Leonard Horner

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Leonard Horner FRSE FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the brother of Francis Horner.

Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now Heriot-Watt University and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Academy. A 'radical educational reformer' he was involved in the establishment of University College School.^[1]

Early life and education

His father, John Horner, was a linen merchant in Edinburgh, and Leonard, the third and youngest son, attended the High School and entered the University of Edinburgh in 1799. There in the course of the next four years he studied chemistry and mineralogy, and gained a love of geology from Playfairs Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory. At the age of nineteen he became a partner in a branch of his father's business, and went to London.

Career

In 1808 he joined the newly formed Geological Society of London and two years later was elected one of the secretaries. Throughout his long life he was ardently devoted to the welfare of the society; he was elected president in 1846 and again in 1860. In 1811 he read his first paper On the Mineralogy of the Malvern Hills (Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. i.) and subsequently communicated other papers on the Brine-springs at Droitwich, and the Geology of the S.W. part of Somersetshire.

He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1813. In 1815 he returned to Edinburgh to take personal superintendence of his business, and while there (1821) he was instrumental in founding the Edinburgh School of Arts 101 the instruction of mechanics, and he was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Academy. In 1827 he was invited to London to become warden of London University (now University College London), an office which he held for four years; he then resided at Bonn for two years and pursued the study of minerals and rocks, communicating to the Geological Society on his return a paper on the Geology of the Environs of Bonn, and another On the Quantity of Solic Matter suspended in the Water of the Rhine.

Other appointments

In 1833 he was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the employment of children in the factories of Great Britain, and he was subsequently selected as one of the inspectors. In later years he devoted much attention to the geological history of thi alluvial lands of Egypt; and in 1843 he published his Life of his brother Francis. He died in London on 5 March 1864.

References

Karl Marx "Capital" London 1867: "His services to the English working class will never be forgotten."
Memoir of Leonard Horner, by Katherine M Lyell (1890) (privately printed).
Charles Darwin "Origin of Species" 1859

↑ Early history of The Edinburgh Academy

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press

v t e Presidents of the Geological Society of London

19th century	George Bellas Greenough Henry Grey Bennet William Blake John MacCulloch George Bellas Greenough Earl Compton William Babington William Buckland John Bostock William Fitton Adam Sedgwick Roderick Murchison George Bellas Greenough Charles Lyell William Whewell William Buckland Roderick Murchison Henry Warburton Leonard Horner Henry De la Beche Charles Lyell William Hopkins Edward Forbes William Hamilton Daniel Sharpe Joseph Ellison Portlock John Phillips Leonard Horner Andrew Crombie Ramsay William Hamilton Warington Wilkinson Smyth Thomas Henry Huxley Joseph Prestwich George Douglas Campbell John Evans Peter Martin Duncan Henry Clifton Sorby Robert Etheridge John Whitaker Hulke Thomas Bonney John Wesley Judd William Blanford Archibald Geikie Wilfred Hudleston Henry Woodward Henry Hicks William Whitaker

20th century	Jethro Teall Charles Lapworth John Marr Archibald Geikie William Sollas William Watts Aubrey Strahan Arthur Smith Woodward Alfred Harker George Lamplugh Richard Oldham Albert Seward John Evans Francis Bather John Gregory Edmund Garwood Thomas Holland John Green Owen Thomas Jones Henry Hurd Swinnerton Percy Boswell Herbert Leader Hawkins William Fearnsides Arthur Trueman Herbert Harold Read Cecil Tilley Owen Thomas Jones George Lees William King Walter Campbell Smith Leonard Hawkes James Stubblefield Sydney Hollingworth Oliver Bulman Frederick Shotton Kingsley Dunham Thomas Neville George William Alexander Deer Thomas Westoll Percy Kent Wallace Pitcher Percival Allen Howel Francis Janet Watson Charles Holland Bernard Leake Derek Blundell Anthony Harris Charles Curtis Steve Sparks Richard Hardman Robin Cocks

21st century	Ronald Oxburgh Mark Moody-Stuart Peter Styles Richard Fortey Lynne Frostick

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 8153932 LCCN: n88614339 ISNI: 0000 0000 8339 1318 GND: 116994258

Persondata
Name	Horner, Leonard
Alternative names
Short description	Merchant, geologist and educational reformer
Date of birth	17 January 1785
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death	5 March 1864
Place of death	Montagu Square, London, England

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