John Bruckner (also Jean or Johannes) (31 December 1726 – 12 May 1804) was a Dutch Lutheran minister and author, who settled in Norwich, England.

Life

He was born on the Land van

Cadzand Cadzand is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Sluis, about 8 km northwest of Oostburg. The village contains 790 inhabitants (2010). Better known to many visitors is the nearby beach at Cadzand- ...

(locally Kezand), then a small island in

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

. He was educated for the ministry, mainly at the

University of Franeker The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University. History Also known as ''Academia Franekerensis'' ...

, where he studied Greek under

Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer (Leeuwarden, 7 June 1715 – Leiden, 15 March 1785) was a Dutch classical scholar, at Leiden. He was a follower of Tiberius Hemsterhuis, and his successor in 1766 in the chair of Greek at Leiden. He was born in Leeuwarde ...

; and held a charge at

Leyden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

. In 1752 an elder of the Norwich Walloon church that leased the Church of St Mary the Less, seeking a successor to Michel Olivier Vallotton as pastor, recruited Bruckner, who could preach in Latin, Dutch, French, and English; and he came in Norwich in 1753. In addition to his duties at St Mary the Less, he succeeded Dr. van Sarn, about 1766, as pastor of the Norwich Dutch church who used the choir of the church of St John the Baptist. These duties were light, and lessened. Bruckner held the joint charge till his death, and was the last regular minister of either church. He taught French, Amelia Opie being among his pupils, and acted as organist. He also took part in the Norwich literary circle. He committed suicide at Norwich, while suffering from depression, on Saturday, 12 May 1804. He was buried at Guist, near

Foulsham Foulsham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is located north-east of Dereham and north-west of Norwich. Foulsham is renowned in the local area for its unspoilt nature and the number of Sixteenth and Sev ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He had married in 1782 Miss Cooper of Guist, a former pupil, who predeceased him.

John Opie John Opie (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was an English historical and portrait painter. He painted many great men and women of his day, including members of the British Royal Family, and others who were notable in the artistic and literary ...

painted his portrait, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800; one of Amelia Opie's ‘Lays’ is about this portrait.

Works

Bruckner wrote ''Théorie du Système Animal'', Leyden, 1767 (anon.), a work now referenced in terms of the history of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

; it commented on animal populations, from the attitude of natural theology. In chapters VII and X there is an anticipation of

Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...

's views, and

Loren Eiseley Loren Eiseley (September 3, 1907 – July 9, 1977) was an American anthropologist, educator, philosopher, and natural science writer, who taught and published books from the 1950s through the 1970s. He received many honorary degrees and was ...

took Bruckner as the immediate forerunner of Malthus. This work was translated within two years into English by

Thomas Cogan Thomas Cogan (8 February 1736 – 2 February 1818) was an English nonconformist physician, a founder of the Royal Humane Society and philosophical writer. Life He was born at Rothwell, Northamptonshire on 8 February 1736, the half-brother of ...

; and into German by Christian Garve. Bruckner's ideas were taken from

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

and Buffon, as well as general reading; they were noticed by

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 ...

as the beginnings of modern "population theory". Bruckner is also noted as an early proponent of the

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one o ...

concept. Other works were: * ‘Criticisms on the Diversions of Purley. By John Cassander,’ 1790.

John Horne Tooke John Horne Tooke (25 June 1736 – 18 March 1812), known as John Horne until 1782 when he added the surname of his friend William Tooke to his own, was an English clergyman, politician, and philologist. Associated with radical proponents of parl ...

replied in his edition of 1798. Bruckner's views derived from

Albert Schultens Albert Schultens (; 168626 January 1750) was a Dutch philologist. Biography He was born at Groningen, where he studied for the church. He went on to the University of Leiden, applying himself specially to Hebrew and the cognate tongues. His thes ...

and

Tiberius Hemsterhuis Tiberius Hemsterhuis (9 January 16857 April 1766) was a Dutch philologist and critic. Life He was born in Groningen. His father, a learned physician, gave him a good early education and he entered the university of his native city in his fiftee ...

. Richard Taylor included information on Bruckner in his 1829 edition of the ''Diversions''. * ‘Thoughts on Public Worship,’ 1792; in reply to

Gilbert Wakefield Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801) was an English scholar and controversialist. He moved from being a cleric and academic, into tutoring at dissenting academies, and finally became a professional writer and publicist. In a celebrated state trial ...

's ‘Enquiry into the Expediency and Propriety of Public or Social Worship,’ 1791. In his preface Bruckner promises a continuation. He began a didactic poem in French verse, intended to popularise the views of his ‘Théorie.’ Lines on his own wrinkled and ‘lugubre’ countenance are in Amelia Opie's ‘Life.’

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruckner, John 1726 births 1804 deaths Dutch Lutherans Dutch male writers People from Sluis University of Franeker alumni