Mentor of Charles Darwin, John Stevens Henslow became the fourth Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge 200 years ago, taking an oath before the Vice Chancellor on 10 October 1825.
Darwin arrived as an undergraduate at Christ’s College three years later. While Darwin followed a traditional tripos of maths, classics and theology, Henslow’s innovative teaching methods - including practical classes in the Botanic Garden and local countryside - inspired his passion for natural history.
Henslow later proposed Darwin for the survey voyage of HMS Beagle. He wrote to Darwin in 1831:
'I consider you to be the best qualified person I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation— I state this not on the supposition of yr. being a finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted in Natural History.'
During the five year voyage, Darwin sent botanical specimens back to Henslow in Cambridge. They are still kept in the Cambridge University Herbarium which was expanded and reorganized under Henslow’s care.
The two scientists also exchanged many letters during the Beagle voyage which were published in 1835 by the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
The Beagle specimens formed part of the empirical evidence behind Darwin’s evolutionary theories and although Henslow expressed reservations, the two remained close. When Henslow died in 1861, Darwin wrote:
‘I believe a better man never walked this earth …’
Watch a short film about the Herbarium which includes an example of an extinct species of cucumber sent by Darwin from the Beagle voyage.
Cambridge Philosophical Society
Letters quoted from the Darwin Correspondence Project.
From J. S. Henslow 24 August 1831