Bernard Darwin
Encyclopedia
Bernard Richard Meirion Darwin CBE JP
(7 September 1876 – 18 October 1961) a grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin
, was a golf
writer and high-standard amateur
golfer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame
.
and Amy Ruck, his mother dying from a fever on 11 September, four days after his birth. He was the first grandson of Charles Darwin
(see Darwin — Wedgwood family
), and was brought up by Charles and his wife Emma
at their home, Down House
. His younger half-sister was the poet Frances Cornford
.
Darwin was educated at Eton College
, and graduated in law
from Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he was a Cambridge Blue in golf
1895-1897, and team captain in his final year.
Darwin married the engraver Elinor Monsell in 1906. They had one son, Sir Robert Vere Darwin, and two daughters; the potter Ursula Mommens
, and Nicola Mary Elizabeth Darwin. During the First World War he served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
in Macedonia
as a lieutenant
.
After Cambridge, Darwin became a court lawyer
, but did not particularly enjoy that career, and gradually moved into journalism
, despite having no formal training. He covered golf for The Times
from 1907 to 1953 and for Country Life
from 1907 to 1961, the first writer ever to cover golf on a daily basis, instead of as an occasional feature.
He played the game at an excellent level himself well into middle age, and competed in The Amateur Championship
on 26 occasions across five decades between 1898 and 1935, with his best results being semi-final appearances in 1909 and 1921. In 1922, while in the United States to report on the first Walker Cup
amateur team match between Britain and Ireland and the U.S., and also appointed as non-playing captain, Darwin was pressed into service at the last minute as a player, when one of the British team members, Robert Harris, was unable to play. He lost his team match, but won his singles match.
He was Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
in 1934, and was President of the Golf Club Managers' Association
(then the Association of Golf Club Secretaries) from 1933 to 1934 and then again from 1955 to 1958. Though mainly a golf writer, he also occasionally wrote on cricket
, and prefaced the first edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
Bernard Darwin was an authority on Charles Dickens
. He frequently contributed the fourth leading article in The Times. The fourth Leader was devoted to flippant themes, and Darwin was known to insert quotes from or about Dickens in them. When Oxford Press issued all classics by Dickens around 1940, each with a foreword by a Dickensian scholar, Darwin was chosen to contribute the foreword to The Pickwick Papers. He was also asked by The Times to pen the main tribute to cricketer W.G. Grace when Grace's birth centenary was celebrated in 1948. The article has been included since in a few anthologies.
Bernard Darwin's works were kept in print by Herbert Warren Wind
through his curated Classics of Golf Library.
In 2005, Darwin was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame
, in the Lifetime Achievement category.
.
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
R512, R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Yellow background for top-10
Source for 1898 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1898, pg. 11.
Source for 1899 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 25, 1899, pg. 8.
Source for 1902 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 1, 1902, pg. 11.
Source for 1903 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 20, 1903, pg. 13.
Source for 1904 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 2, 1904, pg. 13.
Source for 1908 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1908, pg. 14.
Source for 1909 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1909, pg. 13.
Source for 1910 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 1, 1910, pg. 10.
Source for 1911 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 1, 1911, pg. 10.
Source for 1912 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1912, pg. 199.
Source for 1913 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1913, pg. 15.
Source for 1914 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 20, 1914, pg. 12.
Source for 1920 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 8, 1920, pg. 12.
Source for 1921 British Amateur: The American Golfer, June 4, 1921, pg. 24.
Source for 1922 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July 1, 1922, pg. 30.
Source for 1923 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 9, 1923, pg. 13.
Source for 1924 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1924, pg. 3.
Source for 1925 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1925, pg. 11.
Source for 1927 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 24, 1927, pg. 10.
Source for 1928 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 22, 1928, pg. 4.
Source for 1929 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 13, 1929, pg. 10.
Source for 1930 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1930, pg. 3.
Source for 1931 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 21, 1931, pg. 16.
Source for 1932 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1932, pg. 17.
Source for 1933 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 21, 1933, pg. 5.
Source for 1935 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 22, 1935, pg. 7.
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(7 September 1876 – 18 October 1961) a grandson of the British naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, was a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
writer and high-standard amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
golfer. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame
World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site serves both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 golf organizations from all over the world.The Hall of...
.
Biography
Darwin was the son of Francis DarwinFrancis Darwin
Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin, FRS , a son of the British naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin, followed his father into botany.-Biography:Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848...
and Amy Ruck, his mother dying from a fever on 11 September, four days after his birth. He was the first grandson of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
(see Darwin — Wedgwood family
Darwin — Wedgwood family
The Darwin–Wedgwood family is actually two interrelated English families, descended from the prominent 18th century doctor, Erasmus Darwin, and Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the pottery firm, Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, the most notable member of which was Charles Darwin...
), and was brought up by Charles and his wife Emma
Emma Darwin
Emma Darwin was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin, the English naturalist, scientist and author of On the Origin of Species...
at their home, Down House
Down House
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
. His younger half-sister was the poet Frances Cornford
Frances Cornford
Frances Crofts Cornford was an English poet.She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Ellen Crofts, born into the Darwin — Wedgwood family. She was a granddaughter of the British naturalist Charles Darwin. Her elder half-brother was the golf writer Bernard Darwin...
.
