No, Darwin was the first, because before Darwin, no one thought that any different species could have a common ancestor, because it was believed each species was a discrete, unchanging unit. That is, even though there was Lamarck, who proposed that species could change in appearance somewhat, he did not say that one species could change so much it became a different species, nor that one species might have several populations branch off and become other species.

However, the similarities between humans and apes and monkeys were noticed earlier. This is best indicated by Carl Linnaeus, creator of the binomial nomenclature system which we use (with a few adjustments) today to refer to different species. He placed humans and apes together in the same category.

Bonus fact: Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, translated Linnaeus's works into English.