Childhood and lioi/liood <;:; 



Francis was the last child in a family of nine, of which two sisters, 

 Agnes and Violetta, died as infants. The youngest of his four sur- 

 viving sisters was eleven years older than Francis, and his brothers, 

 Darwin and Erasmus, were respectively eight and six years his seniors, 

 and thus too different in age to be very companionable. Francis had 

 therefore all the temporary disadvantages which arise from being the 

 late and somewhat solitary member of a large family. But these 

 disadvantages often result in permanent advantages, if a child be of 

 marked character. It is thrown on the one hand more on its own 

 resources for amusement, and on the other hand may receive special 

 attention from parents and elders. 



" On the 16th February," writes Mrs Wheler [Elizabeth Anne Galton] in her Remi- 

 niscences, " my youngest brother Francis was born, lie was 6 years younger than the 

 youngest of us and never was a baby more welcomed. He was the pet of us all, and 

 niy mother was obliged to hang up her watch, that each sister might iiurse the child 

 for a quarter of an hour and then give him up to the next. He was a great amusement 

 to Adele and as soon as he could sit up, at five or six months old, he always preferred 

 sitting on her couch to be amused by her. She taught him his letters in play and he 

 could point to them all before he could speak. Adele had a wonderful power of teaching 

 and gaining attention without fatiguing. She taught herself Latin and Greek, that she 

 might teach him. She never made him learn by heart, but made him read his lesson bit 

 by bit, eight times over, when he then could say it. He could repeat much of Scott's 

 Marmion, and understood it well by the time he was five." [MS. Reminiscences.'] 



For early training and companionship her room was his nursery 

 Francis depended largely on this invalid sister Adele, afterwards 

 Mrs Bunbury. From the couch to which she was confined by weakness 

 of the spine, she directed his early studies, and, whatever might be 

 thought of her methods now, she undoubtedly encouraged both Francis' 

 literary and scientific tastes. 



In a little history (see Plates XXXIX and XL) of her son Francis, 

 Violetta Galton gives numerous instances of his literary aptness. Thus 

 at the dame's school to which he went when five years old one of his 

 schoolfellows was writing to his mother at Madeira, as he had just 

 heard that his father was in danger of being shot on account of Don 

 Miguel's usurpation. " What shall I say to my mother about my 



next morning, such a red little thing and how we all loved you, and then how we used 

 to quarrel for the honour of holding you in our arms, etc. But to return to seculars...." 

 (Letter of Adele Bunbury, Feb. 23, 1864.) Mr Hodgson was sixteen years later the 

 helpful friend who assisted Francis Galton at the start of his medical studies. 



