A Family Feud: George Bentham's life and letters

Over my internship at the Linnean Society, I have been working with the correspondence of George Bentham (1800–1884), botanist and nephew of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), adding name authorities to the archive catalogue to provide further context for the records. The study of George Bentham’s letters and personal journals, I believe, helps us understand the journey and the reasons behind his decision to become a botanist that would one day lead to his election as the president of the Linnean society.

This blog focuses primarily on the years between 1825 and 1833, a decisive period in the life of George Bentham when he started working under his uncle, the philosopher and social reformer, Jeremy Bentham. There were competing demands on George’s time. In addition to his work as an assistant to his uncle, he also acted as an assistant to his father, Samuel Bentham (1757-1831), a naval engineer. He studied Law at Lincoln Inn College. The remainder of his spare time was given over to the pursuit of his growing interest in plants and their classification. The priority given to these competing demands on his time changed throughout this period. At first, George saw botany as a hobby, of secondary importance to his work for his uncle and his studies. However, his botanical endeavours eventually took precedence.

While this relationship between uncle and nephew is not well documented in biographical accounts of the Bentham family, George’s journals and letters, held in the archives of the Linnean Society of London, give a clear account of what his uncle meant to him and how their interactions evolved over time. From his childhood letters, it is clear how greatly esteemed Jeremy Bentham was by his nephew. From age four until Jeremy Bentham’s death in 1832, he was the person to whom most of George’s letters were addressed. In one letter, dated 1^st April 1806, George (aged 5) writes to his uncle to tell him the latest news:

A few months later, on the 18^th July 1806, George thanks his uncle for a present and describes his surroundings:

George’s mother, Mary Sophia Bentham, was a botanist. It is no doubt under her influence that, from a young age, George was introduced to the discipline which he would one day pursue, and for which he would become famed. Many of the letters refer to the children’s activities in the garden, as well as the trees and plants for which each child is responsible. On the 25^th December 1806, George (aged 6) excitedly outlines the latest developments in the garden in a letter to Jeremy Bentham:

Many other letters addressed to Jeremy Bentham describe the travels undertaken by George and his family. Others describe his interactions with his uncle. Overall, Jeremy Bentham can be seen to have played a generous part in George’s life. By the age of seven, George was already fluent in French, German and Russian. His family later decided to go on a leisurely tour of France. While studying in Angouleme, he came across a copy of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle’s Flore Française, which reinvigorated the interest he had had in botany as a child. In 1825, George reluctantly came back to England and just like his uncle and his grandfather, decided to pursue law studies. His misgivings about the return to England were expressed in a letter to his father:

In addition to the commencement of law studies, when George returned to England, he was also asked to work for both his father and his uncle. The opportunity to live with his uncle was one consolation for George on his return to London.

George’s pursuit of law studies continued a Bentham family tradition established by George’s grandfather, Jeremiah Bentham, after whom his uncle also joined the profession. Already an assistant to his father, Samuel Bentham, George now worked also in the same capacity for his uncle, translating his many works. This however did not make him stop his law studies, which he continued despite his uncle’s disapproval. In a journal entry dated 7^th – 24^th October 1826 his uncle’s displeasure at his decision to enrol at the Lincoln Inn college in law is made clear:

His uncle’s hatred of lawyers is clearly expressed in another journal entry dated 28^th March – 16^th April 1827, where Jeremy Bentham is quoted as saying:

George’s decision to pursue law studies evidently put a strain on his relationship with his uncle, wherein other cracks started to appear. During the last years of his uncle’s life, George doubted if he would inherit anything of Jeremy Bentham’s estate, such was the extent to which the relationship between the two men had soured. George continued to study law, despite his uncle’s urging him to renounce law studies in order to concentrate on botany. The law studies were initially seen as a way in which George would be able to work as a full-time assistant to his uncle. However, Jeremy Bentham’s attitude had by now hardened to the point where George was forced into having a difficult choice to make. This he discusses in a journal entry from August 1827:

After discussing the matter with his father and John Herbert Koe, his professor in law, George decided to give in to his uncle’s demands and continue to help with his uncle’s work. Keeping his uncle placated was essential for George to keep his share of the family inheritance but this was not without bitterness.

