Who was Alfred Russel Wallace?
Wallace was born in a small village in Wales in 1823. He led a very different life from Darwin’s. Darwin was born into a wealthy family, and had the opportunity of a university education and a 5 year trip round the world funded by his father. Wallace had no such luck; his family was poor and he had to work for a living. In his early teens he became a building apprentice in London, then moved back to Wales to work as a land-surveyor where he was paid to redraw property boundaries after the Enclosure Act divided previously public owned commons amongst rich land owners (legalized robbery of the poor to Wallace). This work and time spent in socialist working mens clubs helped Wallace develop a strong socialist bent which would later influence his scientific work. Wallace enjoyed working outdoors and read widely, reading many of the same books as Darwin such as Humbolts narrative of his tropical journeys, Malthus essays on populations, the Vestiges (an early book about evolution), and Darwi
