['7s16] 29 : years ago. Charles Darwin's father, Robert. was the leading doctor in Shrewsbury when ButJer's grandfather. Dr ButJer, was headmaster Shrewsbury SchooL Charles Darwin and Butler's father, Canon Butler, were schoolfdlows at Shrewsbury, under Dr Butler. and undergradu- ates together at Cambridge. They spent the summer

doi:10.4324/9781315476339-132

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ABSTRACT

['7s16] The friendship between the families of Darwin and Butler began many years ago. Charles Darwin's father, Robert. was the leading doctor in Shrewsbury when ButJer's grandfather. Dr ButJer, was headmaster of Shrewsbury SchooL Charles Darwin and Butler's father, Canon Butler, were schoolfdlows at Shrewsbury, under Dr Butler. and undergraduates together at Cambridge. They spent the summer of 1828 together on a reading-party at Barmouth, and Canon butler said of Charles Darwin, 'He inoculated me with a taste for botany which has stuck my me all my life: (Life and uUn'l of Chark5 Darwin, by his son, Francis Darwin, Vol. I, 168.)