Sir John William Lubbock, 3rd Baronet,
FRS (26 March 1803 – 21 June 1865), was an English banker,
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
,
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
.
Life
He was born in Westminster, the son of
Sir John William Lubbock, of the Lubbock & Co bank. He was educated at
Eton and
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...
, graduating in 1825. In the same year he became a partner in his father's bank.
In 1828, he became a fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
; in 1829, a 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 ...
, and has been described as "foremost among English mathematicians in adopting
Laplace's doctrine of probability."
[ He joined the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1829, and was twice Treasurer (1830–1835, 1838–1845) and three times Vice-President (1830–1835, 1836–1837, 1838–1846) of the Royal Society.
]
Lubbock carried out important studies of the tides in the 1830s. He was one of the first to present maps showing lines joining points where high tide occurred at the same time, and coined the term cotidal lines for them.[ For these studies he was awarded the ]Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...
in 1834.
Lubbock was the first Vice-Chancellor
A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...
of the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
(1837–1842),[ a position later held by his eldest son, Sir John Lubbock, 4th Bt, who was later created Baron Avebury in 1900. He was appointed Sheriff of Kent for 1852.
Lubbock became head of Lubbock & Co, retired mostly in 1840, but oversaw the merger that created Robarts, Lubbock & Co in 1860.
]
High Elms
He largely rebuilt the family home of High Elms, near Downe village in Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. His property was on the other side of the village to the land belonging to Down House
Down House is the former home of the English Natural history, naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he had conceived in London befor ...
, and when 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 ...
and Emma Darwin were house-hunting in 1842, Darwin told his sister all about Down House, noting that Lubbock was the owner of and was building a grand house nearby. Darwin said: "I believe he is very reserved & shy & proud or fine—so I suspect he will be no catch, & will never honour us". When word reached Sir John William Lubbock, he went home and hinted at a great piece of news without immediately disclosing what it was. His son, John, wondered whether the news might be the announcement of a pony of his own, and was disappointed at first to learn that it was merely the news that Charles Darwin would soon be living at Down House. The families were on friendly terms, and young John Lubbock frequently visited Down House, becoming a close friend of Darwin's. In 1846, Lubbock rented land near Down House to Darwin, who had it planted as woodland and laid out with the Sandwalk which became Darwin's daily walk.
Family
He married Harriet Hotham in 1833, and they had eleven children.[
Their eldest son John was a scientist and banker, later ennobled as Baron Avebury.
Their youngest child, ]Edgar
Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...
, won the FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
with Wanderers in 1872
Events January
* January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.
*January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort S ...
and with Old Etonians in 1879. He was also a cricketer with Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...
.
Another son, Alfred, played for Old Etonians in the 1875 FA Cup Final and was a Kent county cricketer, as was a third son, Nevile. A grandson was the author Basil Lubbock.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubbock, John, 3rd Baronet
1803 births
1865 deaths
People from Westminster
19th-century English astronomers
English bankers
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
High sheriffs of Kent
Fellows of the Royal Society
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Royal Medal winners
Vice-chancellors of the University of London
Morden College
John
19th-century English businesspeople
English barristers
Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge