Seymour Tremenheere
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Hugh Seymour Tremenheere (1804–1893) was an English academic, barrister, publicist and author, who worked as a schools inspector and mines inspector.


Early life

He was born at Wootton House,
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...
, on 22 January 1804, the son of Walter Tremenheere and his wife Frances Apperley; Charles William Tremenheere (1813–1898) of the Royal Engineers was his brother. He was educated at
Winchester School Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of t ...
from 1816, and matriculated as a scholar from
New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
, on 30 January 1824. He was a fellow of his college from 1824 to 1856, graduated B.A. 1827 and M.A. 1832, and was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
at the
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
on 21 November 1834. After three years' practice as a barrister, Tremenheere was made a revising barrister on the western circuit.


Public servant

Tremenheere entered public service, and was sent in 1839 to Newport to investigate John Frost's rebellion. He subsequently served on numerous Royal Commissions, and was instrumental in bringing about fourteen Acts of Parliament with social aims. In January 1840 Tremenheere was appointed an inspector of schools. He was a member of the Central Society of Education, and his appointment came about through the support of Baldwin Francis Duppa, the Society's secretary. He was the first British schools inspector, with his colleague Rev. John Allen, who represented the Committee for Council on Education. He made nine reports to the committee of the council on education on the state of schools in England and Wales. He found, however that his right to free comment in reports was in practice curtailed, and resigned the post. The problem arose in January 1842, with his report on 66 school of the
British and Foreign School Society The British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) offers charitable aid to educational projects in the UK and around the world by funding schools, other charities and educational bodies. It was significant in the history of education in England, suppo ...
. He came under political pressure to withdraw from
Lord Wharncliffe Earl of Wharncliffe, in the West Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The earldom was created in 1876 for Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 3rd Baron Wharncliffe. He was a descendan ...
, but refused to alter the report.
Joseph Fletcher Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...
took over as inspector for the British and Foreign School Society, from 1844. In October 1842 Tremenheere became an assistant poor-law commissioner, and in 1843 a commissioner for inquiring into the state of the population in the mining districts, on which he made fifteen reports between 1844 and 1858. He was appointed under ill-defined provisions of the
Mines and Collieries Act 1842 The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 (c. 99), commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act forbade women and girls of any age to work underground and introduced a minimum age of ten for boys e ...
, by
Sir James Graham, 2nd Baronet Sir James Robert George Graham, 2nd Baronet (1 June 1792 – 25 October 1861) was a British statesman, who notably served as Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty. He was the eldest son of Sir James Graham, 1st Baronet, by Lady Ca ...
, a sole appointee who held the post for 16 years. While he had the title Inspector of Mines, his remit did not require him to inspect mine workings, and he did not go underground. A friend of
Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on racism, race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Th ...
, Tremenheere met
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
through her in 1845. In 1855 and 1861 Tremenheere made inquiries into the management of bleaching works and lace manufactories. Appointed one of the commissioners in 1861 for inquiring into the employment of children and young persons in trades and manufactures, he joined in making six reports on this subject between 1863 and 1867. One of those, with
Edward Carleton Tufnell Edward Carleton Tufnell (27 October 1806, Marylebone, London (then part of Middlesex) – 3 July 1886 Belgravia, London ) was an English civil servant and educationist. Education He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, gain ...
, was on printing, bleaching and dyeing. As one of the commissioners on the employment of young persons and women in agriculture, he took part in writing four reports to parliament between 1867 and 1870. He also reported on grievances complained of by the journeymen bakers, on the operations of bakehouse regulations, and on the tithe commutation acts.


Later life

After his retirement on 1 March 1871, after 31 years' public service, Tremenheere was made a C.B. on 8 August. He had succeeded his uncle, Henry Pendarves Tremenheere, in 1841 in the property of Tremenheere and Tolver, near
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
. For three years, 1869–71, he was president of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. He died at 43
Thurloe Square Thurloe Square is a traditional garden square in South Kensington, London, England. There are private communal gardens in the centre of the square for use by the local residents. The Victoria and Albert Museum is close by to the north acros ...
, London, on 16 September 1893.


Works

Tremenheere was the author of: *''Observations on the proposed Breakwater in Mount's Bay and on its Connection with a Railway into Cornwall'', 1839. *''Notes on Public Subjects made during a Tour in the United States and in Canada'', 1852. *''The Political Experience of the Ancients, in its bearing upon Modern Times'', 1852, republished as ''A Manual of the Principles of Government'', 1882 and 1883. *''The Constitution of the United States compared with our own'', 1854. *''Translations from Pindar into English Blank Verse'', 1866. *''A New Lesson from the Old World: a summary of Aristotle's lately discovered work on the Constitution of Athens'', 1891. *''How Good Government grew up, and how to preserve it'', 1893. Advocates for
mixed government Mixed government (or a mixed constitution) is a form of government that combines elements of democracy, aristocracy and monarchy, ostensibly making impossible their respective degenerations which are conceived as anarchy, oligarchy and tyranny. ...
, quoting
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
and
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
.


Family

Tremenheere married, on 2 April 1856, Lucy Bernal, third daughter of
Ralph Bernal Ralph Bernal (2 October 1783 ''available online to subscribers, and also in print'' or 2 October 1784 – 26 August 1854) was a British Whig politician and art collector. His parents, Jacob Israel Bernal and wife Leah da Silva, were Sephardi Je ...
, and widow of Vicesimus Knox III, son of
Vicesimus Knox Vicesimus Knox (1752–1821) was an English essayist, headmaster and Anglican priest. Life Knox was born 8 December 1752, at Newington Green, Middlesex, the son of Vicesimus Knox (1729–1780), a cleric and schoolmaster, and his wife Ann Wall, da ...
. She died on 7 October 1872, leaving two daughters, Florence Lucy Bernal who married Ernest Edward Leigh Bennett, and Evelyn Westfaling who married George Marcus Parker, barrister of the Inner Temple.


Notes


Further reading

* Edmonds, E.L. and Edmonds, O.P. An account of the founding of H.M. Inspectorate of Mines and the work of the first inspector, Hugh Seymour Tremenheere ''British Journal of Industrial Medicine'', 20, 1963, 210-217 * Webb, R,K. A Whig inspector ''Journal of Modern History'' 27 1955, 352-364 ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Tremenheere, Hugh Seymour 1804 births 1893 deaths English barristers English writers Fellows of New College, Oxford Companions of the Order of the Bath Presidents of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall 19th-century English lawyers