On the trail of Darwin in Ilkley

Sand sculpture of Charles Darwin in Bradford's Centenary Square, 2009

It is perhaps not widely known that when Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species in 1859, he immediately headed for Ilkley.

Writing the controversial book had exhausted him and he was suffering from a mystery illness.

Gregory Radick, co-author of the recently-published Darwin in Ilkley, says he came to the town for rest, recuperation and in the hope of a cure.

He says: "Darwin certainly felt it was time for a break and a reward."

Wells House in Ilkley, where Charles Darwin took the water cure

The main reason Darwin came to Ilkley was for "the water cure", a therapy involving drinking and bathing in lots of pure, cold water as well as taking many bracing walks in the fresh air. Wells House in Ilkley was just the place for all these activities.

Rest and recuperation

Darwin certainly needed a break. Not only had he worked himself to the bone finishing The Origin of Species, but he had also been what Gregory Radick calls "a very ill man" ever since he returned from his historic five-year voyage around the world as naturalist on The Beagle.

Gregory, who is senior lecturer in history and philosophy of science at Leeds University, says: "The illness would flare up and then subside again but he was never completely healthy. He convinced himself the water cure helped, so when he sent off the final batch of proofs to his publisher in London at the very beginning of October 1859 it was time to relax and to get back to health. Thus, his trip to Ilkley."

Along with co-author Mike Dixon, Gregory has studied many of Darwin's letters from around the time of the publication of The Origin of Species, discovering much about his illness and his time in Ilkley.

In pictures: Take a tour of Darwin's Ilkley with our photogallery

Gregory explains that when Darwin arrived in the town he knew that his new book, what he referred to as "my abominable volume", was going to cause a stir within the Victorian scientific community. The theory of evolution he was proposing would obviously prove hugely controversial.

Charles Darwin came to Ilkley after finishing The Origin of Species

Despite being far away from his home at Down House in Kent where he had slaved over The Origin of Species, Gregory says Ilkley was certainly not a science-free zone for Darwin.

He says: "In his very first week in Ilkley he got the first serious feedback on the Origin. He got it from his great mentor and hero, the geologist Charles Lyell. Scientifically, Darwin rated Lyell more than anybody.

"So the letters Darwin received in the first week at Ilkley were crucial to his sense of his own achievement and his sense of how well this theory was going to go down with the rest of the scientific world."

Massive impact

In fact, what Charles Darwin succeeded in doing was converting Lyell and a few other members of Britain's scientific elite.

Gregory says: "Darwin had a stratey for swinging opinion his way. He thought that as the elite came on board, the gang of naturalists and then the wider population would take his theory more and more seriously.

"All of this is being put in motion while he is here at the foot of Ilkley Moor."

Darwin felt pretty good when he left Ilkley but rather rapidly declined again. He never returned Gregory Radick, co-author of Darwin in Ilkley

So had Darwin actually planned his departure to the wilds of the West Riding on purpose to avoid having to directly deal with the impact of his new book - except via the vagaries of the Victorian postal service?

Gregory Radick doesn't think that was the case: "It has come to be represented that way, Darwin hiding out from his public in Ilkley. And it is true that Ilkley was very remote.

"I now think there is no sense in which he was 'hiding'. If you think about it, Down House was in itself pretty isolated. It's still pretty isolated.

"Also, from the correspondence he never writes about Ilkley as a place which will shelter him from the storm about to break. Ilkley is just a spa he wants to go to to reward himself with a little health."

In fact while taking the cure, Charles Darwin even spent time working on a second edition of The Origin of Species - making corrections and additions to the original edition of his book. Some holiday!

While Ilkley was really just a backdrop to these changes, Gregory Radick says Darwin left the town as a changed man: "There was a transformation in his status as a celebrity with the publication of The Origin of Species.

Gregory Radick has read many of Darwin's letters from his time in Ilkley

"He comes to Ilkley on October 4 as an esteemed and well-known naturalist and geologist. When he leaves around early December 1859 he is already aware that the book is having the impact he hoped it would. It's well on its way."

And the big question, of course, is whether Charles Darwin left Ilkley a well man. Gregory says that any health benefits from the water cure were short-lived.

He says: "Darwin felt pretty good when he left Ilkley but rather rapidly declined again. He never returned."

Darwin in Ilkley by Gregory Radick and Mike Dixon is published by The History Press Ltd