Rees's Cyclopaedia - Richard Lovell Edgeworth's optical telegraph

Richard Lovell Edgeworth (31 May 1744 – 13 June 1817) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

politician, writer and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Biography

Edgeworth was born in Pierrepont Street,

Bath, England Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, son of Richard Edgeworth senior, and great-grandson of Sir

Salathiel Lovell Sir Salathiel Lovell (1631/2–1713) was an English judge, Recorder of London, an ancient and bencher of Gray's Inn, and a Baron of the Exchequer. Origins and education Lovell was the son of Benjamin Lovell, rector of Lapworth, Warwickshire, and ...

through his mother, Jane Lovell, granddaughter of Sir Salathiel. The Edgeworth family came to Ireland in the 1580s. Richard was descended from Francis Edgeworth, appointed joint

Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper The Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper was a civil servant within the Irish Chancery in the Dublin Castle administration. His duties corresponded to the offices of Clerk of the Crown and Clerk of the Hanaper in the English Chancery. Latterly, the of ...

in 1606, who inherited a fortune from his brother

Edward Edgeworth Edward Edgeworth, D.D. (died 1595) was an Anglican bishop in the last decade of the sixteenth century. An Englishman, probably from Edgware, north London, he was Vicar of East Kirkby before coming over to Ireland, probably in the early 1560s. He ...

Bishop of Down and Connor The Bishop of Down and Connor is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Downpatrick (located in County Down) and the village of Connor (located in County Antrim) in Northern Ireland. The title is still used by the Catholic Chur ...

. A

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

alumnus, he is credited for creating, among other inventions, a machine to measure the size of a plot of land. He also made strides in developing educational methods. He anticipated the

caterpillar track Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle ...

with an invention that he played around with for forty years but that he never successfully developed. He described it as a "cart that carries its own road". He was married four times, including both

Honora Sneyd Honora Edgeworth (''née'' Sneyd; 1751 – 1 May 1780) was an eighteenth-century English writer, mainly known for her associations with literary figures of the day particularly Anna Seward and the Lunar Society, and for her work on children's e ...

and Frances Beaufort, older sister of

Francis Beaufort Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer, rear admiral of the Royal Navy, and creator of the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale. Early life Francis Beaufort was descende ...

of the Royal Navy. The two men installed a

semaphore line An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals. There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and ...

for Ireland. Richard Lovell Edgeworth was a member of the

Lunar Society of Birmingham The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...

. The Lunar Society evolved through various degrees of organization over a period of years, but was only ever an informal group. No constitution, minutes, publications or membership lists survive from any period, and evidence of its existence and activities is found only in the correspondence and notes of those associated with it. Dates given for the society range from sometime before 1760 to it still operating as late as 1813. Fourteen individuals have been identified as having verifiably attended Lunar Society meetings regularly over a long period during its most productive time: these are

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Samuel Galton, Jr., James Keir,

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted ...

, William Small, Jonathan Stokes,

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was ...

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...

, John Whitehurst and William Withering. Richard Edgeworth and his family lived in Ireland at his estate at

Edgeworthstown Edgeworthstown or Mostrim () is a small town in County Longford, Ireland. The town is in the east of the county, near the border with County Westmeath. Nearby towns are Longford 12 km to the west, Mullingar 26 km to the east, Athlone ...

County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 46,634 ...

, where he reclaimed bogs and improved roads. He sat in Grattan's Parliament for St Johnstown (County Longford) from 1798 until the Act of Union in 1801, and advocated

Catholic Emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

and

parliamentary reform In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

. He was a founder-member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...

. He died in Edgeworthstown on 13 June 1817.

Family

He was the father of 22 children by his four wives # Anna Maria Elers (1743–1773), of whom five children #: Richard Edgeworth (1765–1796), m. Elizabeth Knight 1788. Died in America #: Lovell Edgeworth (1766–1766) #: Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849) the novelist #: Emmeline Edgeworth (1770–1817), married Dr. John King of Bristol, October 1802 #: Anna Maria Edgeworth (1773–1824), married Dr.

Thomas Beddoes Thomas Beddoes (13 April 176024 December 1808) was an English physician and scientific writer. He was born in Shifnal, Shropshire and died in Bristol fifteen years after opening his medical practice there. He was a reforming practitioner and t ...

1794. #

(1751 – 1 May 1780), of whom two children #: Honora Edgeworth (1774–1790) #: Lovell Edgeworth (1775–1842), who inherited the property # Elizabeth Sneyd (1753–1797), sister of Honora Sneyd, of whom five sons and four daughters #: Elizabeth Edgeworth (1781–1805) #: Henry Edgeworth (1782–1813) #: Charlotte Edgeworth (1783–1807) #: Sophia Edgeworth (1784–1784) #: Charles Sneyd Edgeworth (1786–1864) m. Henrica Broadhurst 1813, succeeded his brother Lovell Edgeworth #: William Edgeworth (1788–1790) #: Thomas Day Edgeworth (1789–1792) #: Honora Edgeworth (1792–1858), married

(his brother-in-law from his fourth marriage) in 1838 #: William Edgeworth (1794–1829), engineer. # Frances Ann Beaufort (1769–1865), botanical artist, daughter of

Daniel Augustus Beaufort Daniel Augustus Beaufort LL.D. (1 October 1739 – 1821), was an Anglican priest and geographer, born in England to French Huguenot parents. He was rector of Navan, County Meath, Ireland, from 1765 to 1818, and a talented amateur architect als ...

and Mary Waller, of whom six children #: Frances Maria Edgeworth (1799–1848) m. Lestock Wilson 1829 #: Harriet Edgeworth (1801–1889) m. Richard Butler 1826 #: Sophia Edgeworth (1803–1836) m. Barry Fox 1824 #: Lucy Jane (1805–1897), married the Irish astronomer Thomas Romney Robinson 1843. #: Francis Beaufort Edgeworth (1809–1846), Mentioned in

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

's ''Life of Sterling.'' Married Rosa Florentina Eroles of Spain.Barbe, L. (2010), ''Francis Ysidro Edgeworth : A Portrait with Family and Friends'', translated from Catalan by M.C. Black. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited #: Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812–1881), m. Christina Macpherson 1846, botanist.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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The four wives of Richard Edgeworth
Portraits
The Edgeworth Family, National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgeworth, Richard Lovell 1744 births 1817 deaths People from Bath, Somerset People from Lichfield Alumni of Trinity College Dublin English inventors English non-fiction writers Irish MPs 1798–1800 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Longford constituencies Members of the Royal Irish Academy Fellows of the Royal Society English male non-fiction writers