Bernard Darwin

Bernard Darwin CBE biography

Bernard Darwin was born on 7 September, 1876. The only son of Francis and Emma Darwin. Following the death of his mother soon after childbirth, Bernard was taken by his father to live with his grandparents in Downe, Kent (now within the London Borough of Bromley). The family moved to Cambridge after the death of Bernard’s grandfather, the celebrated naturalist and author of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin.

Darwin was educated at Perse School (Cambridge) and Summerfield private school (near Oxford). In 1889 he went to Eton, where he practised golf on the ‘Athens course’ (Darwin B 1954 p5) and completed his education at Trinity College, Cambridge. At Trinity he began by studying classics, but changed after two terms to study for the Law Tripos. Darwin played golf at nearby Coldham Common during his years at Cambridge, and captained the University side in 1897.

He considered his interest in golf may not have taken hold were it not for his uncle, Arthur Ruck, who ‘brought golf from Formby to Aberdovey’ (Darwin B, 1955 p100) and who with other uncles set out flowerpots to make a rudimentary nine hole golf course in Aberdovey ‘some years before’ his other uncle, Richard Ruck, ‘laid out the first full eighteen holes…and was largely responsible for forming the club’ in 1892 (p87). In 1884 Bernard’s father gave him his first golf club (p70) and early summer holidays were spent by the sea, in places such as Felixtowe, where he and his father played golf (Darwin B, 1928). Another uncle, Leonard Darwin, was also a keen golfer.

Towards the end of 1897, Darwin arrived in London where he was ‘introduced to a wider and more grown-up and more interesting world of golf than [he] had known before, the world of London and especially of Woking golf’ (Darwin B, 1955 p148). At first he lived with his aunt in Kensington, then moved to live in the Temple, London with two friends from Cambridge. Here he described his habit of evening golf practise ‘I must be one of the few people in the world who have practised iron shots in the pitch dark in the garden of the Inner Temple’ (Darwin B, 1955 p162).

Darwin worked for several law firms on his way to passing his law finals to qualify as a solicitor, during which time he played golf at weekends and, in summertime, travelled back to Wales to play his beloved Aberdovey.(Darwin B, 195 p166). Not content with a solicitor’s work, Darwin then trained for the bar at three sets of chambers and, after a further three years, was called to the bar and joined 3 Plowden Buildings (p175).

Like many of his peers in the legal profession who enjoyed golf, he joined Woking Golf Club (formed by barristers at Temple) and Rye Golf Club. In 1958, when serving as president of Woking Golf Club, he agreed to give his name to the Bernard Darwin Trophy. The trophy is awarded to the winner a competition played by ex-public school pupils aged 55 and over. Bernard was also captain at Rye on two occassions, 1906 and 1956. A silver salver presented to him by the Times was later donated to Rye where it is now played for by golfers aged 21 and under.

He was married in 1903 to Elinor Mary, and the couple had a son and two daughters. After the death of his father, Bernard and his family moved from Cambridge back to Downe in 1926, to a house named ‘Gorringes’.

In 1907 Bernard Darwin received an offer from the Evening Standard, on recommendation of the previous contributor Arthur Croome, to write a weekly article on golf. His first report on the Open Championship was given in 1908 when he reported on the events at Sandwich (Darwin B, 1946 p65). Further offers followed, first from Country Life, then The Times (Darwin B 1955, p180). Although he wrote for the Times since 1907, it wasn’t until 1919 that he joined as a member of staff. He was a staff member until May 1953, writing articles and reports as the ‘golf correspondent’ and wrote longer articles for the Saturday Times (180).

During the First World War, Darwin served as lieutenant (acting major) in the Royal Army Corps, and his service included two years in Macedonia. In a later book (Darwin B, 1954 p15) he recalled with fondness a course, of sorts, he laid out in the Vardar Marshes of Macedonia.

Bernard Darwin was also a distinguished amateur golfer. Among his achievements are:

• won the Golf Illustrated Golden Vase in 1919
• reached the semi-final of the Amateur Championship in 1921, which he also reported for The Times (Darwin B, 1955 p182)
• travelled to the United States to report on the first Walker Cup competition and, when the British Team captain Robert Harris fell ill, stepped in to compete and serve as captain in 1922 (see www.usga.org/WalkerCup/)
• won the President’s Putter in 1924 (annual competition of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society played at Rye)
• won the Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes with Joyce Wethered (Lady Heathcote Amory) in 1933

His many appointments included:

• Captain of the R&A
• President of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society
• First President of the Golf Club Secretaries Association (as then was) and served as President for a further four years during the mid 1950s, ending in ’58
• Captain of the London Press Golfing Society (as then was) in 1911

In 1954, following the death of his wife, Bernard moved to Kensington and in 1955 moved to Rye, to be close to one of his favourite golf clubs and where he served as captain some 50 years previously. His last years, until his death aged 85 on 18 October 1961, were spent at the house of one of his daughters.

