John Stevens Henslow is known for his formative influence on Charles Darwin, who described their meeting as the one circumstance 'which influenced my career more than any other'. As Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, Henslow was Darwin's teacher and eventual lifelong friend, but what of the man himself? In this biography, much previously unpublished material has been carefully sifted and selected to produce a rounded picture of a remarkable and unusually likeable academic. The time in 1829–31 when Darwin 'walked with Henslow' in and around Cambridge was followed directly by Darwin's voyage around the world. The gradually changing relationship between teacher and pupil over the course of time is revealed through their correspondence, illuminating a remarkable friendship which persisted, in spite of Darwin's eventual atheism and Henslow's never-failing liberal Christian belief, to the end of Henslow's life.
Foreword P. Bateson
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of colour plates
Part I. Origins:
1. Family background: growing up in Kent and London
Part II. Cambridge:
2. The young Henslow at Cambridge
3. Henslow: men who influenced him at Cambridge
4. Harriet
5. The young Professor
6. Educating Charles Darwin and others
7. The middle years: politics, policing and publication
8. The Botanic Garden: old and new
9. A liberal churchman
Part III. Hitcham:
10. Early years as Rector of Hitcham
11. The Rector
12. The later years
Epilogue
Appendix 1. Genealogical tables
Appendix 2. Chronology
Appendix 3. Dramatis personae
Appendix 4. Eponymous taxa
Appendix 5. Local botanical records
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index.
Max Walters has enjoyed a distinguished career at the University of Cambridge spanning thirty-five years, beginning in 1948 when he was appointed Curator of the Herbarium in the Botany School and afterwards Lecturer in Botany, and culminating in 1983 when he retired from the position of Director of the University Botanic Garden, a post which he held for the previous 10 years. He held a Research Fellowship at St. John's, Henslow's own college, and after that an Official Fellowship at King's College. His interest in John Stevens Henslow was awakened during the preparation of his book The Shaping of Cambridge Botany (1981), which considers in part the role played by Henslow in establishing the University Botanic Garden on its present site. His research at that time revealed that a new biography of Henslow was possible and desirable, but it was not until some 15 years later, having found a suitable and willing co-author in Anne Stow, that he decided to take up the challenge and begin work on a new biography of this remarkable academic, the first to be published for more than 25 years.
Anne Stow, a Southampton graduate and a qualified librarian, is superbly positioned to join Max Walters in producing this biography of an eminent Cambridge scientist, having spent more than 30 years on the staff of the Scientific Periodicals Library (originally the Library of the Cambridge Philosophical Society) in the University of Cambridge, being Librarian for 15 years and gaining particular knowledge of the bibliography of science periodicals, and the science reference sources of the University Library and the Departmental Libraries. During much of this time, she also worked closely with the Philosophical Society, one of whose founders was John Stevens Henslow, taking specific responsibility for their archives, book collection and archive index.
Patrick Bateson is Provost of King's College, Cambridge and holds a Chair in the SubDepartment of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge.
"It is such a pleasure to read this book. It is sensual and sleek, beautifully printed on the finest paper, comprehensively (and not over abundantly) illustrated, and written, with clarity and verve [...] It has many fine-screen half-tones, beautifully photographed documents, fine colour pictures and the page design is impeccable [...] Cambridge University Press and the authors deserve high praise for a thorough and diligent job well done."
– Brian J. Ford, Biologist
"It is a satisfying read for anyone interested in the burgeoning and sometimes passionate history of science in the nineteenth century, larded with glimpses of Victorian social life and colourful characters."
– Roy Herbert, New Scientist
"A fascinating and well-researched work [...]"
– Suffolk Journal
"[...] the world is certainly richer with this book on its shelves."
– Open History
"This fascinating study will place Henslow in his rightful context in the history of science [...]"
– John S. Parker, Cambridge
"Darwin students everywhere will need this book. So will those whose subject is Henslow."
– Archives of Natural History
"Walter and Stow have written a valuable biography of a scientist who deserves to be better known in his own right."
– Annals of Science
"The publishers are to be commended for such a lavish production, richly complemented by beautiful illustrations [...] Strongly recommended."
– Naturalist