Product Description

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 In this biography, much previously unpublished material has been carefully sifted and selected to produce a rounded picture of a remarkable and unusually likeable academic.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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1514526 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 358 pages

Review
Review of the hardback: ‘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

Review of the hardback: ‘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

Review of the hardback: ‘A fascinating and well-researched work …’ Suffolk Journal

Review of the hardback: ‘… the world is certainly richer with this book on its shelves.’ Open History

Review of the hardback: ‘This fascinating study will place Henslow in his rightful context in the history of science …’. John S. Parker, Cambridge

Review of the hardback: ‘Darwin students everywhere will need this book. So will those whose subject is Henslow.’ Archives of Natural History

Review of the hardback: ‘Walter and Stow have written a valuable biography of a scientist who deserves to be better known in his own right.’ Annals of Science

Review of the hardback: 'The publishers are to be commended for such a lavish production, richly complemented by beautiful illustrations … Strongly recommended.' Naturalist

About the Author
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 his 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.

Customer Reviews

The life of the Clergyman who saw Darwin 's talent.
The relationship with Darwin is only one theme explored by this charming biography of the man who placed Darwin on HMS Beagle and the voyage to glory. The reader is given an intriguing insight to academic life in Cambridge in the early part of the 19th Century, particularly the undeveloped state of scientific research and teaching, and the latter part of the book follows Henslow to his parish in Suffolk where he tried to improve conditions for the local people whilst maintaining his position as Regius Professor of Botany.

It is amazing to read that Henslow cheerfully dropped his chair in mineralogy to take up one in botany, a subject he seems to have taken little interest in before the post became vacant. It seems that almost any science would have suited him, as none at the time would have required more than a few months effort to grasp.

For me there was rather more about the Botanic Gardens than I really wanted to know and less about his ministry in Suffolk. However in a book written and published from Cambridge what can you expect and in fact a good deal if space is given over to Hitcham, agriculture and even the Ipswich Museum.

The book is beautifully printed and illustrated and gives the reader not just the index and bibliography he might expect but a very useful chronology and dramatis personae as well.