Leonard Horner
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the younger brother of
Francis Horner
Francis Horner FRSE (12 August 1778 – 8 February 1817) was a Scottish Whig politician, journalist, lawyer and political economist.
Early life: 1778–1807
He was born in Edinburgh the son of John Horner a linen merchant and his wife Joanna ...
.
Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
and one of the founders of the
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...
. A 'radical educational reformer' he was involved in the establishment of
University College School
("Slowly but surely")
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent day school
, religion =
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Mark Beard
, r_head_label =
, r_hea ...
. As a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children in Factories, Horner arguably did more to improve the working conditions of women and children in North England than any other person in the 19th century.
Early life and education
His father, John Horner, was a linen merchant in Edinburgh, and partner in the firm of Inglis & Horner. Leonard, the third and youngest son, attended the
High School
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
and entered the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
in 1799. There in the course of the next four years he studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
mineralogy
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
, and gained a love of
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
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
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Career
In 1808 he joined the newly formed
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
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
The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit affo ...
'' (''Trans. Geol. Soc.'' vol. i.) and subsequently communicated other papers on the Brine-springs at
Droitwich
Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester.
The ...
, and the ''Geology of the S.W. part of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
shire''.
He was elected fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
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
The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...
. In 1827 he was invited to London to become warden of
London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...
(now University College London), an office which he held for four years; he then resided at
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
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 Solid Matter suspended in the Water of the Rhine''. He made significant contributions to the study of loess material and loess deposits and published what is probably the first illustration of a loess section. He also produced the first map of the Siebengebirge region of the Rhineland.
In 1828 he returned to Edinburgh to take charge of his ailing father's company. In 1829, on the death of his father, he took full charge of the company, and continued in this role until 1833.
In 1833 he was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the employment of children in the factories of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, and he was subsequently selected as one of the inspectors. He held this post for 26 years and during this time arguably did more to improve the working condition of women and children in the mills of north England than any other person in the 19th-century and for which he was praised by Karl Marx in ''
Das Kapital
''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...
''. In later years he devoted much attention to the geological history of the alluvial lands of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
; and in 1843 he published his ''Life'' of his brother Francis.
Family
Horner married Anna Susanna Lloyd, daughter of
Gamaliel Lloyd Gamaliel Lloyd (1744–1817) was an English merchant and political reformer, a supporter of the Yorkshire Association.
Life
He was the son of George Lloyd of Hulme Hall and his second wife Susanna(h) Horton, sister of Sir William Horton, 1st B ...
.
They had six daughters, who were all educated to a high standard for the age. The eldest sister,
Mary Elizabeth, married Sir
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
, author of ''The Principles of Geology'' in 1832. Her younger sister
Katharine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
married Lyell's younger brother Henry in 1848, and later edited ''The Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell''. A third daughter, Frances, married
Charles Bunbury, a noted paleobotanist. A fourth daughter, Leonora, married
Georg Heinrich Pertz
Georg Heinrich Pertz (28 March 17957 October 1876) was a German historian.
Personal life
Pertz was born in Hanover on 28 March 1795. His parents were the court bookbinder Christian August Pertz and Henrietta Justina née Deppen.
He married twi ...
, a historian and archivist; one of their children was
Dorothea Pertz
Dorothea Frances Matilda "Dora" Pertz FLS (14 March 1859 – 6 March 1939) was a British botanist. She co-authored five papers with Francis Darwin, Charles Darwin's son. She was made a Fellow of the Linnean Society, among the first women ad ...
and through this connection Horner was the step-great-great-grandfather of astronomer and astrophysicist
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (born Cecilia Helena Payne; – ) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her groundbreaking conclus ...
. Two other daughters, Susan and Joanna, were known in their day as the authors of a book on walking tours of Florence, Italy.
[Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia, and Katherine Haramundanis. ''Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: an autobiography and other recollections''. Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 79–80.]
Freemasonry
He was Initiated into Scottish Freemasonry in 1803 in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2. He was also an honorary member of Lodge Kirknewton and Ratho, No.85, this also being conferred in 1803.
Death
He died in Montagu Square in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on 5 March 1864.
References
*
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
"
Das Kapital, Volume I
''Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie Erster Band. Buch I: Der Produktionsprocess des Kapitals) is the first of three treatises that ma ...
" London 1867: "He rendered undying service to the English working-class."
ch. 9
*''Memoir of Leonard Horner'', by Katherine M Lyell (1890) (privately printed)
Vol. 1
* Charles Darwin "Origin of Species" 1859
External links
Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2.*
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Businesspeople from Edinburgh
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Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
People associated with Heriot-Watt University
Horner, Leonard
People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh
Presidents of the Geological Society of London
Scottish Freemasons
Scottish educational theorists
Horner, Leonard
Scottish merchants
19th-century British businesspeople