Darwin was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, and graduated in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
from Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where he was a Cambridge Blue in golf
Cambridge University Golf Club
The Cambridge University Golf Club is the golf club for the University of Cambridge, England. It comprises the Blues team, the second-team Stymies, and the Ladies team. The club was founded in 1875, and the first University Golf Match was played against Oxford in 1878...
1895-1897, and team captain in his final year.
Darwin married the engraver Elinor Monsell in 1906. They had one son, Sir Robert Vere Darwin, and two daughters; the potter Ursula Mommens
Ursula Mommens
Ursula Frances Elinor Mommens was a British potter. Mommens studied at the Royal College of Art, under William Staite Murray, and later worked with Michael Cardew at Winchcombe Pottery and Wenford Bridge Pottery.She was the daughter of Bernard Darwin and his wife the engraver Elinor Monsell...
, and Nicola Mary Elizabeth Darwin. During the First World War he served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was a corps of the British Army. It dealt only with the supply and maintenance of weaponry, munitions and other military equipment until 1965, when it took over most other supply functions, as well as the provision of staff clerks, from the Royal Army Service...
in Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
.
After Cambridge, Darwin became a court lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, but did not particularly enjoy that career, and gradually moved into journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, despite having no formal training. He covered golf for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
from 1907 to 1953 and for Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
from 1907 to 1961, the first writer ever to cover golf on a daily basis, instead of as an occasional feature.
He played the game at an excellent level himself well into middle age, and competed in The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
on 26 occasions across five decades between 1898 and 1935, with his best results being semi-final appearances in 1909 and 1921. In 1922, while in the United States to report on the first Walker Cup
Walker Cup
The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in odd numbered years between teams comprising the leading amateur golfers of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland...
amateur team match between Britain and Ireland and the U.S., and also appointed as non-playing captain, Darwin was pressed into service at the last minute as a player, when one of the British team members, Robert Harris, was unable to play. He lost his team match, but won his singles match.
He was Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
in 1934, and was President of the Golf Club Managers' Association
Golf Club Managers' Association
The Golf Club Managers' Association, or GCMA is a UK professional association for secretaries, managers, or owners of golf courses. The organization has been headquartered in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, since 1999.The association was formed in 1933. Its core activities include networking and...
(then the Association of Golf Club Secretaries) from 1933 to 1934 and then again from 1955 to 1958. Though mainly a golf writer, he also occasionally wrote on cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, and prefaced the first edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
Bernard Darwin was an authority on Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. He frequently contributed the fourth leading article in The Times. The fourth Leader was devoted to flippant themes, and Darwin was known to insert quotes from or about Dickens in them. When Oxford Press issued all classics by Dickens around 1940, each with a foreword by a Dickensian scholar, Darwin was chosen to contribute the foreword to The Pickwick Papers. He was also asked by The Times to pen the main tribute to cricketer W.G. Grace when Grace's birth centenary was celebrated in 1948. The article has been included since in a few anthologies.
Bernard Darwin's works were kept in print by Herbert Warren Wind
Herbert Warren Wind
Herbert Warren Wind was an American golfer and golf writer, who also wrote on other subjects.-Early years:...
through his curated Classics of Golf Library.
In 2005, Darwin was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame
World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site serves both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 golf organizations from all over the world.The Hall of...
, in the Lifetime Achievement category.
Results in major championships
Note: Darwin played in only The Amateur ChampionshipThe Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
.
| Tournament | 1898 | 1899 |
|---|---|---|
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
R32 | R16 |
| Tournament | 1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
DNP | DNP | R32 | R64 | R32 | DNP | DNP | DNP | QF | SF |
| Tournament | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
R128 | R16 | R16 | R128 | R128 | NT | NT | Bold text>NT | NT | NT |
| Tournament | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
R256 | SF | R64 | R128 | R256 | R64 | DNP | R256 | R256 | R64 |
| Tournament | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
R512 | R32 | R128 | R128 | DNP | R128 |
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
R512, R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Yellow background for top-10
Source for 1898 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1898, pg. 11.
Source for 1899 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 25, 1899, pg. 8.
Source for 1902 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 1, 1902, pg. 11.
Source for 1903 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 20, 1903, pg. 13.
Source for 1904 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 2, 1904, pg. 13.
Source for 1908 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1908, pg. 14.
Source for 1909 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1909, pg. 13.
Source for 1910 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 1, 1910, pg. 10.
Source for 1911 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 1, 1911, pg. 10.
Source for 1912 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July, 1912, pg. 199.
Source for 1913 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 28, 1913, pg. 15.
Source for 1914 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 20, 1914, pg. 12.
Source for 1920 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 8, 1920, pg. 12.
Source for 1921 British Amateur: The American Golfer, June 4, 1921, pg. 24.
Source for 1922 British Amateur: The American Golfer, July 1, 1922, pg. 30.
Source for 1923 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 9, 1923, pg. 13.
Source for 1924 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1924, pg. 3.
Source for 1925 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1925, pg. 11.
Source for 1927 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 24, 1927, pg. 10.
Source for 1928 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 22, 1928, pg. 4.
Source for 1929 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 13, 1929, pg. 10.
Source for 1930 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 27, 1930, pg. 3.
Source for 1931 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 21, 1931, pg. 16.
Source for 1932 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 26, 1932, pg. 17.
Source for 1933 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, June 21, 1933, pg. 5.
Source for 1935 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, May 22, 1935, pg. 7.