On arrival they lived in St Andrew Street, in the building now known as Wallace House (currently a doctors’ surgery), identified by the circular stone plaque above a ground-floor window recording this fact (see photo below). In 1828, no doubt because of the family connection with the town, the Wallaces moved to Hertford, living here for nine years until 1837. His three brothers were called William, John and Herbert. He was one of nine children – five girls and four boys – but three of his sisters died before they were 10 years old and another one, Eliza, died of tuberculosis in Hertford at the age of 22. It was here that Alfred was born, on 8 January 1823. Thomas and Mary married in 1807 and initially lived in Marylebone, London, before moving to Southwark, London, in 1816 and then to Usk in Monmouthshire.
The Greenells were a well-known, respected Hertford family and had lived in the area for generations – Alfred’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side had been an alderman of the borough and Mayor of Hertford twice, in 17. His mother was Mary Anne Greenell, who was the second daughter of John Greenell of Hertford. However, Alfred Russel Wallace is still remembered in Hertford because this is where he lived for several years during his early childhood and it was here that he first developed his interest in the natural world.Īlfred’s father was Thomas Vere Wallace, born in 1771, probably in Hanworth, Middlesex, but of Scottish descent. At the time, the end of the 19th century, he was acclaimed for his achievements and was recognized as a world expert on the flora and fauna of Malaysia and Indonesia, but since then he has been largely forgotten, unlike his more famous fellow naturalist Charles Darwin. But there was another Victorian scientist who, quite independently, discovered the theory of evolution by natural selection at the same time as Darwin – his name was Alfred Russel Wallace. Ask anyone to name the person who discovered the scientific theory of natural selection, as published in The Origin of Species, and the chances are that they will answer ‘Charles Darwin’.
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