| The Lord Avebury | |
|---|---|
Lord Avebury in middle age |
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| Born | 30 April 1834 |
| Died | 28 May 1913 |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | Finance, Biology, Archaeology, Politics, Spelling |
| Known for | Bank Holidays |
| Influences | Charles Darwin |
John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC (Privy Councilor), FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) (30 April 1834 – 28 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a polymath and Liberal Member of Parliament. He was a banker and worked with his family's company, but was also involved with entomology, botany, biology, archaeology, and ethnography. He helped establish archaeology as a scientific discipline, and was also influential with nineteenth-century debates concerning evolutionary theory.[1]:514
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John Lubbock was born in 1834, the son of Sir John Lubbock, 3rd Baronet, a London banker, and was brought up in the family home of High Elms Estate, near Downe in Kent. During 1842 his father brought home a "great piece of news": the young Lubbock said later that he initially thought that the news might be of a new pony, and was disappointed to learn it was only that Charles Darwin was moving to Down House in the village.[2] The youth was soon a frequent visitor to Down House, and became the closest of Darwin's younger friends.[3] Their relationship stimulated young Lubbock's passion for science and evolutionary theory.[1]
In 1845, Lubbock began studies at Eton College, and after graduation was employed by his father's bank (which later amalgamated with Coutts & Co), for which he became a partner at the age of twenty-two.
In addition to his work at his father's bank, Lubbock took a keen interest in archaeology and evolutionary theory. He spoke in support of the evolutionist Thomas Henry Huxley at the famous 1860 Oxford evolution debate. During the 1860s, he published many articles in which he used archaeological evidence to support Darwin's theory.[1] In 1864, he became one of the founding members (along with Thomas Henry Huxley and others) of the elite X Club, a dining club composed of nine gentlemen to promote the theories of natural selection and academic liberalism. In 1865 he succeeded to the baronetcy. During the 1860s he held a number of influential academic positions, including President of the Ethnological Society from 1864-5, Vice-President of Linnean Society in 1865, and President of the International Association for Prehistoric Archaeology in 1868. In 1865 he published Prehistoric Times, which became a standard archaeology textbook for the remainder of the century, with the seventh and final edition published in 1913.[1]
His second book, On the Origin of Civilization, was published in 1870. During 1871, he purchased part of the Avebury estate to protect its prehistoric stone monuments from impending destruction. During the early 1870s, he held the position of President of the Royal Anthropological Society from 1871–73, as well as the position of Vice President of the Royal Society in 1871. During this period he worked with John Evans, the other key figure in the establishment of the discipline of archaeology.[1]
After the early 1870s, Lubbock became increasingly interested in political advocacy, business, and natural science. In 1870, and again in 1874, he was elected as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone. As liberal MP for Maidstone, Kent, Lubbock had a distinguished political career, with four main political agendas: promotion of the study of science in primary and secondary schools; the national debt, free trade, and related economic issues; protection of ancient monuments; securing of additional holidays and shorter working hours for the working classes.[1] He was successful with numerous enactments in parliament, including the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882, along with another 28 acts of Parliament. When the Liberals split in 1886 on the issue of Irish Home Rule, Lubbock joined the breakaway Liberal Unionist Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule.
In 1879 Lubbock was elected the first president of the Institute of Bankers. In 1881 he was president of the British Association, and from 1881 to 1886 president of the Linnean Society of London. In March 1883 he founded the Bank Clerks Orphanage, which in 1986 became the Bankers Benevolent Fund - a charity for bank employees, past and present, and their dependents. In January 1884 he founded the Proportional Representation Society, later to become the Electoral Reform Society.
In recognition of his contributions to the sciences, Lubbock received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge (where he was Rede lecturer in 1886), Edinburgh, Dublin and Würzburg; and in 1878 was appointed a trustee of the British Museum. From 1888 to 1892 he was president of the London Chamber of Commerce; from 1889 to 1890 vice-chairman and from 1890 to 1892 chairman of the London County Council.
In February 1890 he was appointed a privy councillor;[4] and was chairman of the committee of design for the new coinage in 1891. In January 1900 he was promoted to the peerage as Baron Avebury, his title commemorating the largest Stone Age site in Britain, which he had helped to preserve (he had purchased it in 1871 when the site was threatened with destruction). He was President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1900 to 1902.[5] He rebuilt Kingsgate Castle, in Kent near Broadstairs.
The quotation, "We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth," is widely attributed to Lubbock. This variation appears in his book The Pleasures of Life.
In 1865 Lubbock published what was possibly the most influential archaeological text book of the 19th century, Pre-historic times, as illustrated by ancient remains, and the manners and customs of modern savages. He invented the terms Palaeolithic and Neolithic to denote the Old and New Stone Ages respectively. More notably, he introduced a Darwinian-type theory of human nature and development. "What was new was Lubbock's... insistence that, as a result of natural selection, human groups had become different from each other, not only culturally, but also in their biological capacities to utilize culture."[6]
Lubbock complained in the preface about Charles Lyell:
Lubbock was also an amateur biologist of some distinction, writing books on hymenoptera (Ants, Bees and Wasps: a record of observations on the habits of the social hymenoptera. Kegan Paul, London; New York: Appleton, 1884.), on insect sense organs and development, on the intelligence of animals, and on other natural history topics. He discovered that ants were sensitive to the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum.[7][8] The Punch verse of 1882 captured him perfectly:
He had extensive correspondence with Charles Darwin, who lived nearby in Downe. Lubbock stayed in Downe except for a brief period from 1861–1865, when he relocated to Chislehurst. Both men were active advocates of English spelling reform, and members of the Spelling reform Association, precursor to the (Simplified) Spelling Society. Darwin rented ground, originally from Lubbock's father, for the Sandwalk wood where he performed his daily exercise, and in 1874 agreed with Lubbock to exchange the land for a piece of pasture in Darwin's property.[9] When Darwin died in 1882, Lubbock suggested the honour of burial in Westminster Abbey, organising a letter to the Dean to arrange this, and was one of the pallbearers.[3]
Lubbock was one of eight brothers and one sister;[10] three brothers, Alfred,[11] Nevile[12] and Edgar[13] played first-class cricket for Kent. Edgar and Alfred also played football and played together for Old Etonians in the 1875 FA Cup Final.
Lubbock's first wife was Ellen Frances Horden, who died in 1879. Five years later he married Alice Lane Fox, the daughter of Pitt-Rivers.