Hensleigh Wedgwood

Hensleigh Wedgwood (21 January 1803 – 2 June 1891) was a British etymologist, philologist and barrister, author of A Dictionary of English Etymology. He was a cousin of Charles Darwin, whom his sister Emma married in 1839. Early life Wedgwood was born at Tarrant Gunville in Dorset, the fourth son of Josiah Wedgwood II and Elizabeth Allen of Cresselly, Pembrokeshire. He was educated at Rugby School, then entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1820 but switched to Christ's College the following year. Though he did well in maths, graduating as 8th wrangler, he finished bottom in the classical tripos at Cambridge in 1824, for which he was awarded the first "wooden wedge", equivalent to the wooden spoon, and jokingly named for him. Career After leaving Cambridge, Wedgwood read for the chancery bar. In 1828, he qualified as a barrister, but never practised. Between 1831 and 1837, he served as a police magistrate and sat at the Surrey magistrates' court at Union Hall, Southwark.