The name Darwen (with an "e") is very rare. Darwen is today a town in Lancashire, in north-western England.

The name appears to originate in the Celtic Dwr-gwyn meaning clear water, for the River Darwen that runs through the town. Another possibility is that it comes from Derewent, which means the river where oak trees grow. For more on the history of the name and the town, please see Shaw's book Darwen and its People.

James Darwen left there in 1863 due to the Cotton Famine, to settle in the town of Bowen in north-eastern Australia.

Darwens on the net

• James Darwen is an author, whose books have been translated into French and German.
• Hugh Darwen is a scientist who studies databases. He has also written a book about the card game Bridge.
• Mike Darwen is the manager of Concord Production Services, which offers lighting for stage performances. Mike lives in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
• Paul Darwen is a scientist who studies artificial intelligence for risk optimization in finance.
• Stephen Darwen is the manager of the Bowen Independent newspaper.
• Barbara Darwen is one of the National Panel of Judges for the Australian Cat Federation.
• William Darwen, now retired, was for 21 years the Public Trustee of the Australian state of New South Wales.
• Norman Darwen takes an interest in historical churches, and also writes about Blues music as well as reggae and African music.
• Darwen Rau wrote an article in a scientific journal, and is a donor to Purdue University in Indiana.
• The 1993 Western novel A Bullet for Darwen by Bret Rey tells the story of a fictional Texas cattle rancher named Ulysses Darwen.

If you have the surname Darwen, we'd love to hear from you. Please send an email to paul@darwen.org.

The Town of Darwen, Lancashire, England

Here are some interesting factoids about the place.

• Karl Marx mentions an 1863 strike by power loom workers in Darwen in his book Das Kapital. At the time, the U.S. Civil War was decimating the cotton industry in northern England.
• Mahatma Gandhi visited Darwen in 1931. Today, the town has the Ghandi Restaurant. Yes, the way they spell the restaurant name (Ghandi) is different from the Mahatma's name (Gandhi), which causes a little confusion for people looking it up in a phone book. This is a common spelling problem.
• John Milton wrote a poem about a Scottish invasion that reached as far south as Darwen.

Genealogy information

• Roots Surname List Name Finder.
• Lancashire Family History Society.

Last updated on Tuesday 11 January 2005.

Comments? More information? Please email to paul@darwen.org