Samuel Tertius Galton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Tertius Galton (1783-1844) was a businessman and scientist.

He was the son of Samuel "John" Galton, a prominent member of the scientific Lunar Society, and the father of Francis Galton the eminent (if somewhat eccentric) Victorian scientist. Samuel Tertius, though less distinguished, was not an exception to the rule of scientific endeavour in his family.

Galton also inherited his father's considerable business interests and quickly set about making changes - discontinuing the family's armaments business in 1815. Though fascinated by economics (he wrote papers on the subject) Samuel preferred to be less 'hands-on' in the running of the business than his father and spent much of his time living off the revenue of his considerable estate.

Though brought up a Quaker, Samuel converted to the Church of England in 1807. In 1807 Galton married Violetta (Francis Anne Viollette) Darwin, one of the fourteen children of his father's old colleague and fellow Lunar Society member Erasmus Darwin. Many of the 'Lunar children' grew up together and there were several such marriages. They had four daughters and three sons:

• Elizabeth Anne Galton (1808-1906), married Edward Wheler
• Lucy Harriot Galton (1809-1848), married James Moilliet
• Millicent Adele Galton (1810-1883), married the Rev Robert Shirley Bunbury
• Emma Sophia Galton (1811-1904), did not marry.
• Darwin Galton (1814-1903)
• Erasmus Galton (1815-1909)
• Francis Galton (1822-1911)