Golf books by Bernard Darwin

Darwin, B. (1910) Golf Courses of the British Isles. Duckworth, London.


Darwin, B. (1911) Tee Shots and Others. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co: London.


Darwin, B. (1912) Golf from the Times. The Times: London.


Darwin, B. (1912) Hints on Golf Burberrys’: London.


Darwin, B. and Duncan, G. (1921) Present Day Golf. Hodder & Stoughton: London.


Darwin, B. (1922) A Friendly Round. Mills & Boon: London.


Darwin, B (1926) The Game’s Afoot! Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd: London.


Darwin, B. (1928a) Green Memories. Hodder & Stoughton: London.


Darwin, B. (1928b) Second Shots: Casual Talks About Golf. Newness: London.


Darwin, B. (1930) Out of the Rough. Chapman & Hall Ltd: London.


Darwin, B. (1934) Playing the Like. Chapman & Hall Ltd: London.


Darwin, B. (1937) A Round of Golf on the LNER. LNER: London.


Darwin, B. (1940) Life is Sweet Brother. Collins: London.


Darwin, B. (1941) At Odd Moments. Oxford Illustrated Press: London.


Darwin, B. (1941) Pack Clouds Away. Collins: London.


Darwin, B. (1943) British Clubs. Collins: London


Darwin, B. (1944) Golf Between Two Wars. Chatto & Windus: London.


Darwin, B. (1946) Golfing By-Paths. Country Life Ltd: London. Hardcover. First edition. 216pp


Fify-eight articles on golf written by Bernard Darwin, previously published in Country Life magazine, collected and published the year after the end of the second World War. The articles were all written during WWII, with the exception of one, and appear substantially in the same form as the original published articles. The articles are illustrated with 32 b/w photos, of which a view of the 4th green at Sunningdale has also been selected for the dust jacket. The title reflects the choice and order of the articles, of which the author explains: ‘I have not adhered to chronological order but have rather tried to give the reader some “fine confused eating”‘. Also in his introduction to the collection, Darwin gave his thoughts on the re-awakening of golf following WWII:

‘Already, as I write these words, golf is alive again…The battlefields for the championships have been appointed; the undergraduates are once more playing their matches; in short, the game is getting into its stride and all we need is some more golf balls with which to play it.’

Darwin, B (1946) British Golf. Collins: London. Hardcover. First edition. 48pp.


Part of a series called ‘Britain in Pictures: The British People in Pictures’, edited by W. J. Turner. A short book with 35 illustrations, 8 of which are in colour. Contents: Introduction; Professionals; Amateurs; The Ladies; Short Bibliography.


Of interest to London golfers:

• ‘In 1895 he [J H Taylor] played an exhibition match on the West Drayton course, some sad bungalowed remnants of which can still be seen from a railway carriage window’ p.24
• ‘There were rumours of a club-maker at the Army and Navy Stores who was a very fine player, but to the general public he was unknown’ [James Braid?] p.24
• Photo of wood engraving of Blackheath Golf Club, 1859, p.13
• Photo of wood engraving of match between London Scottish Club and Blackheath at Wimbledon, 1870, p.15
• Colour photo of an oil painting depicting a match at Blackheath, 1876, p.33

Darwin, B. (1948) Every Idle Dream. Collins: London.


Darwin B., et al (1952) A History of Golf in Britain. Cassell & Company Ltd: London. Hardcover, first edition, 328pp.


A multi-author collection with contributions from: H. Gardinar-Hill, Sir Guy Campbell, Henry Cotton, Henry Longhurst, Leonard Crawley, Enid Wilson, Lord Brabazon of Tara and Sir George Cunningham. illustrated by b/w and colour plates. Course plans include a fold out plan of the Old Course, St. Andrews.


Contents: Notes on contributors; PART I THE GAME; I. Then and Now; II. The History of the Rules of Golf; III. The Early History of British Golf; IV. The Development of Implements – Clubs and Balls; V. Links and Courses; PART II THE PLAYERS; VI. Styles and Methods; VII. 1848-1914 From Gutty to Rubber Core; VIII. 1918-1939 Between Two Wars; IX. 1945-1950 A Fresh Start; X. Women’s Golf; Afterword: The Future of the Game. APPENDIX: A Selection from the Records; Plans of Courses.


Darwin, B. (1952) James Braid. Hodder & Stoughton: London.


Darwin, B. (1954) Golf. Burke Publishing Co: London.


Darwin, B. (1955) The World That Fred Made. Chatto & Windus: London.

Described by the author as ‘in a sense my testament to golf’ (p.158).