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 jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

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 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 college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, 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 (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

; 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 The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham, with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain formal teaching or who pr ...

in 1829, and was twice Treasurer (1830–35, 1838–45) and three times Vice-President (1830–35, 1836–37, 1838–46) of the Royal Society. Cotidal map tide round Great Britain Lubbock 1831 2

Cotidal map tide round Great Britain Lubbock 1831 2

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 for "the most important ...

in 1834. Lubbock was the first

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of London 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 degr ...

(1837–42), a position later held by his eldest son, Sir John Lubbock, 4th Bt, who was later created

Baron Avebury Baron Avebury, of Avebury in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created 22 January 1900 for the banker, politician and archaeologist Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet. He was succeeded by his eldest son, ...

in 1900. He was appointed

Sheriff of Kent The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (prior to 1974 the office previously known as sheriff)."Sheriffs appointed for a county or Greater London shall be known as high sheriffs, and any reference in any enactment or instrum ...

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 Downe, formerly Down, () is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley but beyond the London urban sprawl. Downe is south west of Orpington and south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a hill, and ...

village in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. 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 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 before moving to Down ...

, and when

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

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 John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

was a scientist and banker, later ennobled as Baron Avebury. Their youngest child,

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...

won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

with Wanderers in 1872 and with Old Etonians in

1879 Events January–March * January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. * January 11 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins. * Janu ...

. 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 Ke ...

. Another son,

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

played for Old Etonians in the 1875 FA Cup Final and was a Kent county cricketer, as was another son, Nevile. A grandson was the author

Basil Lubbock Alfred Basil Lubbock MC (9 September 1876 – 3 September 1944 at Monks Orchard, Seaford) was a British historian, sailor and soldier. He was a prolific writer on the last generation of commercial sailing vessels in the Age of Sail. He was an e ...

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lubbock, John, 3rd Baronet 1803 births 1865 deaths People from Westminster 19th-century British 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

19th-century English businesspeople English barristers Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge