1807 Wallace's parents marry
1823 8 January: Alfred Russel Wallace born at Usk, Monmouthshire
1836 late this year or early 1837: Forced to withdraw from grammar school; moves to London to board with his older brother, John
1837 Is first exposed to the utopian ideals of Robert Owen and his followers
1837 Joins the eldest brother William in Bedfordshire to learn the surveying trade
1841 Becomes informally associated with the Kington Mechanic's Institution
1844 Is hired on as a master at the Collegiate School in Leicester
1844 Meets Henry Walter Bates; attends lecture and demonstration on mesmerism
1845 February: William dies; Wallace leaves Collegiate School and takes over his business
1848 25 April: Wallace and Bates leave England for Amazonian South America to begin a natural history collecting expedition (for a full chronology of Wallace's activities over the next four years, see George 1964)
1852 12 July: Leaves South America for return to England; on 6 August his ship burns and sinks and ten days later he is rescued at sea
1852 1 October to March 1854: primarily London-based; in 1853 publishes Palm Trees of the Amazon and A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro
1854 March 1: Leaves England for the Far East to begin a natural history collecting expedition
1854 20 April to 20 February 1862: Collecting expedition in the Malay Archipelago (for a full chronology of Wallace's activities during this period, see Bastin 1986)
1855 February: While in Sarawak writes 'On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species' for publication
1858 February: Writes 'On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type' and sends it off to Charles Darwin for comment
1858 1 July: Wallace's and Darwin's writings on natural selection are presented at a meeting of the Linnean Society
1859 November: 'On the Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago,' the paper describing Wallace's Line, is read before the Linnean Society; Darwin's On the Origin of Species is published
1862 1 April: Returns to English soil
1864 1 March: Presents 'The Origin of Human Races Deduced From the Theory of "Natural Selection"' to the Anthropological Society of London
1866 Spring: Marries Annie Mitten, daughter of botanist friend William Mitten
1866 August to September: 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural' is published
1869 9 March: The Malay Archipelago is published
1870 to early 1872: President of the Entomological Society of London
1870 March: Moves to Barking
1870 April: Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection is published
1872 Marc: Moves to Grays, Essex
1874 May and June: 'A Defence of Modern Spiritualism' is published
1875 March: On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism is published
876 May 1: The Geographical Distribution of Animals is published
July 1876: Moves to Rose Hill, Dorking
1876 President, Section D (Biology) of the British Association for the Advancement of Science annual meetings
1878 Moves to Croydon; Tropical Nature and Other Essays is published
1880 October: Island Life is published
1881 March: The Land Nationalisation Society is established and Wallace made its first President
1881 May: Moves to Godalming
1882 19 April: Death of Charles Darwin
1882 May: Land Nationalisation published
1886 mid-Fall to late Summer 1887: Lecture tour in the United States and Canada
1889 May: Darwinism published
1889 June: Moves to Parkstone, Dorset
1890 February to May: Presents testimony to the Royal Commission on Vaccination
1890 September: 'Human Selection' is published
1893 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society
1893 November and December: 'The Ice Age and Its Work' is published
1896 September: Lectures on scientific progress in Davos, Switzerland
1898 June: The Wonderful Century published
1902 December: Moves to Old Orchard, Broadstone (near Wimborne, Dorset)
1903 October: Man's Place in the Universe published
1905 Octobe: My Life is published
1908 1 July: Receives the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London
1908 December: Receives the Copley Medal from the Royal Society and the Order of Merit from the Crown
1909 22 January: Gives lecture 'The World of Life' at the Royal Institution
1910 December: The World of Life published
1913 7 November: Dies at Old Orchard
1915 1 November: Medallion bearing Wallace's name is placed in Westminster Abbey
- The Origins of an Evolutionist (1823-1848)
- Travels in the Amazon and Malay Archipelago (1848-1862)
- Wallace the Evolving Polymath (1862-1880)
- Wallace the Social Radical and "Grand Old Man of Science" (1880-1913)
- Wallace's Accomplishments: A Summary List
Last modified 6 November 2000