Alfred Russel Wallace: A famous son of Grays

9:51pm Sunday 27th January 2008

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I THOUGHT that the residents of Grays and the surrounding area might be interested to know that I have just launched a website about the most famous inhabitant of Grays, the co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace.

Wallace built a house in Grays named The Dell (now called LSU Convent) and lived there from 1872 to 1876. Full details about the house can be found on the website at www.wallacefund. info/2002-dell-plaque.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Darwin and Wallace's discovery of natural selection - the most important anniversary in the field of biology, so I hope you will raise a toast to Wallace on the 1st July, which is the date 150 years ago that his and Darwin's theory was first announced to the world!

Dr George Beccaloni,

The Natural History Museum.