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OCR Rendition - approximate
244 Life and Letters of Francis Galton "William Darwin" for me, and he dates the painting from the wig as belonging to the period 1730 to 1745. The only « Williams" possible are therefore William Darwin of Cleatham (1681-1760), elder brother of Robert Darwin and uncle of Erasmus Darwin, -who would have been 49 in 1730 and rather old for the portrait-William Morgan Darwin, his son (1710-1762)-who would have been much the right age, but little likely to have a portrait at Elston-and William Alvey Darwin (1726-1783), as a very young man. The latter is the only alternative that seems probable, and the portrait is not wholly unlike Wright's portrait of a later date. It seems therefore reasonable to ascribe this "William Darwin" portrait to William Alvey Darwin although probably no certainty will ever now be possible. The Newnham Grange portraits are reproduced on Plate XLII. There is a miniature at Creskeld Hall of Ann Lascelles, that is, Ann Waring (1664-1722), whose first husband was William Darwin (1655-1682), the mother of Robert Darwin (1682-1754), and grandmother of Erasmus. A portrait of the Rev. John Darwin (1730--1805), another brother of Erasmus and Rector of Elstonartist and date unknown-is at Elston Hall. Finally we may note that there exists in Mr William E. Darwin's possession a very fine portrait, also said to be of a " William Darwin." This portrait, an undoubted Romney, is dated by "the Director of the National Portrait Gallery 1780-1783; it represents a very young man. There appears to be no " William Darwin " of this date ; and the only Darwins at all of an appropriate age would be the sons of Dr Erasmus Darwin by his first wife. The portrait bears no marked resemblance to Erasmus or Robert Waring, nor is there any knowledge of a portrait of Charles. Its history before purchase appears to be unknown. The difficulties that have arisen in this case may emphasise the importance of returning to the good old custom of painting on the canvas itself the name of the subject. NOTE II ON THE HOWARD ANCESTRY OF CHARLES DARWIN (See Pedigree Plate E) While working on the Darwin side of Francis Galton's pedigree, I came across a good deal of material bearing on the noteworthy ancestors of Charles Darwin, and it occurred tome that, as it might be many-years before any one else again went through the same material, it would be worth while forming a pedigree of the noteworthy ancestors of Charles Darwin. Accordingly I determined to put together a pedigree for Charles Darwin similar to the one already issued by the Galton Laboratory for Francis Galton. In this task I have received great assistance from letters to me of the late Sir George Howard Darwin touching on points I had asked him about with regard to the latter pedigree, and referring to papers in his possession bearing on family history. Through the kindness of Lady Darwin and Mr William Erasmus Darwin and with the permission of Mr Charles Galton Darwin I have been able to examine a variety of documents bearing on the matter ; the most valuable of these documents were drawn up many years ago by Erasmus Darwin, son of Dr Erasmus Darwin; he must have had a very extended antiquarian and historical knowledge of genealogical facts, which more than a century
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