BENTHAM JEREMY: (1748-1832) English Jurist, Philosopher and Social Reformer. A good L.S., Jeremy Bentham, two pages ...

BENTHAM JEREMY: (1748-1832) English Jurist, Philosopher and Social Reformer. A good L.S., Jeremy Bentham, two pages, small 4to, Q[ueen] S[quare] P[lace], 31st March 1825, to Joseph Parkes ('My dear Joseph'). Bentham states 'Trusting to your so well experience philanthropy, I shall take the liberty of addressing to you by tomorrow…. a smart pretty looking boy of 8 years old, son of a Mr Robt. Hunter, U.S. Consul at the Isle of Wight, begging of you to convey the boy to Hazlewood (sic)' and continues 'Mr John Adams Smith, late Secretary of Legation here from U.S., now about to depart in the same character for Madrid (he is Nephew to the new President) introduced Mr. Hunter and his son to me….for this purpose'. Bentham further quotes from a letter of Hunter's, explaining that the expenses for the boy's education will be covered by Joshua Bates, and continues to write 'Be so good as to desire Mr. Hill to send me some more Epitomes and Proposals. I gave four of them to Mr. Martin, a merchant of Liverpool, Secretary of the Royal Institution, who has children of his own, and is a superiorly informed and influential man there. He was a sort of pupil of Priestley's' before concluding 'Oh my weak and battered old memory! We spoke of you together: he and you are intimate. This is enough and more than enough from yours most truly…..' Bentham has added a holograph note at the foot of the letter, addressed to his amanuensis (John Flowerdew Colls), stating 'The original in my own hand goes to Mr. Hunter as soon as I have learnt…from (John) Bowring who is to dine here to day'. A letter of interesting content. Some extremely minor age wear, VG
Joseph Parkes (1796-1865) English Political Reformer, associated with the Philosophical Radicals. In 1822 he had established a solicitor's practice in Birmingham and was a regular correspondent with Bentham, whom Parkes had first met as a young man articled to a London solicitor.Hazelwood School had recently been established in Edgbaston by Thomas Wright Hill (1763-1851) English Mathematician and Schoolmaster, father of the postal reformer Rowland Hill who himself designed the new purpose built school. As an 'educational refraction' of Joseph Priestley's ideas, Hazelwood was to provide a model for public education. Rejecting the cane as a disciplinary tool and advocating self-governance for its pupils, it worked on educational principles similar to those proposed by Bentham in Chrestomathia. Bentham was highly impressed with the school and keenly promoted it, often encouraging his friends and acquaintances to send their sons there, as illustrated by the present letter.John Adams Smith - nephew of John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) American President 1825-29.Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) English Theologian. His grammar textbook was innovative and highly influential, more importantly he argued that a practical education would be more useful to students than a classical one. He was also the first to advocate the study and teaching of modern history.In the present letter Bentham also refers to Joshua Bates (1788-1864) an American financier who was later to become the senior partner of Baring Brothers & Co. and was to found the Boston Public Library and John Bowring (1792-1872) English Political Economist, a disciple and friend of Bentham who later served as his literary executor.The fully holograph version of the present letter is held in the Bentham Papers in the Library of University College London and is also published in The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham (ed. O'Sullivan & Fuller, 2006, Vol. XII).Jeremy Bentham is regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham defined as the 'fundamental axiom' of his philosophy the principle that 'it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong'. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law. He advocated individual and economic freedom, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women and the right to divorce. He called for the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the death penalty, and the abolition of physical punishment, including that of children.