Pulling Alfred Russel Wallace from Darwin's shadow

For Dr George Beccaloni, Alfred Russel Wallace is a life-long obsession.

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859 but 15 months earlier, a paper with a much longer title came out, co-authored by Darwin and Wallace.

Beccaloni believes Wallace is underappreciated as the co-discoverer of natural selection and is dedicated to preserving the naturalist and explorer's legacy and his grave in Dorset.

"[My wife] has always said that there's three people in our relationship - me, her and Wallace," said the evolutionary biologist and science historian.

Beccaloni said he first visited Wallace's grave more than 25 years ago with his then wife-to-be and found it neglected.

"I'd been reading about him and knew that he was buried in Broadstone, but hadn't heard of anyone ever going there," he said.

In the quarter of a century since, there has been a considerable reappraisal of the importance of Wallace in the story of the discovery of evolution.

Just more than a year before Darwin's book came out, the pair's paper - titled On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection - was published.

"The Darwin Wallace paper was the first proposal of evolution by natural selection," said Beccaloni.

"And it was that paper which put Darwin into overdrive to publish a book-length work.

"Now, the original paper has been forgotten and Darwin gets all the credit but it was actually Darwin and Wallace's theory."

Wallace came up with his version of evolution independently of Darwin after expeditions to South America and South East Asia.

As he approached his 60s, he settled down in England, building Nutwood Cottage in Godalming, Surrey, but "more and more houses kept on being built around him", said Beccaloni.

"He hated that, he wanted to get away from people, so he thought Dorset would be a good area and he found a fairly isolated house called Corfe View in Parkstone, Poole.

"He lived there for several years and more houses got built around him there. So, he looked for a patch of land where he could build a house and found one in Broadstone."

It was 1901 and Wallace was thrilled with his find. In correspondence, he wrote: "It is almost perfection. It is on the slope of the Broadstone middle plateau, looking south over Poole Harbour with the Purbeck Hills beyond."

The house he had built was called Old Orchard. It was bulldozed in 1964 but remnants of Wallace survive.

"I live in what is now Wallace Road," said local historian Jill Floyd. "Probably 100 yards away from where his house was. There are relics of his garden, people have some rather exotic plants in their gardens."

The Parkstone property no longer survives either. which means the best memento of Wallace in Dorset today is his grave.

It was renovated by Beccaloni's Wallace Memorial Fund at the turn of the century.

"He was very famous in his lifetime but was forgotten after his death," said the science historian, adding: "Darwin's buried in Westminster Abbey and here's Wallace's grave being totally neglected."

In 2013, 100 years after his death, a bronze statue of Wallace was unveiled by Sir David Attenborough at the Natural History Museum.

But for those who want to pay their respects in Dorset, his grave lies in Broadstone Cemetery.

"Very few people go in unless they know someone there," said Floyd.

"On the right-hand side as you walk down the main path, you'll see a rather strange looking tree on his grave.

"It's a 7ft (2m) fossilised tree from Portland standing on a Purbeck limestone plinth. It's a rather beautiful thing."