He was the son of the golf writer
Bernard Darwin and his wife the engraver
Elinor Monsell. One of his sisters was the potter
Ursula Mommens. He was a great-grandson of the naturalist
Charles Darwin. In 1931, he married artist Yvonne Darby (1900? – 1985). After their divorce, he later married Ginette Hewitt who had been previously married to Lt-Col Kenneth Morton-Evans by whom she had two children. Darwin was educated at
Eton College and
Slade School of Fine Art, after which he taught at Eton for five years before designing camouflage in the
Ministry of Home Security during the
Second World War. After serving as Professor of Fine Art at the
University of Durham for two years, he joined the
Royal College of Art in 1948, first as principal, then as Rector and Vice-Provost when the college gained university status in 1967. He left this position in 1971 when he became president of the
Royal West of England Academy. Throughout his career he also frequently exhibited as well as selling his artwork. and was
knighted in 1964. He was elected a member of the
Royal Academy in 1972. == References ==