William Darlington (April 28, 1782 – April 23, 1863) was an American physician, botanist, and politician who served as a Democratic-Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1819 to 1823.[1]^: 67

William Darlington
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823
Preceded by	See below
Succeeded by	See below
In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817
Preceded by	See below
Succeeded by	See below
Personal details
Born	(1782-04-28)April 28, 1782 Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Died	April 23, 1863(1863-04-23) (aged 80) West Chester, Pennsylvania
Resting place	Oaklands Cemetery
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Education	University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Occupation	Physician, botanist, politician
Signature

Early life and education

William Darlington (cousin of Edward Darlington and Isaac Darlington, second cousin of Smedley Darlington) was born in Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He attended the Friends School at Birmingham and spent his youth on a farm.[2] He became a botanist at an early age, studied medicine, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1804. He went to the East Indies as ship's surgeon in 1806. He returned to West Chester, near Birmingham, in 1807 and was a practicing physician there for a number of years. He raised a company of volunteers at the beginning of the War of 1812 and served as major of a volunteer regiment.[3]

Political and later career

Darlington was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourteenth Congress. He was again elected to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses. He was appointed canal commissioner in 1825, and served as the first president of the West Chester Railroad from 1831 to 1835.[2][4]

In 1823, Darlington was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[5]

He established a natural history society in West Chester in 1826 and published several works on botany and natural history. His published works include Mutual Influence of Habits and Disease (1804), Flora cestrica: an attempt to enumerate and describe the flowering and filicoid plants of Chester County in the state of Pennsylvania (1837) and Agricultural Botany (1847).[3][6] The degree of L.L.D. was conferred on him by Yale University in 1848, and he was awarded a Doctor of Physical Science in 1855 by Dickinson College.[3] The California pitcher plant, Darlingtonia californica, was described by John Torrey in 1853 and named in his honor.[7] The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University preserves some botanical specimens that he collected — for example, of Talinum teretifolium (Phemeranthus teretifolius — the quill fameflower).[8]

He served as director and president of the National Bank of Chester County from 1830 to 1863. He died in West Chester in 1863, and was interred in Oaklands Cemetery.[9]

References

Sources

• daguerreotype
• Lansing, Dorothy I. That Magnificent Cestrian: Dr. William Darlington, 1782-1863, Being a Short Introductory Biography. Paoli, Pennsylvania: Serpentine Press, 1985.
• Author:William Darlington wikisource

External links

• The William Darlington papers, 1800-1863 at the New York Historical Society
• Historical Marker Database

На других языках

[de] William Darlington

[ru] Дарлингтон, Уильям