1859
Darwin in Ilkley
When On the Origin of Species was published, its author was in a Yorkshire spa town recovering from ill health.
Taking the cure at Wells House
Charles Darwin suffered from chronic illness for much of his adult life and was a long-standing believer in hydropathy. In October 1859, exhausted after finishing the proofs of his book, he travelled to Ilkley to take the water cure at Wells House, the newly built hydropathic establishment on the edge of the moor, under the care of Dr Edmund Smith.
His wife Emma and several of their children joined him, and the family rented North View House in the town, while Darwin himself spent time at Wells House. He was in Ilkley for roughly two months, from October to December 1859.
Publication day
On the Origin of Species was published by John Murray in London on 24 November 1859, while Darwin was still in Ilkley. His letters written from Ilkley that autumn, to friends and colleagues such as Hooker, Huxley and Lyell, discuss the book and its first reactions. He was not, famously, in good spirits about the weather or his health, though he did walk on the moor.
Remembering Darwin
Ilkley marks the connection in a few ways, including the Darwin Gardens Millennium Green near Wells House, with a maze and sculpture. Wells House itself still stands, now converted into flats.