SIK FRANCIS GALTON, 1822— 1911/ 



Sir Francis Galton, Knight, traveller, meteorologist, pioneer in the science 

 of heredity, and founder of the school of " Eugenics," was horn at Birmingham 

 on February 16, 1822. He was the youngest member of a family of four 

 daughters and three sons born to Samuel Tertius Galton (1783 — 1844) and 

 his wife, Frances Anne Violetta (1783 — 1874), daughter by the second 

 marriage of Dr. Erasmus Darwin (1731 — 1802), the philosophical poet and 

 man of science. In recording the life of one who devoted himself so largely 

 to the study of heredity (a word imported into the English language by 

 Galton himself), it is natural to look to his ancestry as explanatory of his 

 great intellectual powers. In every case of conspicuous ability such an 

 inquiry might, indeed, be of interest, but it would frequently be impossible 

 to attain any such degree of completeness as is possible in the present case. 



The Galton family was probably originally settled at Galton, in Dorset- 

 shire, and they were certainly inhabitants of Somersetshire in the seventeenth 

 century, but the first to move to the neighbourhood of Birmingham was 

 Francis Galton's great-grandfather. The family belonged to the Society of 

 Friends, and, like many other Quakers, they were keen and active men of 

 business. In their case the business was that of gunsmiths and ultimately 

 of bankers, and in these pursuits considerable fortunes were amassed. 



Many of the family, and of the Barclays with whom they intermarried, 

 were remarkable men and women. Amongst those known beyond the local 

 and family circles were Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel (1629 — 1719), Robert 

 Barclay (1648 — 1690), the Quaker apologist ; Galton's great-uncle, Robert 

 Barclay Allardyce, better known as Captain Barclay (1779 — 1854), and 

 celebrated for his great feats of endurance and strength ; and his aunt, Mary 

 Anne Schimnielpenninck (1778 — 1856), a well-known writer in her day. 



On the maternal side, his mother was daughter of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, and 

 he was therefore first cousin, of the half blood, to Charles Darwin, the well- 

 known naturalist. His grandmother, the second wife of Dr. Erasmus Darwin, 

 was the widow of Colonel Edward Chandos Pole, of Radbourn, Derbyshire. 

 Her mother's name was Collier, and it may be asserted with some degree of 

 confidence that she was a natural daughter of Charles Colyear, second 

 Earl of Portmore (1700 — 1785), a member of a remarkable family.f It 

 would be out of place to go into further detail here, but enough has been 

 said to show that Galton's ancestry comprises more than a common allowance 

 of remarkable men and women. 



After attending at several small schools during his childhood, Galton was 



* Sources — 'Memories of my Life,' by Francis Galton (Methuen, 1908) ; personal know- 

 ledge, and private information. A life is being written by Prof. Karl Pearson, F.E.S. 

 t See article " Colyear, Sir David," ' Diet. Nat. Biog.' 



