His middle name was given him in honor of Erasmus Darwin, of whose poem “The Botanic Garden” his father was a great admirer.
Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, lived at Radbourne Hall for a short while after his marriage to Elizabeth Pole in 1781.
The work was translated by Erasmus Darwin's Lichfield Botanical Society as A System of Vegetables (1785).
Wedgwood, intent to have a waterway connection to his potteries, managed to send his proposal to parliament, with the help of two of his friends, Thomas Bentley, and Dr. Erasmus Darwin.
Selected paintings by the 18th-century artists from the Gallery collection include the 'Portrait of the Lee Family' by Joseph Highmore, 'David Garrick in 'The Provoked Wife' by Johann Zoffany, 'Portrait of Erasmus Darwin' (1792) by Joseph Wright of Derby, 'Apotheosis of Penelope Boothby' by Henry Fuseli, 'Arrival of Louis XVIII at Calais' by Wolverhampton-born Edward Bird.
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Shells were the sign of pilgrims but they were also the emblem of the Darwin family which included Erasmus Darwin who was a leading member of the Lunar Society and Derby Philosophical Society which linked key men in the age of enlightenment.
Through her son, Charles, Lord Portmore, she was the grandmother of Elizabeth Collier, wife of Dr Erasmus Darwin, the physician, scientist, poet and grandfather of Charles Darwin.
Francis Sacheverel was a son of Erasmus Darwin and his second wife Elizabeth (née) Collier, widow of Col Edward Pole and natural daughter of Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore.
Erasmus Darwin had recommended the area to Josiah Wedgwood I for its beauty and soothing waters, and members of the families vacationed and settled there.
In 1776, Francis Noel Clarke Mundy privately published a book of poetry called "Needwood Forest" which contained his own poem of the same name and supportive contributions from Sir Brooke Boothby Bt., Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward.
In Britain, where the philosophy of natural theology remained influential, William Paley wrote the book Natural Theology with its famous watchmaker analogy, at least in part as a response to the transmutational ideas of Erasmus Darwin.
In 2003 he married Sarah Darwin, a great-great-granddaughter of the naturalist Charles Darwin; they have two sons Leo Erasmus Darwin Vogel (born 2003) and Josiah Algy Darwin Vogel (born 2005).