List No. 039

Father’s objections

Charles Darwin

1831

In August 1831, having recently graduated from Cambridge and soon to become a clergyman, 22-year-old Charles Darwin was invited on a two-year expedition to South America aboard the HMS Beagle, in the role of Captain’s Companion. That voyage became the most important of his life, for it was there, while studying fossils and wildlife along the coastline, that he truly became a scientist; and it was on his return that his ground-breaking book on evolution, On the Origin of Species, was born. Before he could even set foot on the boat, however, his father supplied him with a list of objections to the trip. Seen here are those objections written in Darwin’s hand in a letter to his Uncle Josiah, who went on to talk his brother around.

(1) Disreputable to my character as a Clergyman hereafter

(2) A wild scheme

(3) That they must have offered to many others before me, the place of Naturalist

(4) And from its not being accepted there must be some serious objection to the vessel or expedition

(5) That I should never settle down to a steady life hereafter

(6) That my accommodations would be most uncomfortable

(7) That you should consider it as again changing my profession

(8) That it would be a useless undertaking