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.

2025: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography gives his birthplace as "Church Lane, Houndsditch" which no longer exists.  But John Strype’s Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, describing the Portsoken Ward has “Houndsditch is now built into Houses; and besides the Street … here are a great many Courts and Alleys: …  beginning at Still Alley … Church Lane very large and open, the North Side fronting St. Botolph's Church, and Churchyard, hath a Row of good Buildings, of which two are large …”. Bentham’s father was an attorney so perhaps the family lived in one of these large houses.

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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...

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Jeremy Bentham

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

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Jeremy Bentham - E2

No explanation for the choice of name is given and we are not aware that Bent...

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Jeremy Bentham

Creations i

Plaque to Milton erected by Bentham

On London found another drawing of the house, very similar to this one but wi...

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