Emma Wedgwood - a niece and a future daughter-in-law of Dr. Darwin - was once horrified at Caroline expressing gratitude for lighting a fire on a cold December afternoon,[8] something she was evidently not used to and saw as a luxury rather than a necessity.

[14] After her mother's death, Caroline together with the eldest sister Marianne took charge of the household and oversaw the education of the younger siblings: 8 year old Charles and 7-year old Catherine.

[16] This account of Caroline as an intelligent and capable person approaching things she set out to do with a lot of ardour, but prone to fussing around, is corroborated by other family members.

Elizabeth Wedgwood talked about her cousin "busy scrattling" when she was preparing to host the girls for the singing lessons at the Mount - Darwins' home in Shrewsbury.

[19] Etty also recalled her mother's delight in being in the company of Caroline, who imbued the atmosphere with "the mixture of vivacity, sweetness, abounding life, and deep feeling".

[20] Uncle Jos spoke from experience: in spring 1827 he talked Caroline into accompanying him to Geneva to collect his daughters, Emma and Fanny, who were staying in Switzerland with their Aunt Jessie Sismondi (nee Allen).

[23] Caroline and Jos have known each other for their whole lives and most of the relatives including Josiah's mother Elizabeth (Bessy) nee Allen and both of their fathers who had shared business interests had been hoping for the wedding to happen for more than a decade.

[25] While Josiah was an active partner in the pottery business, the family lived at Clayton - 3 miles away from the Wedgwood main ceramics factory Etruria Works in Staffordshire.

[27] Sophie died only a few months later on 31 January 1839 at Maer - childhood home of Josiah - a few days after the wedding of his sister Emma to Caroline's brother Charles.

[29] Later family correspondence hints at Caroline finding consolation in nature and gardening: in March 1839 she was "a good deal out of doors" and was asking for some plants to be sent to her from Seabridge.

Dozens of surviving letters between the members of the Darwin-Wedgwood clan mention Charles and his family spending time and enjoying 'a walk in the wood' at the Surrey estate of Jos and Caroline.

[13][47] She was worried about his health and safety abroad, but confessed to Elizabeth Wedgwood: 'Now we have him really again at home I intend to begin to be glad he went this expedition & now I can allow he has gained happiness & interest for the rest of his life'.

Text and Network analysis of Darwin correspondence reveals that in contrast to some other female family members, for example his wife and other sisters, Caroline was actively engaged in the scientific discussions with her brother.

[51] It has been well established that Darwin used the family as a casual sounding board for his ideas, but his letters to Caroline often go beyond that in the their content and contain the amount of scientific details comparable in variety and specificity to those found in the correspondence with his close friend and cousin William Fox as well as with some of the colleagues.

[53] In one of the letters Darwin's younger sister Catherine passes the following information to him: 'Caroline desires me to tell you that neither Procter, Miers, nor Caldcleugh are in the Library, only Head, which C. [Caroline] will read, and examine about what you mention, and then write to you'.

[55] The book that Caroline found and pre-processed for her brother's research was Francis Bond Head's Rough Notes Taken during some Rapid Journeys across the Pampas and among the Andes (1826).

When Darwin asked Fox for his assistance he spoke at length about how he didn't want to trouble William: In contrast when a request was sent to Caroline it sounded like: This difference in tone reveals a casual misogyny[59] that permeated the 19th century society.

Even the most enlightened of men surrounded by numerous real life examples of capable women failed to question the status quo and thought a man to be ultimately 'superior to woman'.

[67] Her cousin and sister-in-law Emma Darwin wrote to her daughter Etty 3 days after the death of Caroline: "I feel that I have lost the only real link with old times.