1807       Wallace's parents marry

1823       8 January: Alfred Russel Wallace born at Usk, Monmouthshire

1836      late this year or early 1837: Forced to withdraw from grammar school; moves to London to board with his older brother, John

1837       Is first exposed to the utopian ideals of Robert Owen and his followers

1837       Joins the eldest brother William in Bedfordshire to learn the surveying trade

1841       Becomes informally associated with the Kington Mechanic's Institution

1844       Is hired on as a master at the Collegiate School in Leicester

1844       Meets Henry Walter Bates; attends lecture and demonstration on mesmerism

1845       February: William dies; Wallace leaves Collegiate School and takes over his business

1848      25 April: Wallace and Bates leave England for Amazonian South America to begin a natural history collecting expedition (for a full chronology of Wallace's activities over the next four years, see George 1964)

1852      12 July: Leaves South America for return to England; on 6 August his ship burns and sinks and ten days later he is rescued at sea

1852       1 October to March 1854: primarily London-based; in 1853 publishes Palm Trees of the Amazon and A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro

1854      March 1: Leaves England for the Far East to begin a natural history collecting expedition

1854      20 April to 20 February 1862: Collecting expedition in the Malay Archipelago (for a full chronology of Wallace's activities during this period, see Bastin 1986)

1855       February: While in Sarawak writes 'On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species' for publication

1858      February: Writes 'On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type' and sends it off to Charles Darwin for comment

1858      1 July: Wallace's and Darwin's writings on natural selection are presented at a meeting of the Linnean Society

1859      November: 'On the Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago,' the paper describing Wallace's Line, is read before the Linnean Society; Darwin's On the Origin of Species is published

1862      1 April: Returns to English soil

1864      1 March: Presents 'The Origin of Human Races Deduced From the Theory of "Natural Selection"' to the Anthropological Society of London

1866      Spring: Marries Annie Mitten, daughter of botanist friend William Mitten

1866      August to September: 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural' is published

1869      9 March: The Malay Archipelago is published

1870       to early 1872: President of the Entomological Society of London

1870       March: Moves to Barking

1870      April: Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection is published

1872      Marc: Moves to Grays, Essex

1874      May and June: 'A Defence of Modern Spiritualism' is published

1875      March: On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism is published

876      May 1: The Geographical Distribution of Animals is published

      July 1876: Moves to Rose Hill, Dorking

1876      President, Section D (Biology) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science annual meetings

1878       Moves to Croydon; Tropical Nature and Other Essays is published

1880      October: Island Life is published

1881      March: The Land Nationalisation Society is established and Wallace made its first President

1881      May: Moves to Godalming

1882      19 April: Death of Charles Darwin

1882      May: Land Nationalisation published

1886       mid-Fall to late Summer 1887: Lecture tour in the United States and Canada

1889      May: Darwinism published

1889      June: Moves to Parkstone, Dorset

1890      February to May: Presents testimony to the Royal Commission on Vaccination

1890      September: 'Human Selection' is published

1893       Elected Fellow of the Royal Society

1893      November and December: 'The Ice Age and Its Work' is published

1896      September: Lectures on scientific progress in Davos, Switzerland

1898      June: The Wonderful Century published

1902      December: Moves to Old Orchard, Broadstone (near Wimborne, Dorset)

1903      October: Man's Place in the Universe published

1905      Octobe: My Life is published

1908      1 July: Receives the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London

1908      December: Receives the Copley Medal from the Royal Society and the Order of Merit from the Crown

1909      22 January: Gives lecture 'The World of Life' at the Royal Institution

1910      December: The World of Life published

1913      7 November: Dies at Old Orchard

1915      1 November: Medallion bearing Wallace's name is placed in Westminster Abbey


Last modified 6 November 2000