In addition, George was also expected to be present at his house for twice weekly dinners. These meals with his uncle used to greatly displease George, owing partly to Jeremy’s whims, but also due to the presence of one of the regular attendants who in George’s eyes represented a real threat. John Bowring was a secretary at the Greek Committee, created in March 1823 to raise funds in support of Greek independence from the Ottomans. As England’s stance regarding the war was neutral, however, the formation of a fund supporting either side was considered illegal. In 1826, the speculative bubble burst and revealed the bonds to now be worth no more than a quarter of their original discounted value. It seems that the members of the committee had been dipping their fingers into the finances and taking advantage of the donations they received.

Bowring was one of the main actors in the committee, an editor at the Westminster Review and was also entrusted by Jeremy Bentham to oversee an edition of his Collected Works. A firm bond had developed between the two men, which the succession of scandals in which Bowring was engulfed did little to shake. Bowring’s attempts at self-justification in public responses issued through the Westminster Review could not extricate him from the grip of scandal or salvage his reputation in the court of public opinion. Despite this, Bentham denied all accusations against his friend, defending Bowring until the end, and insisting on inviting him to dinner every week, which was not a situation that sat comfortably with George. In a journal entry, dated 17^th December 1826 – 16^th January 1827, he wrote:

Afraid that his uncle was being led into a financial trap, George kept a close eye on Bowring. Over time, Bowring’s affairs became increasingly an object of concern for George, as his uncle’s fortune seemed to be getting continually funnelled into Bowring’s losing speculations. More and more, George believed it essential to keep up his legal studies, in order to have a future source of income upon which to fall back. At the same time, he had to keep these studies a secret from his uncle, and to do whatever he could to salvage his relationship with his uncle, to prevent his name from being completely erased from Jeremy Bentham’s will.

Having been forced to continue his law studies in more secrecy than before, George was able to devote more of his time under observation to focus on his botanical studies.

While George took what he would have regarded as a leisurely approach to botany, this did not mean that his work in this discipline had gone unnoticed. His many encounters with famous botanists are often described in his journals. His first work of botany, inspired by his years of travel in the French countryside was published in 1826 as the Catalogue des Plantes Indigenes des Pyrenees. In a journal entry dated 24^th October to 19^th November 1826 he writes:

Also in 1826, he became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, on the strength of his account of his travels in France and the botanical research he had made along the way. This newfound recognition of his talents allowed him to meet and enter into correspondences and exchanges with eminent London botanists.

In a journal entry dated 20th January 1827, George was delighted to receive a letter from Professor Robert Peel, and he records his own reply:

In addition to his work for both his father and his uncle, and his studies and duties at the Linnean Society, George also decided to join the Horticultural Society, for which he became secretary in 1829. In Bentham’s unpublished autobiography, the manuscript for which is held in the archive at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, it is clear how many demands there were on his time:

Amid so much activity, and alongside his curiosity and enthusiastic attitude towards botany, George’s doubts about the path he has chosen in relation to his uncle and with regard to his legal studies were brought into sharp relief and were borne out in his writings in his autobiography:

In 1831, George’s father, Samuel Bentham, died. His uncle, Jeremy, passed away just one year later in 1832. After Jeremy Bentham’s death, George inherited his house in London, wherein he would continue to reside for several years.

George was now able to practise as a lawyer, having been called to the Bar in 1831. He attended only once, however. His decision to dedicate himself exclusively to botany came two years later, at the start of 1833, after his marriage to Sarah Brydges, the daughter of a former diplomat, Sir Harford Jones Brydges. In his autobiography, which he had originally started for his wife’s amusement, he writes:

The pressure of having an income in prospect of raising a family was no longer a concern for George, and so he no longer needed to focus on law. Not only that, the money he had inherited from his father and uncle would be enough to sustain him and his wife. For the first time in his life, George was able to devote his whole being to the study of botany. For almost thirty years, George Bentham would undertake the ambitious task of classifying all seed plants, having determined that the contemporary classification was inadequate. This research would amount to the work known as the third volume Genera Plantarium, started by Carl Linnaeus, the motive force and figurehead of the Linnean Society.

Antoine Darmon

This blog was published on 22nd September to coincide with George Bentham's 222nd birthday. The letters referenced in this blog are scheduled to be uploaded onto the online archives catalogue in the coming months.

Unless otherwise indicated, all images © the Linnean Society of London, 2022