More on Wallace's gaff

CADW, the official guardian of built heritage of Wales, have twice (in 2000 and 2010) rejected calls to preserve Alfred Russel Wallace’s birthplace at Llanbadoc, Usk. Wallace lived in this house for the first five years of his life, and two of his sisters are buried in Llanbadoc churchyard (a couple of hundred yards away on the opposite side of the road). In addition, Wallace wrote about the formative influences of these earliest years of his life in his autobiography "My Life" (1906). Given his influence on biology, evolutionary thought and all things that stem from it, it would seem to be a bit of a shame if Monmouthshire's single most important son's heritage disappeared under a bulldozer.

If you would like to add your support to the effort to preserve Wallace's birthplace and childhood home for posterity, email Philip Hobson (hobsonp@wales.gsi.gov.uk) at CADW and ensure your views are known.

Alfred Russel Wallace in 1908, in 'the grand old man of science' mode, complete with compulsory rambling beard, wire-rimmed specs and knowing glint in eye.

PS. Earlier this year OUP brought out a paperback edition of 'Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace' edited by Charles H. Smith and George Beccaloni, if interested, click here.