Hensleigh Wedgwood
 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009) |
Hensleigh Wedgwood (21 January 1803 – 2 June 1891) was a British etymologist, philologist and barrister, author of A Dictionary of English Etymology. Wedgwood was the fourth son of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen. He was a cousin of Charles Darwin -- whom his sister Emma married in 1839.[1]
Wedgwood did well in maths but finished bottom in the classical tripos at Cambridge in 1824, for which he was awarded the first "wooden wedge", equivalent to the wooden spoon,[1] and jokingly named for him.[2]
He was also interested in Spiritualism, holding seances and sending a hoax photograph of himself in the presence of "spirits" to T.H. Huxley.
He married Frances Emma Elizabeth Mackintosh (Fanny) (1800-1889) in 1832, his first cousin, the daughter of Sir James Mackintosh and his second wife Catherine (Kitty) Allen.[1] It was an open family secret that Hensleigh's cousin Erasmus Alvey Darwin was carrying on with Fanny. They had the children:
- Frances Julia Wedgwood (1833-1913), feminist philosopher and writer known as "Snow".
- James Mackintosh Wedgwood (1834-1874)
- Ernest Hensleigh Wedgwood (1837-1898)
- Katherine Euphemia Wedgwood (1839-1934), married Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer.
- Alfred Allen Wedgwood (1842-1892), father of J. I. Wedgwood.
- Hope Elizabeth (1844-1935) married her cousin Godfrey Wedgwood.
[edit] Partial list of works
- On the Development of Understanding, 1848.
- 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.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Herford, C. H.; rev. John D. Haigh (2004). "Wedgwood, Hensleigh (1803–1891)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28965. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
- ^ Bristed, Charles Astor (1852). Five years in an English university. G. P. Putnam. p. 253.
[edit] External links
- http://darwin.lib.cam.ac.uk/perl/nav?class=name;term=Wedgwood%2C%20Hensleigh
- http://wardsbookofdays.com/2june.htm Hensleigh Wedgwood and The Wooden Spoon @ Ward's Book of Days
 |
This article on a linguist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This biography article of a United Kingdom academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
