William Darlington

For the British writer and journalist, see William Aubrey Darlington.

William Darlington
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1819 – March 3, 1823
Preceded by	See below
Succeeded by	See below
In office March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817
Preceded by	See below
Succeeded by	See below
Personal details
Born	(1782-04-28)April 28, 1782 Chester County, Pennsylvania
Died	West Chester, Pennsylvania
Political party	Democratic-Republican

William Darlington (April 28, 1782 – April 23, 1863), was an American physician, botanist, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

William Darlington (cousin of Edward Darlington and Isaac Darlington, second cousin of Smedley Darlington) was born in Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He attended Friends School at Birmingham and spent his youth on a farm. He became a botanist at an early age, studied medicine, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1804. He went to the East Indies as ship’s surgeon in 1806. He returned to West Chester in 1807 and was a practicing physician there for a number of years. He raised a company of volunteers at the beginning of the War of 1812 and was major of a volunteer regiment.

Political and later career

Darlington's office was in this building of the National Bank of Chester County

Darlington was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourteenth Congress. He was again elected to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses. He was appointed canal commissioner in 1825, and served as president of the West Chester Railroad.

He established a natural history society in West Chester in 1826 and published several works on botany and natural history. His published works include Mutual Influence of Habits and Disease (1804), Flora cestrica: an attempt to enumerate and describe the flowering and filicoid plants of Chester County in the state of Pennsylvania (1837) and Agricultural Botany (1847). The degree of L.L.D. was conferred on him by Yale University in 1848, and he was awarded a Doctor of Physical Science in 1855 by Dickinson College. The California pitcher plant, Darlingtonia californica, was described by John Torrey in 1853 and named in his honor.

He served as director and president of the National Bank of Chester County from 1830 to 1863. He died in West Chester in 1863, and was interred in Oakland Cemetery.

References

Historical Marker Database http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=62205

Sources

• daguerreotype
• Lansing, Dorothy I. That Magnificent Cestrian: Dr. William Darlington, 1782-1863, Being a Short Introductory Biography. Paoli, Pennsylvania: Serpentine Press, 1985.
• Author:William Darlington wikisource

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Samuel Henderson Roger Davis	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district 1815–1817 alongside: John Hahn	Succeeded by Isaac Darlington Levi Pawling
Preceded by Isaac Darlington Levi Pawling	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district 1819–1823 alongside: Samuel Gross	Succeeded by Joseph Hemphill