Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on 12th February 1809. Having made a number of trips to north Wales to study marine animals and collect insects while still a teenager, he developed an interest in the natural world that would occupy his entire life.

He studied for his degree at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he attended botany lectures given by John Stevens Henslow and on passing his BA examinations in 1831 he returned home to Shrewsbury to find an invitation from Henslow to join the Beagle expedition. He sailed from Plymouth on 27 December on a voyage that would take five years and eventually earn him a permanent place in history.

HMS Beagle circumnavigated the world visiting the Cape Verde Islands, Falklands Islands, both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, St Helena, Ascension Island and The Azores.

Darwin wrote a number of books and scientific papers throughout his life but is best known for his work On the Origin of Species published in 1859.

Charles Darwin died on 19th April 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, London