William Darlington

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

William Darlington
William Darlington by John Neagle ca-1825.jpg
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
Chester County, Pennsylvania
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Political party Democratic-Republican

William Darlington (April 28, 1782 – April 23, 1863), was an American physician, botanist, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.[1]:67

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 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 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 was major of a volunteer regiment.[3]

Political and later career

Darlington's office was in this building of the National Bank of Chester County

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 president of the West Chester Railroad.[2]

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] 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.[4]

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 Oakland Cemetery.[5]

References

  1. Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. The Political Graveyard
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Historical Marker Database http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=62205

Sources

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district

1815–1817

alongside: John Hahn

Succeeded by
Isaac Darlington
Levi Pawling
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district

1819–1823

alongside: Samuel Gross

Succeeded by
Joseph Hemphill

<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>