Hensleigh Wedgwood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hensleigh Wedgwood (21 January 1803 – 2 June 1891) was a British etymologist, philologist and barrister, author of A Dictionary of English Etymology. Wedgwood was the fourth son of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen. He was a cousin of Charles Darwin -- whom his sister Emma married in 1839.[1]

Wedgwood was educated at Rugby School. He entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1820 but switched to Christ's College the following year.[2] Though he did well in maths, graduating as 8th wrangler, he finished bottom in the classical tripos at Cambridge in 1824, for which he was awarded the first "wooden wedge", equivalent to the wooden spoon,[1] and jokingly named for him.[3]

He was also interested in Spiritualism, holding seances and once sent a hoax photograph of himself in the presence of "spirits" to T.H. Huxley.

He married Frances Emma Elizabeth Mackintosh (Fanny) (1800-1889) in 1832, his first cousin, the daughter of Sir James Mackintosh and his second wife Catherine (Kitty) Allen.[1] It was an open family secret that Hensleigh's cousin Erasmus Alvey Darwin was carrying on with Fanny. They had six children:

Partial list of works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Herford, C. H.; rev. John D. Haigh (2004). "Wedgwood, Hensleigh (1803–1891)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-05-09. 
  2. ↑ "Wedgewood (or Wedgwood), Hensleigh (WGWT820H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. 
  3. ↑ Bristed, Charles Astor (1852). Five years in an English university. G. P. Putnam. p. 253. 

External links

Authority control


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.