Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (1823-1913), was one of the greatest scientists andevolutionary thinkers of the modern era. Together with his contemporary Charles Darwin,Wallace is acknowledged as the co-founder of the theory of natural selection, morecommonly termed today as evolution.

In recognition of his many scientific achievements, Wallace received a number of prestigiousmedals and awards during his lifetime including the important Darwin-Wallace medal ingold awarded by the Linnean Society of London (est: £10,000-15,000) and the Order ofMerit (est: £12,000-£15,000).

These along with others from Wallace's collection are to be offered at auction in London byMorton & Eden on 20 July. The group of 9 significant medals will be sold individually with anoverall collective estimate in excess of £52,000.

Sir David Attenborough first encountered Wallace's when he was a young boy. In Sir David Attenborough's opinion; . A naturalist, geographer, an intrepidexplorer, anthropologist, biologist, ornithologist, spiritualist, writer, poet and illustrator,Wallace was also, like Sir David Attenborough, acutely aware of the potentially dangerousenvironmental impact of human activity on our planet. Aside from many shared passions,Sir David Attenborough, like Wallace, was also awarded the Order of Merit in addition tobeing a Fellow of the Royal Society plus other shared learned societies.

James Morton, Director of Auctioneer's Morton & Eden, said:

Wallace formed his theory of natural selection and the origin of species at the same time asCharles Darwin was independently developing his own research into what has since becomemore generally termed 'evolution'.

When Wallace sent Darwin a draft of his paper 'On the Tendency of Varieties to DepartIndefinitely From the Original Type' early in 1858, Darwin wrote despairingly , so similar was Wallace's line ofthought to Darwin's own.

What then transpired, however, was that the two theories were presented together,Wallace's paper, together with extracts from Darwin's unpublished work, at the historicmeeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858.

What could have developed into a fierce professional rivalry in fact became, particularly onWallace's part, a relationship based on mutual respect and deference. Their relationshipwas described by the President of the Linnean Society Dr D H Scott in 1908 as .

In fact After Wallace's death in 1913 a portrait plaque by Albert Bruce-Joy was erected inWestminster Abbey in 1915, next to the existing memorial to Darwin, who had died in 1882.

One hundred years later in 2013, to mark the Centenary of Wallace's death, a bronzesculpture by Anthony Smith portraying the naturalist's 1859 pursuit of the spectacularGolden Birdwing butterfly was unveiled at the Natural History Museum, where manythousands of the specimens collected by Wallace in his expeditions are housed and studied.

A prolific writer, during his lifetime Wallace published numerous essays as well as more than20 books including The Malay Archipelago (1869), Darwinism (1889) and his autobiographyMy Life (1905), as well as lesser-known works concerned with social criticism, Mesmerism,Spiritualism and even, as late as 1907, his consideration of possible extraterrestrial life in IsMars Habitable?

Wallace, who lived to the great age of 90 was a pure scientist and never sought self-publicity. Ever modest concerning his own great achievements, Wallace famously remarkedto his editor that he had become , although his correspondencereveals otherwise.

Wallace's medals are offered by direct descent. A spokesman for the vendor said: "Ourfamily has had the pleasure and pride of owning these medals for over a century. Howeverwe feel now is the time for us to make them available to others who will appreciate theirsignificance and the achievements of Alfred Russel Wallace as much as we do".

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