The advantages of wealth, social position and personal connections may have formed the springboard from which the scientific successes of the Darwins were launched, and in this respect they may have been fortunate, but the Darwins were not unique. Even within the confines of this narrative parallels to their lives can be found. Thus, Hales like Erasmus was free to pursue botany as a hobby in time left over from his secure, comfortable professional life. Thus, Dutrochet like Charles was able to lead the life of a wealthy country-house based gentleman scientist. Such stories were repeated many times over in the eighteenth and nineteenth century across Europe, and even men like Priestley and Ingen-Housz could point to some good fortune for they were able to find themselves wealthy patrons and protectors.

What was exceptional about the Darwins was that their wealth, social position and personal connections were assiduously nurtured (see Chapter 2), so that, as generations passed, Fortune was more and more generous in the gifts she bestowed upon her nurslings. What was unique about the Darwins was that different generations of one family contributed so much to the advance of one science. So, it is appropriate to ask, what were the scientific gifts that were passed between generations? How fortunate was Charles to have Erasmus as his grandfather and, in his turn, Francis to have sprung from Charles and Erasmus?

In earlier biographies of Erasmus and Charles, the men have been treated separately and their botany has taken only a small part; no biography has been written of Francis.