Hensleigh Wedgwood

Early life Wedgwood was born at Tarrant Gunville in Dorset, the fourth son of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen of Cresselly, Pembrokeshire. Although he did well in maths, graduating as 8th wrangler, he finished bottom in the classical tripos at Cambridge in 1824, for which he was awarded the first "wooden wedge", equivalent to the wooden spoon,

Career After leaving Cambridge, Wedgwood read for the chancery bar. In 1828, he qualified as a barrister, but never practised.

A notable case that came before him during his tenure was that of James Pratt and John Smith in 1835, whom he committed to trial after their arrest for homosexual acts. After their trial and conviction at the Central Criminal Court, the two became the last to be executed for sodomy in England. This was in spite of Wedgwood himself calling for a commutation of their death sentences in a letter to the Home Secretary.

In 1837, Wedgwood resigned from the magistracy after deciding that one of his duties, the administrations of oaths, was inconsistent with the commandments of the New Testament. Between 1838 and 1849, he held the post of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriage.

Wedgwood was a member of the British National Association of Spiritualists and a vice-president of the Society for Psychical Research.

Personal life He married, in 1832, Frances Emma Elizabeth "Fanny" Mackintosh (1800–1889), daughter of Catherine "Kitty" Allen (his maternal aunt) and James Mackintosh. James Mackintosh Wedgwood (1834–1864) Ernest Hensleigh Wedgwood (1837–1898)

His estate after death was valued at £123,694 (this would have been worth approximately £17 million in 2022) which was left to his wife Fanny and their five surviving children.

Partial list of works The Principles of Geometrical Demonstration, 1844 On the Development of Understanding, 1848. The Geometry of the Three First Books of Euclid by Direct Proofs from Definitions Alone, 1856. On the Origin of Language, 1866. A Dictionary of English Etymology, Second Edition, 1872. Contested Etymologies in the Dictionary of Rev. W. W. Skeat, 1882.