Biography
Personal life
Nora, as she was known, was the daughter of the civil engineer Horace Darwin, Sir Horace Darwin and his wife The Hon. Ida, Ida Darwin, Lady Darwin (née Farrer), daughter of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer. Her elder brother Erasmus Darwin IV, Erasmus was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915; She also had a sister, Ruth Darwin. In 1911 she married Alan Barlow, son of the Royal Physician Sir Sir Thomas Barlow, 1st Baronet, Thomas Barlow. They had six children: * Joan Helen Barlow (26 May 1912 – 21 February 1954) * Sir Thomas Barlow, 3rd Baronet, Sir Thomas Erasmus Barlow, 3rd Baronet. (23 January 1914 – 12 October 2003), naval officer. * Erasmus Darwin Barlow (15 April 1915 – 2 August 2005) * Andrew Dalmahoy Barlow (16 September 1916 – 2006) * Hilda Horatia Barlow (14 September 1919 – 1 February 2017) married psychoanalyst John Hunter Padel; their daughter is the poet Ruth Padel. * Horace Basil Barlow (b. 8 December 1921 - 5 July 2020 ) Additionally, she temporarily cared for her cousin Gwen Raverat's daughters Elisabeth and Sophie Gurney, Sophie during Gwen's breakdown after the death of her husband Jacques Raverat. She became Lady Barlow after her husband was knighted in 1938. She was widowed in 1968. Cambridge University Library has a painting of her in old age by her daughter-in-law Yvonne Barlow.Scientific research
She worked as a research assistant at the John Innes Institute from 1905, and studied plant genetics under William Bateson at Cambridge in 1906, a centre for pioneering genetics research, and was an active member of the Cambridge University Genetics Society. She published papers on her study of the primrose flower in 1913 and 1923 which drew on her grandfather's ''The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species''. She did not publish any further work after her marriage, but she continued her study in genetics throughout her family life. She carried out controlled cross pollinations, including in aquilegia. She visited the John Innes Institute every summer to observe the plants that had grown there. She was among the founders of the The Genetics Society, Genetics Society in 1919, and regularly attended its meetings, maintaining contact with friends including Ronald Fisher.Darwin's editor
Her first book as editor was a new edition of ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' (1933). She published an unexpurgated version of ''The Autobiography of Charles Darwin'', which had previously had personal and religious material removed by his son, Francis Darwin, Francis. She also edited several collections of letters and notes, including correspondence between Darwin and John Stevens Henslow, his mentor.Legacy
The Aquilegia, Columbine flower cultivar ''Aquilegia'' "Nora Barlow" is named after her. Nora Barlow appears as a supporting character in Scott Westerfeld, Scott Westerfeld's 2009 young adult fiction, young adult steampunk novels ''Leviathan (Westerfeld novel), Leviathan'', ''Behemoth (novel), Behemoth'', and ''Goliath (Westerfeld novel), Goliath''. In Westerfeld's alternate history series, Barlow is re-imagined as a prominent genetic engineer and diplomat.Bibliography
* 1933. ''Charles Darwin's Diary of the Voyage of HMS'' Beagle, editor. * 1946. ''Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle'', editor. (A collection of letters and notebooks from the voyage.) * 1958. ''The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–1882'', editor. * 1963. ''Darwin's Ornithological Notes'', editor. (Barlow also wrote the Introduction, Notes, and Appendix.) * 1967. ''Darwin and Henslow: The Growth of an Idea. Letters, 1831–1860'', editor.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Nora 1885 births 1989 deaths Darwin–Wedgwood family English biographers English centenarians Women centenarians Wives of baronets