Richard Lovell Edgeworth

Richard Lovell Edgeworth (31 May 1744 – 13 June 1817) was an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor.

Richard Lovell Edgeworth
Richard Edgeworth, 1812
Born	31 May 1744 Bath, England
Died	13 June 1817 (aged 73) Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Corpus Christi, Oxford; Trinity College, Dublin
Children	Twenty two, including Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849) William Edgeworth (1794–1829) Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812–1881)

Edgeworthstown House, Ireland

Library at Edgeworthstown House 1888

Edgeworth's proposed optical telegraph for use in Ireland. The rotational position of each one of the four indicators represented a number 1-7 (0 being "rest"), forming a four-digit number. The number stood for a particular word in a codebook.[1]

Biography

Edgeworth was born in Pierrepont Street, Bath, England, son of Richard Edgeworth senior, and great-grandson of Sir Salathiel Lovell through his mother, Jane Lovell, granddaughter of Sir Salathiel. The Edgeworth family came to Ireland in the 1580s. Richard was descended from Francis Edgeworth, Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper, who inherited a fortune from his brother Edward Edgeworth, Bishop of Down and Connor.

A Trinity College, Dublin and Corpus Christi, Oxford 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 the developing educational methods. He anticipated the caterpillar track with an invention that he played around with for forty years but that he never successfully developed.[2] He described it as a "cart that carries its own road".

He was married four times, including both Honora Sneyd and Frances Beaufort, older sister of Francis Beaufort of the Royal Navy. The two men installed a semaphore line for Ireland. Richard Lovell Edgeworth was a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. 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, Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Day, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Samuel Galton, Jr., James Keir, Joseph Priestley, William Small, Jonathan Stokes, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, John Whitehurst and William Withering.

Richard Edgeworth and his family lived in Ireland at his estate at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, 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 and parliamentary reform. He was a founder-member of the Royal Irish Academy. He died in Edgeworthstown on 13 June 1817.

Family

He was the father of 22 children by his four wives[3]

1. Anna Maria Elers (1743–1773), of whom five children[4]

   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[5]

   Anna Maria Edgeworth (1773–1824), married Dr. Thomas Beddoes 1794.[6]

2. Honora Sneyd (1751 – 1 May 1780), of whom two children[4]

   Honora Edgeworth (1774–1790)

   Lovell Edgeworth (1775–1842), who inherited the property

3. 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 Francis Beaufort (his brother in law from his fourth marriage) in 1838

   William Edgeworth (1794–1829), engineer.[7]

4. Frances Ann Beaufort (1769–1865), botanical artist, daughter of Daniel Augustus Beaufort and Mary Waller, of whom six children,[4][8]

   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's Life of Sterling. Married Rosa Florentina Eroles of Spain, 1831, of whom six sons and one daughter[9]

   William Edgeworth (1832 -1833)

   William Edgeworth (1834-1863), entered the army in 1853 and served in India

   Antonio Eroles Edgeworth (1835–1911), succeeded his uncle Charles Sneyd Edgeworth

   David Reid Edgeworth (1837-1871)

   Mary Edgeworth (1839-1893)

   Richard Lestock Edgeworth (1843-1869)

   Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (1845–1926), became an influential economist.[10]

   Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (1812–1881), m. Christina Macpherson 1846, botanist.

References

1. Rees, Abraham, ed. (1802–1820). "The Daily Telegraph". Cyclopædia. 35. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown. Unpaginated work: pages 9-11 of the article entry.
2. Beach Combing 2011.
3. Butler 1972, p. 489.
4. Lundy 2015, Richard Lovell Edgeworth.
5. Find a Grave 2015, Emmeline Edgeworth King.
6. Find a Grave 2015, Anna Maria Edgeworth Beddoes.
7. A. W. Skempton (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. Thomas Telford. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-7277-2939-2. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
8. Lundy 2015, Frances Ann Beaufort.
9. Barbe, L. (2010), Francis Ysidro Edgeworth : A Portrait with Family and Friends, translated from Catalan by M.C. Black. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
10. "Edgeworth, Richard Lovell" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Bibliography

• Butler, Marilyn (1972). Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198120179. Retrieved 31 March 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Clarke, Desmond (1965). The ingenious Mr. Edgeworth. Oldbourne. Retrieved 31 March 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Curtis, Stanley James; Boultwood, Myrtle E. A. (1977). A short history of educational ideas (5th ed.). University Tutorial Press. ISBN 9780723107675.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Edgeworth, Maria (1820). "RL Edgeworth Esq". The Annual Register. Part II: 1215–1223. Retrieved 18 March 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Priestman, Judith; Clapinson, Mary; Rogers, Tim (1993). "Catalogue of the papers of Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), and the Edgeworth family, 17th-19th century". University of Oxford, Bodleian Library. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
• Lundy, Darryl (2015). "Home". The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Colvin, Christina Edgeworth. "Edgeworth, Richard Lovell (1744–1817)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8478. Retrieved 18 March 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• "The Four Wives of Richard Lovell Edgewort & The Children of Richard Lovell Edgeworth" (Images). English-Irish Edgeworths. House of Edgeworth, South Carolina. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
• MacDonald, Edgar E. (1977). The Education of the Heart: The Correspondence of Rachel Mordecai Lazarus and Maria Edgeworth. UNC Press. ISBN 9781469606095. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
• O'Connor, Maura (2010). The Development of Infant Education in Ireland, 1838-1948: Epochs and Eras. Bern: Lang. ISBN 9783034301428. Retrieved 31 March 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• "Edgeworth Papers. Collection List 40" (PDF). National Library of Ireland. p. 112. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
• "Edgeworth Collection (Longford County Library)". Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 30 March 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Beach Combing (21 July 2011). "Forgotten Anglo-Irish Inventor Anticipates the Modern Age". Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog. Retrieved 26 August 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Find a Grave (2015). "Find a Grave". Retrieved 26 August 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Works by Richard Lovell Edgeworth at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Richard Lovell Edgeworth at Faded Page (Canada)
• Works by or about Richard Lovell Edgeworth at Internet Archive
• Edgeworth, Richard Lovell; Maria Edgeworth (1820). The Memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. 1. London: Hunter, Cradock & Joy.
• Edgeworth, Richard Lovell; Maria Edgeworth (1821). The Memoirs of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. 2. London: Hunter, Cradock & Joy.
• The four wives of Richard Edgeworth Portraits
• The Edgeworth Family, National Portrait Gallery