While Darwin was still on the voyage, Professor 
Henslow had carefully fostered his former pupil's reputation by giving 
selected naturalists access to the fossil specimens and even having 
Darwin's geological writings privately printed for distribution. By the 
time that the Beagle returned on 2 October 1836 Darwin was a sought-after 
celebrity in scientific circles. He visited his home in Shrewsbury and his 
father drew on investments to provide Charles with a suitable allowance. 
After consulting Henslow in Cambridge who would work on the plants, Darwin 
went round the London institutions to find the best available 
naturalists to describe his other collections for early publication. 
Acutely aware of the hazards of Radicalism, Charles turned down the now 
disreputable Robert Edmund Grant's offer to catalogue invertebrates.

An eager Charles Lyell met Darwin on 29 October 1836 and introduced him to 
Richard Owen, an up and coming anatomist who agreed to work on the fossil 
bones at his Royal College of Surgeons. Owen's surprising revelations of 
extinct giant rodents and sloths confirmed Darwin's place in the scientific 
establishment. With Lyell's enthusiastic backing Darwin read his first paper 
to the Geological Society of London on 4 January 1837, showing that Chile, 
and the South American land-mass, was slowly rising. On the same date Darwin 
presented his mammal and bird specimens to the Society. The Mammalia were 
ably taken on by George R. Waterhouse, and while the birds seemed almost an 
afterthought their assessment by the ornithologist John Gould startlingly 
revealed that what Darwin had taken to be wrens, blackbirds and slightly 
differing finches from the Galápagos were all separate species of finches.

When in London Charles stayed with his brother Erasmus, meeting Eras's friend 
the literary Whig Malthusian Miss Harriet Martineau who had strong views on 
egalitarianism. Eras's dinner parties included inspiring savants like Lyell, 
Babbage and Thomas Carlyle. Scientific circles were buzzing with ideas of 
Transmutation of species. Darwin remained more comfortable with the 
respectability of his friends the Whig Cambridge Dons, even though his ideas 
were pushing beyond their belief that natural history must justify religion 
and social order.

On 17 February [1837]] Lyell used his presidential address at the Geographical 
Society to present Owen's findings to date on Darwin's fossils, pointing out 
the inference that extinct species were related to current species in the same 
locality. At the same meeting Darwin was elected to the Council of the Society. 
He had already been invited by FitzRoy to contribute his "Journal", based on 
his field notes, as the natural history section of the captain's account of 
the Beagle's voyage. He now also plunged into writing a book on South American 
Geology, at the same time speculating on transmutation in his "Red Notebook" 
which he had begun on the Beagle. Another project he started was getting the 
expert reports on his collection published as a multi-volume "Zoology", and a 
search for sponsorship was answered when Henslow used his contacts with 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer Thomas Spring Rice to arrange a Treasury 
grant of £1,000. Darwin finished writing his "Journal" around 20 June when 
King William IV died and the Victorian era began. In mid July he began a 
secret notebook on transmutation, his "B" notebook, with a title page 
headed Zoönomia.

Under pressure with organising "Zoology" and correcting proofs of his 
"Journal" which had to have the introduction revised when FitzRoy 
complained that he was "astonished at the total omission of any notice 
of the officers" for their help, Darwin's health suffered. On 20 September 
he suffered "palpitations of the heart" and left for a month of 
recuperation in the country. At Maer, the Wedgwood's home, he entertained 
his relations who were being cared for by the as yet unmarried Emma, and 
his uncle Jos pointed out an area of ground where cinders had disappeared 
under loam which Jos though might have been the work of earthworms. On 1 
November Darwin gave a talk on worm casts to the Geological Society. He 
had avoided taking on official posts which would take valuable time, but 
by March 1838 Whewell had recruited him as Secretary of the Geological 
Society.

Illness prompted Darwin to take a break from the pressure of work and he 
went "geologising" in Scotland, spending 28 June visiting Edinburgh on the 
day that Queen Victoria had her coronation in London. At Glen Roy in 
glorious weather he solved the riddle of the "roads" which he was able 
to identify as raised beaches. Fully recuperated, he returned home to 
Shrewsbury and pondered his career and prospects, drawing up a list with 
columns headed "Marry" and "Not Marry". Having come down in favour, he 
went to visit his cousin Emma on 29 July. Against his father's advice he 
did not get around to proposing, but did tell her of his ideas on 
transmutation. His thoughts and work continued in London over the autumn, 
then on 11 November he returned and proposed to Emma. A period of 
house-hunting culminated with finding "Macaw Cottage" in Gower Street, 
London, and Darwin moved his "museum" in over Christmas. On 24 January 
1839 he was honoured by being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society 
and presented his paper on the Roads of Glen Roy. Then on 29 January 
he and Emma were married at Maer in an Anglican ceremony arranged to 
also suit the Unitarians.

FitzRoy was still putting together his account, but it was eventually 
published in May 1839. Darwin's Journal and Remarks was a great 
success, getting praised by Alexander von Humboldt. Later that year 
it was published on its own becoming the best-seller nowadays known 
as "The Voyage of the Beagle", establishing Darwin as a popular author.

Marriage and children 

Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839. After living for a 
number of years in London, the couple eventually moved to Down House, 
in Downe, Kent (which is now open to public visits, south of 
Orpington). The Darwins had ten children, three of whom died early. 
Many of these and their grandchildren would later achieve notability 
themselves (see Darwin–Wedgwood family)

    * William Erasmus Darwin (27 December 1839 – 1914)
    * Anne Elizabeth Darwin (2 March 1841 – 22 April 1851)
    * Mary Eleanor Darwin (23 September 1842 – 16 October 1842)
    * Henrietta Emma "Etty" Darwin (25 September 1843 – 1929)
    * George Howard Darwin (9 July 1845 – 7 December 1912)
    * Elizabeth "Bessy" Darwin (8 July 1847 – 1926)
    * Francis Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925)
    * Leonard Darwin (15 January 1850 – 26 March 1943)
    * Horace Darwin (13 May 1851 – 29 September 1928)
    * Charles Waring Darwin (6 December 1856 – 28 June 1858)