This week’s post is my archive post about Susannah Wedgwood Darwin (1765-1817), the mother of Charles Darwin. I’m reposting it today on this second Sunday in May, when Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world.
On Mothering Sunday in the UK, gifts of flowers or plants are traditionally given to mothers by their children. The portrait above shows Charles Darwin at about eight years old, proudly holding a pot-plant that perhaps he had grown with the help of his mother. Susannah Darwin’s influence on her naturalist son is often overlooked by biographers, because – very sadly – she died not long after this portrait was painted. However, her vital presence was connected to some of his happiest childhood memories: being at her side in the family’s Shropshire garden, watching her close attention to plants and flowers and learning lessons from her about the importance of nature.
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