Madge House - Ashbourne, Derbyshire, UK - Former Schools on Waymarking.com

The building on this site was originally the the Nags Head Inn. In 1794 a leading 18th century scientist and poet Erasmus Darwin founded a school here.

Madge house is now apartments but before that was a resdential home for the elderly.

The plaque only credits the daughters as setting up the school but it is believed that as promotion of female education was one of Erasmus Darwin's numerous enthusiasms he set up the school with his two daughters as teachers.

In the last century, the house was better known as the home of Dr Quintus Madge, a much-respected family doctor who practised in Ashbourne from 1911 through to 1970 and in whose memory the building was renamed.

Background to Erasmus Darwin:

Erasmus Darwin (12 December 1731 – 18 April 1802) was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, abolitionist, inventor and poet. His poems included much natural history, including a statement of evolution and the relatedness of all forms of life. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family, which includes his grandsons Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. Darwin was also a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers
Reference: (visit link)

Address: Madge House 58 St. John Street Ashbourne, Derbyshire UK DE6 1GH Web Site: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   01/02/2023 Gushoneybun visited it 08/13/2011 greysman visited it

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