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

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and barrister, author of ''

A Dictionary of English Etymology '' A Dictionary of English Etymology'' is an etymological dictionary of the English language written by Hensleigh Wedgwood and published by Trübner and Company in three volumes from 1859 to 1865 (vol. 1 1859, vol. 2 1862, vol. 3 1865), with a se ...

''. He was a cousin of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, whom his sister Emma married in 1839.

Early life

Wedgwood was born at

Tarrant Gunville Tarrant Gunville is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated at the head of the Tarrant Valley on Cranborne Chase northeast of Blandford Forum. The parish covers at an elevation of . In the 2011 census the parish—which i ...

in Dorset, the fourth son of

Josiah Wedgwood II Josiah Wedgwood II (3 April 1769 – 12 July 1843), the son of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood, continued his father's firm and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-upon-Trent from 1832 to 1835. He was an abolitionist, and detested ...

and Elizabeth Allen of Cresselly, Pembrokeshire. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

, then entered

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

in 1820 but switched to Christ's College the following year. Though he did well in maths, graduating as 8th wrangler, he finished bottom in the

classical Classical may refer to: European antiquity *Classical antiquity, a period of history from roughly the 7th or 8th century B.C.E. to the 5th century C.E. centered on the Mediterranean Sea *Classical architecture, architecture derived from Greek and ...

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

at Cambridge in 1824, for which he was awarded the first "wooden wedge", equivalent to the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) ** Australian rugby league wooden spooners ** County Championship Wooden Spoons ** List of Australian Football League wooden spoons The wooden spoon is the imaginar ...

, and jokingly named for him.

Career

After leaving Cambridge, Wedgwood read for the chancery bar. In 1828, he qualified as a barrister, but never practised. Between 1831 and 1837, he served as a

police magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

and sat at the Surrey magistrates' court at Union Hall, Southwark. A notable case that came before him during his tenure was that of

James Pratt and John Smith James Pratt (1805–1835), also known as John Pratt, and John Smith (1795–1835) were two London men who, in November 1835, became the last two to be executed for sodomy in England.Cook ''et al'' (2007), p. 109. Pratt and Smith were arrested in ...

in 1835, whom he committed to trial after their arrest for homosexual acts. After their trial and conviction at the Central Criminal Court, the two became the last to be executed for sodomy in England. This was in spite of Wedgwood himself calling for a commutation of their death sentences in a letter to the Home Secretary. Wedgwood resigned from the magistracy after deciding that one of his duties, the administrations of

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...

s, was inconsistent with the commandments of the New Testament. Between 1838 and 1849, he held the post of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriage. His main fields of study were

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and

etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

. His ''Dictionary of Etymology'' was published in 1857. He was a founding member of the

Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to "investigate and pro ...

Spiritualism

Wedgwood became interested in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

and attended

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spea ...

s. In 1874, he attempted to get T.H. Huxley involved in spiritualism by sending him an alleged

spirit photograph Spirit photography (also called ghost photography) is a type of photography whose primary goal is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting. It dates back to the late 19th century. The end of the Ameri ...

. 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. Wedgwood was a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists and a vice-president of the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

Personal life

He married :Frances Emma Elizabeth "Fanny" Mackintosh (1800–1889) in 1832, his first cousin, the daughter of Sir

James Mackintosh Sir James Mackintosh FRS FRSE (24 October 1765 – 30 May 1832) was a Scottish jurist, Whig politician and Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a jour ...

and his second wife Catherine "Kitty" Allen. They had six children: *

Frances Julia Wedgwood Frances Julia Wedgwood (6 February 1833 – 26 November 1913), also known as Florence Dawson, was an English feminist whose writing spanned philosophy, fiction, biography, history, religious studies and literary criticism. She was described as ...

(1833–1913), feminist philosopher and writer known as "Snow". * James Mackintosh Wedgwood (1834–1864) * Ernest Hensleigh Wedgwood (1837–1898) * Katherine Euphemia Wedgwood (1839–1934), married

Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer (24 June 1819 – 11 October 1899), was an English civil servant and statistician. Background and early life Farrer was the son of Thomas Farrer, a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Born in London, he was ed ...

. * Alfred Allen Wedgwood (1842–1892), father of

J. I. Wedgwood James Ingall Wedgwood (24 March 1883 – 13 March 1951) was the first Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church. Wedgwood was a former Anglican, a member of the Theosophical Society and a member of a co-Masonic order. His work on the Liber ...

. * Hope Elizabeth (1844–1935) married her cousin Godfrey Wedgwood. Wedgwood died on 2 June 1891 at his house at 94

Gower Street, London Gower Street is a two-way street in Bloomsbury, central London, running from Euston Road at the north to Montague Place in the south. The street is continued from North Gower Street north of Euston Road. To the south, it becomes Bloomsbury S ...

. He was buried at the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula,

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrou ...

, now known as

Stoke Minster Stoke Minster is the main church of St Peter ad Vincula and main church in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Which is now the main church of the wider city of Stoke-on-Trent. Name and dedication The dedication to St Peter ad Vinc ...

. His funeral on 4 June 1891 was noted in his sister's diary.

Legacy

A collection of around 550 books from his library is held by the library of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. They were donated to the university by his daughter,

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.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Hensleigh Wedgwood profile
darwin.lib.cam.ac.uk

wardsbookofdays.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wedgwood, Hensleigh 1803 births 1891 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Darwin–Wedgwood family English spiritualists Etymologists Parapsychologists People from Dorset