Editing Erasmus Darwin (section)

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Darwin cutout.png|thumb|upright|Stone-cast bust of Erasmus Darwin, by [[W. J. Coffee]], {{Circa|1795}}]]
[[File:Erasmus Darwin House.jpg|thumb|[[Erasmus Darwin House|Darwin's House]] in [[Lichfield]], now a museum dedicated to his life and work]]
Darwin was born in 1731 at [[Elston|Elston Hall]], Nottinghamshire, near [[Newark-on-Trent]], England, the youngest of seven children of [[Robert Darwin of Elston]] (1682–1754), a lawyer and physician, and his wife Elizabeth Hill (1702–97). The name [[Erasmus (disambiguation)|Erasmus]] had been used by a number of his family and derives from his ancestor [[Erasmus Earle]], Common Sergent of England under [[Oliver Cromwell]].<ref>Burke's ''Landed Gentry'', Darwin ''formerly of'' Downe, 1966</ref> His siblings were:
* [[Robert Waring Darwin of Elston]] (17 October 1724 – 4 November 1816)
* Elizabeth Darwin (15 September 1725 – 8 April 1800)
* William Alvey Darwin (3 October 1726 – 7 October 1783)
* Anne Darwin (12 November 1727 – 3 August 1813)
* Susannah Darwin (10 April 1729 – 29 September 1789)
* Rev. John Darwin, [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of Elston (28 September 1730 – 24 May 1805)

He was educated at Chesterfield Grammar School, then later at [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=DRWN750E|name=Darwin, Erasmus}}</ref> He obtained his medical education at the [[University of Edinburgh Medical School]].

Darwin settled in 1756 as a physician at Nottingham, but met with little success and so moved the following year to [[Lichfield]] to try to establish a practice there. A few weeks after his arrival, using a novel course of treatment, he restored the health of a young fisherman whose death seemed inevitable. This ensured his success in the new locale. Darwin was a highly successful physician for more than fifty years in the [[English Midlands|Midlands]].<ref name="Duffin Moody Gardner-Thorpe 2013 p. 336" /> In 1761, he was elected to the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erasmus Darwin {{!}} British Physician & Natural Philosopher {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erasmus-Darwin |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] invited him to be [[Physician to the King|Royal Physician]], but Darwin declined.<ref name="Duffin Moody Gardner-Thorpe 2013 p. 336">{{cite book | last1=Duffin | first1=C.J. | last2=Moody | first2=R.T.J. | last3=Gardner-Thorpe | first3=C. | title=A History of Geology and Medicine | publisher=Geological Society | series=Geological Society London: Geological Society special publication | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-86239-356-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGpIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA336 | access-date=1 May 2019 | page=336}}</ref>