Daily Telegraph: This year is Wallace Year, for it marks the centennial of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace. In 1857 he wrote to Charles Darwin, pre-empting his idea of natural selection, and Darwin, a true Victorian gent, suggested that they present a joint paper on the idea. Wallace, in turn, became his devotee, and is remembered mainly in that role.
In truth, he did far more. He started off life as a surveyor, and set out the street plan of Llandrindod Wells, in the Welsh borders. He then designed a council building in Neath. He travelled in South America, where his brother died and the ship carrying his specimens caught fire and sank.
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