Charles Darwin Birthplace and Childhood - 1809 to 1825 (part 2)
Dr. Butler’s Shrewsbury School
Doctor Butler’s Shrewsbury school was considered a very fine institution at that time. However Charles was not very complementary about what the curriculum there had done for his mind.
“In the summer of 1818 I went to Dr. Butler’s great school in Shrewsbury, and remained there for seven years till mid-summer 1825, when I was sixteen years old. Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler’s school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of education to me was simply a blank.”
Robert Darwin was not pleased with Charles’ lack of application to his school work and when Charles exchanged his passion for chemistry for that of game shooting at age 15, his father finally exploded saying, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all the family."
This handsome building is now the city library and is very modern inside. Some of the heavy timber, used in the original construction has been left exposed so that visitors can see its interesting configuration.
Not withstanding Charles’s misgivings about his education at his former school, there is now a statue of him promiment placed at the entry to the building.
He is sitting in a likeness of the chair he used for so many years in his study at Down House where it can still be seen. Charles attended Dr. Butler’s school until he was 16, when his father enrolled him in Edinburgh University to study to become a physician.
A large number of the buildings still standing in Shrewsbury would have been there in Darwin's day and, for the most part, they have been kept in excellent repair. Some of the more prominent structures would have been the train station and Shrewsbury Castle both of which are at the Northern end of the Old City not far from Dr. Butler's school and the castle can also be seen in the previous Figure across form the school.
Shrewsbury Abby is an imposing structure a short way beyond the English Bridge to the east of the town.
This structure dates to before King Henry VII and it was severely damaged as a result of his decree that all Catholic Abbeys were to be destroyed. Evidence of the distruction can be seen in the next Figure. Note the raged bricks where a large portion of the Abby has been remore as a result of King Henry's decree.
Although the New Shrewsbury School was not in existence until more recently one should take the time to visit this campus across the Kingston Bridge and up the winding street to the top of the hill on the South side of town. There are several attractive red brick buildings on campus and in front of the administrative building to your right as you enter the well-manicured grounds there is a very attractive statue of a younger Charles Darwin depicted in action on the Galapagos Islands with iguanas and other familiar creatures that he studied there.
The most recent addition to the Darwin Legacy in Shrewsbury is the naming of a modern shopping center for him on Pride Hill, near the center of Old Town.
In conclusion it should be said that visitors to Shrewsbury will find that one can easily walk to all the sites important to Darwin’s life here and each is no more than a fifteen minute walk from the center of this charming town where the man who influenced modern thought so profoundly, was born.
