Robert Chambers's house

Robert Chambers's house

Natural History

Robert Chambers (1802–71) was the author of one of the most popular and controversial books of the 19th century, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, published in 1844. In it Chambers presented his own theory of evolution, fifteen years before Darwin's Origin of Species(1859). His theory was different from Darwin's in important respects, but played an significant role in paving the way for the ready popular acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Chambers was a wealthy publisher, and, with his brother William, one of the founders of the famous Chambers publishing house in Edinburgh. The book was so controversial that it was published anonymously to protect the author's reputation, and Chambers came to St Andrews in 1841 with his family to write it in secret. The house where he wrote Vestiges has sadly since been demolished. but a house he had built and lived in during his retirement from 1863 until his death in 1871 can still be seen on the Scores.

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