Person    | Male  Born 4/2/1747  Died 6/6/1832

Jeremy Bentham

Categories: Philosophy

Born Spitalfields. A child prodigy, Bentham went to Oxford University aged 12. He chose not to practice law but to comment on it, institutions and society in general. He is associated with the doctrine of Utilitarianism and the principle of 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. He is considered the spiritual father of UCL (University College London) and it is there that his voluminous manuscripts are stored and where one can view his 'auto-icon'. This curious object (pictured) and the stories associated with it are well covered at the web site given as the picture source.

2020: the auto-icon has moved (well, it didn't get up and walk there on its own) to a new location at UCL. Londonist have the details and photos.

Our colleague, Andrew Behan, has researched this man. Starting with his Wikipedia page there were two dates of birth shown, 15 February 1748 and 4 February 1747. WikiTree seems to give just the 4 February 1747 date and as he was baptised on 14 February 1747 at the church of St Botolph without Aldgate, London, we have gone with the 1747 date. The baptismal register show his parents as Jeremiah and Alicia Bentham living at Church Lane.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Jeremy Bentham

Commemorated ati

Bentham in Queen Anne's Gate

Jeremy Bentham, philosopher and reformer, 1748 - 1832, lived in a house on th...

Read More

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham Known for many years as the 'Lord Wellington' it is still fre...

Read More

Other Subjects

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft

Writer, philosopher and feminist before her time. Born Primrose Street, Spitalfields. Her radical book "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792) in which she described marriage as "legal prostitu...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Philosophy, Seriously Famous, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden

10 memorials
Sir Francis Bacon

Sir Francis Bacon

Born York House near Strand. Died in Highgate at Arundel House, the home of his friend, Thomas Howard, Lord Arundel. The site is now occupied by St. Michael's Church, South Grove. Travelling toward...

Person, Philosophy

11 memorials
Francis Hutcheson

Francis Hutcheson

Philosopher. Born Ulster of Scottish heritage. Studied in Glasgow. Best known for 'An Inquiry Into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue: In Two Treatises 1.Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmo...

Person, Philosophy, Ireland, Scotland

1 memorial
Evelyn Underhill

Evelyn Underhill

Christian mystic, novelist and pacifist. Born Wolverhampton. 1907 married the barrister Hubert Stuart Moore, whom she had known since childhood, with no issue. Died Hampstead.

Person, Education, Philosophy, Religion

1 memorial
Piotr Ouspensky

Piotr Ouspensky

Philosopher. Born in Moscow. He became a pupil of George Gurdjieff who taught that most humans live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to transcend to a high...

Person, Literature, Philosophy, Russia

1 memorial