Erasmus Darwin House when they came up for auction at Bonhams, thanks to funding from The Friends of the Nation’s Libraries and an anonymous donation.
Dating from 1794 to1804, the collection of ten letters and two notes give an insight into the life and ideas of 18th century Lichfield physician Erasmus Darwin, a key figure in the Lunar Society and grandfather of Charles Darwin .
The letters cover a range of topics. For example, Darwin’s avant-garde ideas about the use of electricity in medicine, his progressive views on female education and the family’s views on publicised details of Erasmus’s death.
Trustee, Jenny Arthur, said: “It is thrilling for the museum to acquire these letters and we can’t wait to make them available for viewing to the public. We have very little original Erasmus Darwin memorabilia in our collection so owning something written in his own hand is very exciting.
“These letters offer fascinating glimpses into Darwin’s great intellectual and scientific curiosity and also his respect for women’s opinions. We faced stiff bidding competition so we are immensely grateful to our funders for their support.”
The correspondence contains letters between members of the Darwin family, such as Erasmus, his son Robert and daughter Emma, to close friend William Strutt and his wife. Strutt, a cotton spinner, engineer and inventor, was Darwin’s deputy in the Derby Philosophical Society. The letters had been passed down through generations of the Strutt family before coming up for auction. The correspondence will go on display at Lichfield’s Erasmus Darwin House, a building that was once Erasmus’s home and is now a museum, from 1 December 2025.
