Photo: Darwin's finch held by Curator of Zoology, Henry McGhie. Photo: Pauline Neild. Courtesy of The Manchester Museum.
Darwin’s finch went on public display for the first time ever at The Manchester Museum yesterday.
One of the birds that Darwin found in the Galapagos Islands in 1835 and that helped him develop his theories of evolution was discovered in a dusty corner of the museum by Curator of Zoology Henry McGhie.
The finch is on show for a limited period only, until October 26, in the Museum’s newly completed redevelopment that launches this weekend.
Photo: the newly refurbished reception area. Photograph courtesy of The Manchester Museum.
It is a fitting first venue because if it hadn’t been for the redevelopment of the museum the precious bird may never have been found.
Catharine Braithwaite, a spokesperson at The Manchester Museum, says, "The finch is one of many objects being displayed at the launch. It has such significance internationally, that such a tiny object turned certain ways of thinking upside down at the time."
It is the first time that the museum has been updated since the beginning of the century, a £20 million makeover designed to make the museum more accessible and appealing to visitors that has taken five years to complete.
Photo: Darwin's finch with the original museum entry showing it from Galapagos. Photo by Pauline Neild courtest of The Manchester Museum.
Much of the collection had to be put in storage for the duration of the works and it was while sorting through the collection that McGhie discovered the stuffed finch.
It was labelled only with a tag saying that it came from the Galapagos. But McGhie thought it might be one of Darwin’s three missing finches, up until now thought to have been destroyed.
Frank Steinheimer of the Berlin Museum also thought that the finch was likely to be one of Darwin’s. And after some investigation the pair discovered that the finch had been part of ornithologist John Gould’s collection.
Photo: the introductory displays at the newly redeveloped Manchester Museum. Photograph courtesy of The Manchester Museum.
When Darwin returned from the Galapagos he sent his birds to Gould for preservation. Most of Gould’s birds ended up in the natural history department of The British Museum, now known as the Natural History Museum.
After comparing records at the British Museum with those at The Manchester Museum McGhie and Steinheimer feel confident that the finch was indeed one of Darwin’s, transferred from the British Museum to The Manchester Museum in 1845.
It is Darwin’s study of the 14 species of Galapagos finch that gave him the evidence he used for his thesis that "species were not immutable", an idea that he developed for more than 20 years before publishing his famous On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).
Because of its fragility and to preserve it for future generations to study and enjoy the bird will only be displayed periodically. But is a fitting artefact to launch the museum’s facelift, of national and international importance like many of the collections at The Manchester Museum.
