Talk:Elizabeth Hope

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shouldn't we have her quoted reguarding Darwins supposed conversion?

the 1915 article included in full is supposed to be a quote from her: see link added for her similar (later) letter.- dave souza 19:21, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Background

Most of the Elizabeth Hope page is dedicated to the The Lady Hope Story because of it's prominence, but sadly a lot of background on the woman and her character, which is vital to the readers perspective of the story, has been omitted.

I found this statement strange after reading further: "The story remains a popular urban legend". Dr Paul Marston's article lists four different sources to back up the link between the Elizabeth Hope and the "The Lady Hope Story", so it certainly appears that the story is a disputed fact at worst; to characterise it as an urban ledgend appears to be a strong POV supporting the Darwin's family denial.

I expect the term "urban legend" refers to the suggestion that he "recanted his theory of evolution on his deathbed, and accepted Jesus Christ as a savior", but after reading the "priginal text of the article", it clearly does not state either.

AFAICS "The Lady Hope Story" is the term given to the interpretation of the letter that implies Darwin recanted. I think the story should be moved onto a separate page so that it does not reflect badly on Lady Hope, who by all accounts appears to have been a good lady and this story was assumed to have been penned by her during her final years. It would be nice for this page to include more biographical content. Jayvdb 05:04, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

I am in complete agreement that this page needs more biographical information. However, what she is most famous for is the Darwin story and therefore should stay on this page until the point when (hopefully) we have enough bio data to justify moving it to another page.JoshuaZ 05:40, 19 March 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Biased overview

The 'Initial overview' section sounds rather biased, with talk of retreats etc. Any idea how to change it? -- Simon Coleman-Smith, Hants, UK

First answer is to edit it, as you've done here to make your comment. However the bias has come with recent edits by User:Guillen whose record of POV and poor behaviour is noted at User talk:Guillen, and who added in a lump nicked from CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY. To restore it, I clicked on the history tab, then clicked on the date before Guillen's edits, clicked on "edit", copied the text from this old edition, then pasted it into the appropriate section having removed the corrupted version. This leaves untouched lots of additional links G seems to have added: it might be worth reviewing whether these should also be removed. ..dave souza, talk 13:28, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recent additions

Robertwiddowson has added the following unsourced passage (which gives the appearance of having been copied from another source)

Nonetheless, there are aspects of her account of the event that are difficult to dispute. Lady Hope provides details that accurately describe the room in which they met, Darwin's appearance, and his behavior. In the Bole Letter (Moore, 86), she recalled that the room was large and had a high ceiling, that Darwin wore a purple dressing gown, and that "his fingers twitched nervously" while they spoke. All these details are correct, though they only suggest she may have met with him. The members of the Darwin family who challenged the truthfulness of the Lady Hope story were not living at home at the time of the alleged visit and when her account was published in 1915 everyone who had been an adult at the time and may have provided key testimony to the contrary was deceased (Moore, 97). In Lady Hope's favor, her character has never been seriously impugned. In 1922, some of her U.S. friends wrote an affidavit, upholding her account of the visit. Moore, who has researched the story most thoroughly, believes the meeting did occur, probably on September 28, 1881, but argues against the content of the conversation as reported by Lady Hope. Sir Robert Anderson, who was head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard, was close friends with Lady Hope and, in reference to the visit, wrote, "...a friend of mine who was much with Darwin during his last illness assures me that he expressed the greatest reverence for the scriptures and bore testimony to their value" (Moore, 48).
In her account, Lady Hope also stated that Darwin mentioned studying the Letter to the Hebrews. Bowles, following Moore (note 4 to chapter 5--Lady Hope's story, page 131) notes that the only mark in the Darwin family Bible occurs in the margin beside Hebrews, chapter six. Interestingly, this chapter speaks of those who were once close to the gospel but have since fallen away. On its own, the small backward tick proves nothing. However, Darwin did enter university with the intent to become an ordained clergyman in the Church of England but lost his faith in subsequent years. Bowles speculates that Darwin may have made the tick around the time of Lady Hope's alleged visit. Darwin's thoughts, in the final months of his life, may have turned to religion following the death of his older brother, Erasmus (Moore, 56). Until the end, Darwin publicly declared his agnosticism.

The entire passage has an argumentative tone which is unsuitable for an encyclopaedia article. It's full of conjecture. In addition, the inclusion of references suggests that it was copied from another source, making it at worst a copyvio and at best plagiarism. Guettarda 21:20, 5 December 2006 (UTC)


The article itself is more than a little argumentative. I was simply trying to flesh out the story. Interestingly, Lady Hope herself never claimed that Darwin came to faith in Jesus Christ, as is stated at the beginning of the article. User: Robertwiddowson, 5 December 2006

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Darwin Legend.jpg

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