Hensleigh Wedgwood

Hensleigh Wedgwood
Born	(1803-01-21)21 January 1803 Tarrant Gunville, Dorset, England
Died	2 June 1891(1891-06-02) (aged 88) Gower Street, London, England[1]
Resting place	Stoke Minster (The Church of St. Peter ad Vincula) 53°00′15″N 02°10′53″W / 53.00417°N 2.18139°W / 53.00417; -2.18139
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)	Barrister, magistrate, Philologist
Known for	Writing on English etymology
Spouse	Frances Emma Elizabeth "Fanny" Mackintosh
Children	6
Parents	Josiah Wedgwood II (1769–1843) Elizabeth Allen (1764–1846)
Relatives	Charles Darwin (cousin) Emma Darwin (sister) Thomas Wedgwood (uncle) Susannah Darwin (aunt)

Hensleigh Wedgwood (21 January 1803 – 2 June 1891) was a British

Wedgwood was born at Tarrant Gunville in Dorset, the fourth son of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen of Cresselly, Pembrokeshire.^[1]

He was educated at Rugby School, then entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1820 but switched to Christ's College the following year.^[2] Although 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]

Career

After leaving Cambridge, Wedgwood read for the

Wedgwood resigned from the magistracy after deciding that one of his duties, the administrations of oaths, was inconsistent with the commandments of the New Testament. Between 1838 and 1849, he held the post of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriage.^[1]

His main fields of study were philology and etymology. His Dictionary of Etymology was published in 1857. He was a founding member of the Philological Society.^[1]

Spiritualism

Wedgwood became interested in spiritualism and attended séances. In 1874, he attempted to get T.H. Huxley involved in spiritualism by sending him an alleged spirit photograph. Huxley was not impressed and suggested the photograph had been produced fraudulently by the use of a second image placed on the plate inside the camera. Hensleigh refused to believe this explanation and considered the photograph to be genuine.^[6]

Wedgwood was a member of the

He married Frances Emma Elizabeth "Fanny" Mackintosh (1800–1889) in 1832, his first cousin, the daughter of Sir James Mackintosh and his second wife Catherine "Kitty" Allen (Hensleigh's mother's sister).^[1] Their children include:

• Frances Julia Wedgwood (1833–1913), feminist, philosopher and writer.^{[citation needed]}
• James Mackintosh Wedgwood (1834–1864)^{[citation needed]}
• Miles Wedgwood (1835-1836)^[8]
• Ernest Hensleigh Wedgwood (1837–1898)^{[citation needed]}
• Katherine Euphemia Wedgwood (1839–1934), married Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer.^{[citation needed]}
• Alfred Allen Wedgwood (1842–1892), father of J. I. Wedgwood.^{[citation needed]}
• Hope Elizabeth (1844–1935) married her cousin Godfrey Wedgwood.^{[citation needed]}

Wedgwood died on 2 June 1891 at his house at 94

A collection of around 550 books from his library is held by the library of the University of Birmingham. They were donated to the university by his daughter, Frances Julia Wedgwood.^[10]

Partial list of works

• The Principles of Geometrical Demonstration, 1844
• On the Development of Understanding, 1848.
• The Geometry of the Three First Books of Euclid by Direct Proofs from Definitions Alone, 1856.
• On the Origin of Language, 1866.
• A Dictionary of English Etymology, Second Edition, 1872.
• Contested Etymologies in the Dictionary of Rev. W. W. Skeat, 1882.

See also

• Darwin–Wedgwood family

References