Leonard Horner
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Leonard Horner
FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...
FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the younger brother of Francis Horner. Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now
Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...
and one of the founders of the
Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...
. A 'radical educational reformer' he was involved in the establishment of
University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...
. As a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children in Factories, Horner arguably did more to improve the working conditions of women and children in North England than any other person in the 19th century.


Early life and education

His father, John Horner, was a linen merchant in Edinburgh, and partner in the firm of Inglis & Horner. Leonard, the third and youngest son, attended the
High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
and entered the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
in 1799. There in the course of the next four years he studied
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
and
mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
, and gained a love of
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
from ''Playfairs Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory''. At the age of nineteen he became a partner in a branch of his father's business, and went to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.


Career

In 1808 he joined the newly formed
Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...
and two years later was elected one of the secretaries. Throughout his long life he was ardently devoted to the welfare of the society; he was elected president in 1846 and again in 1860. In 1811 he read his first paper ''On the Mineralogy of the
Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit af ...
'' (''Trans. Geol. Soc.'' vol. i.) and subsequently communicated other papers on the Brine-springs at Droitwich, and the ''Geology of the S.W. part of
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
shire''. He was elected 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 ...
in 1813. In 1815 he returned to Edinburgh to take personal superintendence of his business, and while there (1821) he was instrumental in founding the Edinburgh School of Arts on Adam Square where the instruction of mechanics and art was taught, and he was one of the founders of the
Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...
. In 1827 he was invited to London to become warden of
London University 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 ...
(now University College London), an office which he held for four years; he then resided at
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
for two years and pursued the study of minerals and rocks, communicating to the Geological Society on his return a paper on the ''Geology of the Environs of Bonn'', and another ''On the Quantity of Solid Matter suspended in the Water of the Rhine''. He made significant contributions to the study of loess material and loess deposits and published what is probably the first illustration of a loess section. He also produced the first map of the Siebengebirge region of the Rhineland. In 1828 he returned to Edinburgh to take charge of his ailing father's company. In 1829, on the death of his father, he took full charge of the company, and continued in this role until 1833. In 1833 he was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the employment of children in the factories of
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
, and he was subsequently selected as one of the inspectors. He held this post for 26 years and during this time arguably did more to improve the working condition of women and children in the mills of north England than any other person in the 19th-century and for which he was praised by Karl Marx in ''
Das Kapital ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' (), also known as ''Capital'' or (), is the most significant work by Karl Marx and the cornerstone of Marxian economics, published in three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his ...
''. In later years he devoted much attention to the geological history of the alluvial lands of
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
; and in 1843 he published his ''Life'' of his brother Francis.


Family

Horner married Anna Susanna Lloyd, daughter of Gamaliel Lloyd. They had six daughters, all of whom educated to a high standard for the age. The eldest, Mary Elizabeth, married Sir
Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles ...
, author of ''The Principles of Geology'' in 1832. Her younger sister Katharine married Lyell's younger brother Henry in 1848, and later edited ''The Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell''. A third daughter, Frances, married Charles Bunbury, a noted paleobotanist. A fourth daughter, Leonora, married Georg Heinrich Pertz, a historian and archivist; one of their children was Dorothea Pertz and through this connection Horner was the step-great-great-grandfather of astronomer and astrophysicist
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (born Cecilia Helena Payne; – ) was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist. Her work on the cosmic makeup of the universe and the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics. She ...
. Two other daughters, Susan and Joanna, were known in their day as the authors of a book on walking tours of Florence, Italy.Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia, and Katherine Haramundanis. ''Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: an autobiography and other recollections''. Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 79–80.


Freemasonry

He was Initiated into Scottish Freemasonry in 1803 in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2. He was also an honorary member of Lodge Kirknewton and Ratho, No.85, this also being conferred in 1803.


Death

He died in Montagu Square in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on 5 March 1864.


References

*
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
"
Das Kapital, Volume I ''Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume I: The Process of Production of Capital'' () is the first of three treatises that make up , a critique of political economy by the German philosopher and economist Karl Marx. First published on ...
" London 1867: "He rendered undying service to the English working-class."
ch. 9
*''Memoir of Leonard Horner'', by Katherine M Lyell (1890) (privately printed)
Vol. 1
* Charles Darwin "Origin of Species" 1859


External links


Lodge Canongate Kilwinning, No.2.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horner, Leonard Horner, Leonard Horner, Leonard Horner, Leonard Horner, Leonard Businesspeople from Edinburgh Horner, Leonard Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People associated with Heriot-Watt University Horner, Leonard People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Presidents of the Geological Society of London Scottish Freemasons Scottish educational theorists Horner, Leonard 19th-century Scottish merchants 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge