In the late Dr George Wilson's collection of Cavendish MSS. there is a drawing Henry Cavendish was buried in the Devonshire Vault, All Saints' Church, HENRY CAVENDISH EsqR Eldest Son of the Right Honorable LORD CHARLES CAVENDISH, Third Son of William, 2ND DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society THE ELECTRICAL RESEARCHES OF THE HONOURABLE HENRY CAVENDISH, F.R.S. INTRODUCTION *. So little is known of the details of the life of Henry Cavendish, and so fully have the few known facts been given in the Life of Cavendish by Dr George Wilsont, that it is unnecessary here to repeat them except in so far as they bear on the history of his electrical researches. He was born at Nice on the 10th October, 1731, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1760, and was an active member of that body during the rest of his life. He died at Clapham on the 24th February, 1810. His father was Lord Charles Cavendish, third son of William, second Duke of Devonshire, who married Lady Anne Grey, fourth daughter of the Duke of Kent. Henry was their eldest son. had one brother, Frederick, who died 23rd February, 1812. He Of Lord Charles Cavendish we have the following notice by Dr Franklint. After describing an experiment of his on the passage of electricity through glass when heated to 400° F., he says, "It were to be wished that this noble philosopher would communi"cate more of his experiments to the world, as he makes many, and "with great accuracy.” + Published in 1851 as the first volume of the Works of the Cavendish Society. Franklin's Works, edited by Jared Sparks, Boston, 1856, Vol. v, p. 383. See also Note 26 at the end of this book. |