Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Third Supplement.djvu/371

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D.N.B. 1912–1921

disappointment, from South Kensington to Cambridge. A portrait medallion of him in the Salcombe Regis observatory was unveiled by the astronomer royal on 22 July 1922.

Lockyer married twice: first, in 1858 Winifred (died 1879), younger daughter of William James, of Trebenshon, near Abergavenny, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters; secondly, in 1903 Thomazine Mary, younger daughter of Samuel Woolcott Browne, of Bridgwater and Clifton, and widow of Bernard Edward Brodhurst, F.R.C.S. Of the sons only four survived him.

[Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. civ, A, 1923 (portrait); personal knowledge.]

H. H. T.

LONDONDERRY, sixth Marquess of (1852-1915), politician. [See Vane- Tempest-Stewart, Charles Stewart.]

LUBBOCK, Sir JOHN, fourth baronet, and first Baron Avebury (1834–1913), banker, man of science, and author, was the eldest son of Sir John William Lubbock [q.v.], third baronet, of Lammas, Norfolk, by his wife, Harriet, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel George Hotham, of York. His father was a banker of distinguished mathematical ability and was for many years treasurer of the Royal Society. John Lubbock was born at 29 Eaton Place, London, 30 April 1834; six years later, on his father's succession to the baronetcy, the family moved to High Elms, Down, Kent. This was his country home for the rest of his life, except for an interval of four years at Chiselhurst (1861–1865) subsequent to his marriage, and for periods spent on the Kent coast at Kingsgate Castle, which he acquired and rebuilt in 1901. He showed at an early age a marked aptitude for natural history, for which his country life gave full scope. It received the greatest stimulus, and Lubbock himself a lasting impress on his whole character and career, through the influence of his father's friend, Charles Darwin, who came to reside at Down in 1841, and at once took a keen interest in the boy's early efforts. After three years at a private school at Abingdon, Lubbock at the age of eleven (1845) went to Eton, where, in the intervals of freedom from steady application to studies for which he had little zest and no conspicuous talent, he pursued solitarily his hobby of natural history. The failing health of his father's partners soon caused Lubbock's withdrawal from Eton, and in 1849, before he was fifteen, he was installed at the bank, where he soon showed exceptional capacity, and before long was able to assume responsibility for an important share in the management. He improved his general and scientific knowledge by carefully ordered private study, and spent much time with Darwin.

From this early time the course of Lubbock's life flowed in three strong and steady currents without any conspicuous interruption. He worked hard at his business and acquired a leading position among bankers; he devoted his leisure largely to the pursuit of natural science and won a recognized place among the most eminent of its followers; and thirdly, he made for himself a position of peculiar importance and usefulness in public life, notably in parliament, where he effected important legislation. Lubbock was a prolific author, and as an expositor of science and an intellectual and moral mentor to the general public he had a vogue that is almost without parallel in modern times. At the same time, his home at High Elms was a social centre for a multitude of friends, including leading men of science and statesmen, and his life included a large measure of foreign travel.

Lubbock married in 1856 Ellen Frances (died 1879), daughter of the Rev. Peter Hordern, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire, and by her he had three sons and three daughters. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1865. Five years after the death of his first wife he married in 1884 Alice, daughter of General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers [q.v.], the distinguished archaeologist. His second family consisted of three sons and two daughters. On being raised to the peerage in 1900, he assumed the title of Baron Avebury, of Avebury, Wiltshire.

Lubbock's long, strenuous, and successful public life made him one of the best known and most highly esteemed men of his day. His power of work, his systematic habits, and his ability to keep his mind engaged on a great variety of topics and to pass and repass from one to another without confusion were quite unusual. As the head of Robarts, Lubbock & Co. he was continuously active in the banking world, where at an early age he inaugurated both the important reform known as the system of country clearing and the publication of clearing-house returns. He was honorary secretary of the London Bankers in 1863; from 1898 to 1913 he was chairman of the committee of London clearing bankers and president

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