Abstract
For several years when Cavendish was in his 50s, he took on an associate, Charles Blagden, secretary of the Royal Society. Blagden kept a diary, which helps us form a picture of Cavendish’s behavior in public. From his father, Cavendish inherited farm properties in Derbyshire and Lancashire. He communicated with his steward by letters, which give us an idea of how he dealt with human problems. References to Cavendish in these sources have an immediacy that is absent from later recollections by colleagues. Complementing the published record, they substantiate anecdotal impressions and provide new insights.
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Notes
- 1.
1 March 1810, Charles Blagden Diary, Royal Society 5: 428 (back).
- 2.
Oxford Universal Dictionary, 568, 1358, 2074.
- 3.
At the Royal Society Club. 11 December 1794, Charles Blagden Diary, Royal Society 3: 37.
- 4.
Various dates, Charles Blagden Diary, Royal Society.
- 5.
30 November 1794, 30 April and 14 December 1795, ibid. 3: 35, 56 (back), 81 (back).
- 6.
16 March 1795, 25 February 1796, 30 March 1803, and 9 May 1805, Charles Blagden Diary, Royal Society 3: 50 (back), 92; 4: 187; 5: 333.
- 7.
4 September 1794, ibid. 3: 15.
- 8.
26 June 1806, ibid. 4: 455.
- 9.
11 February 1796, ibid. 3: 88 (back).
- 10.
19 April 1807, ibid. 5: 61 (back).
- 11.
20 December 1795, ibid. 3: 82 (back).
- 12.
28 May 1807, ibid. 5: 73 (back).
- 13.
8 May 1803, ibid. 4: 151.
- 14.
12 May 1803, ibid. 4: 152.
- 15.
25 August 1794, ibid. 3: 13.
- 16.
19 May 1803, ibid., 4: 153.
- 17.
19 March 1795, ibid. 3: 51.
- 18.
18 May 1795, 8 June 1795, ibid. 3: 59 (back) and 61.
- 19.
17 June 1809, ibid. 5: 330.
- 20.
13 November 1794, 6 July 1795, ibid. 3: 29 (back) and 64.
- 21.
19 February 1807, ibid. 5: 39.
- 22.
27 August 1795, ibid. 3: 67.
- 23.
12 November 1795, ibid. 3: 76 (back).
- 24.
4 September 1794, ibid. 3: 14 (back).
- 25.
16 March 1795, ibid. 3: 50 (back).
- 26.
1 December 1806, ibid. 5: 15.
- 27.
26 March 1804, ibid. 4: 214.
- 28.
30 November 1804, ibid. 4: 286 (back).
- 29.
15 May 1806, ibid. 4: 442.
- 30.
3 April 1804, ibid. 4: 217.
- 31.
Charles Blagden to Joseph Banks, 9 October 1785, Banks Correspondence, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1: 210. The passage Blagden copied out is in notes in Blagden Papers, Yale, box 4, folder 45.
- 32.
Copy of rental enclosed. Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 8 and 28 August 1782, Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth, L/34/7.
- 33.
Itemization of rental income and expenses, 1783–1804. “Account of Jn: Renshaw with the Hon: Henry Cavendish.” Year-by-year lists of receipts, salary, and expenses: ibid., L/34/10.
- 34.
His receipt of £3,277 in 1809 went to a “trust account.” “The Account of Jn: Renshaw with the Hon: Henry Cavendish for the Receipts and Payments on Account of His Estates in the Counties of Nottingham & Derby for One Year Ending Lady Day 1809,” ibid., L/34/16.
- 35.
William Gould to Henry Cavendish, 28 September 1782, Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth, L/34/7.
- 36.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 6 September 1782, draft, ibid., L/34/7.
- 37.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, n.d. [after 21 February 1789], draft, ibid., L/34/12?
- 38.
Stephen Moore to Henry Cavendish, 31 July 1783, ibid., L/34/7. Moore was vicar of Hayton.
- 39.
Henry Cavendish to Stephen Moore, 20 November 1783, draft, ibid.
- 40.
McCormmach, Speculative Truth, 191–93.
- 41.
Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (Springfield: Merriam Webster, 1993), 636.
- 42.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 20 February 1785, draft, Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth, L/34/7. He told a spokesman for the landholders, “I am far from desiring that my estate should be more benefited by the [enclosure] act than that of the landholders.” Henry Cavendish to William Sherbrooke, 16 February 1785, draft, ibid. What was fair could be decided by measurement and mathematics: “The best way of determining the present value of all the lands at Arnold will [be] to inform one of the quantity of inclosure & open field & of how much an acre each lets p.a. at a medium.” Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 23 February 1785, draft, ibid.
- 43.
Henry Cavendish to Thomas Revill, 5 September 1782, draft, ibid.
- 44.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 7 September 1782, draft, ibid.
- 45.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 6 September 1782, draft, ibid.
- 46.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 12 December 1782, 15 January 1783, drafts; William Gould to Henry Cavendish, 11 January 1783, ibid.
- 47.
William Gould to Henry Cavendish, 23 January 1785, ibid.
- 48.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 6 February 1785, draft, ibid.
- 49.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, September 1790, 7 March 1791, drafts, ibid.
- 50.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, February 1794, draft, ibid.
- 51.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, n.d. [After 28 February 1785], draft, ibid.
- 52.
Henry Cavendish to William Gould, 24 December 1784, draft, ibid.
- 53.
John Renshaw to Henry Cavendish, 22 May 1802; John Renshaw, Jr., to Henry Cavendish, 5 June 1802; Henry Cavendish to John Renshaw, 13 July [1802], draft; Henry Cavendish, n.d. [August 1802], draft, Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth, L/34/10.
- 54.
John Renshaw, Jr., to Henry Cavendish, 6 September 1802, ibid.
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McCormmach, R. (2014). Aspects of Personality. In: The Personality of Henry Cavendish - A Great Scientist with Extraordinary Peculiarities. Archimedes, vol 36. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02438-7_5
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