| People and places of historical interest in Thurrock Grays - home of Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 -1913), the eminent naturalist, moved to Grays in 1872 after being personally involved in the building of his house, 'The Dell', which is made of concrete from local materials and is situated at the end of College Avenue. It is now the Convent owned by the order of La Sainte Union des Sacres Coeurs and will shortly have a commemorative plaque Wallace was famous for working out, independently of Charles Darwin, the theory of evolution based on natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Wallace wrote to Darwin in 1858 from the Malay Archipelago, where he was researching and collecting insects, butterflies and birds, and explained his theory of evolution and asked Darwin to forward his letter to Sir Charles Lyall, the leading geologist of the day. It was arranged for Darwin's Theory of Evolution, which he had been working on but up to this time had not published, and for the letter received from Wallace to be read to the members of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. Darwin then published The Origin of the Species. Wallace returned to England in 1862. Whilst living at Grays, Wallace wrote his great work, Geographical Distribution of Animals. He was interested also in Spiritualism. Wallace and his family moved from Grays in 1876. See: A Victorian Scientist at Grays: 1872 - 1876 by Malcolm Chase. Panorama 22 and Alfred Russel Wallace: A Victorian Spiritualist at Grays by Alan Leyin, Panorama 37. | |
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