Preceded by Thomas Cayley Bt. (1732-1792) |
Baronet Cayley of Brompton 1792-1857 |
Succeeded by Digby Cayley Bt. (1807-1883) |
Contents |
George Cayley was the son of Thomas Cayley and Isabella Seton. He was born on 27 December 1773 and baptised at Brompton by Sawdon, Yorkshire on 30 December 1773.[1][2]
George's mother arranged for him to be educated by two non-conformist ministers: the mathematician and engineer George Walker, then living in Nottingham, and the scientist George Cadogan Morgan who has a Wikipedia entry here.[3]
George succeeded to the baronetcy of the Cayleys of Brompton on 15 March 1792 on the death of his father.[4]
Sir George was a Fellow of the Royal Society.[4] He is best known for his pioneering work on aeronautics, working on flying machines of various kinds, including gliders able to lift a person, something akin to a helicopter, and airships. His work on gliders included extensive investigations into the design of fixed wings.[5] Some gliders he trialled in Yorkshire, with the first unmanned flight in 1809.[3][6][7] His grand-daughter Dora recalled an experimental flight in 1852 or 1853 in which Sir George's coachman was induced to take the cockpit of a glider for a flight across a valley near Brompton: she said that when he landed, the frightened coachman shouted out that he was giving in his notice, adding, "I was hired to drive, not to fly." Dora said that the contraption was subsequently stored in a barn, and she used to sit in it to hide from her governess.[8]
Sir George's scientific interests ranged much wider than aeronautics. Among other things he:[3]
In 1836, Sir George urged that every lifeboat should be self-righting.[10]
He was keen to spread awareness of scientific developments among the wider public. He was President of the York Mechanics' Institute; a founder member of the Philosophical Societies of Scarborough and Yorkshire ("philosophical" then had a wide meaning, embracing most areas of knowledge); played a role in the establishment of the Adelaide Gallery in London, which was used for lectures, demonstrations and exhibitions; and took a leading role in the Regent Street Royal Polytechnic, London (which has since evolved into the University of Westminster), serving as its chairman.[3][11]
In later life Sir George took a keen interest in railway safety, and published articles on ways of making improvements.[3][12]
He corresponded with leading scientists and inventors. In the British Library are copies of letters to Charles Babbage, who was clearly a friend.[13] When he and his family went to Paris in 1821, he took a box of fossils to Cuvier.[14]
Sir George was President of the York Whig Club from 1821 to 1827.[3]
In 1830 Sir George addressed a meeting in Brompton by Sawdon where he talked about the problem of low wages and the cost of living. He did not confine himself to just talking: in the early 1800s he donated an acre of land at Brompton to every able-bodied labourer living there, to enable them to grow food and pasture cows.[15]
He represented Scarborough in Parliament from 1832 to 1834.[3] When seeking election, he said of the Duke of Wellington, "As a prime minister, we cannot have a worse - as a general officer [in the army], we cannot have a better; but I hope he will never again be entrusted with civil power." He also argued at this time that the political parties should not constrain the voting of Members of Parliament - Members should be free to vote as they wished - and suggested that any Member pledged to vote according to a Party's wishes should be excluded from voting.[15]
In 1818 he published a pamphlet in which he foresaw the coming of "universal suffrage, nay, even republicanism".[15]
Sir George was a major landowner in the area around Brompton by Sawdon. In 1800 he was active in securing an Act of Parliament for improved drainage to tackle flooding by the rivers Derwent and Hertford, and served as chairman of the Directors who oversaw the implementation of the scheme.[3]
On 3 July 1795 George married Sarah Walker, daughter of George Walker, his first tutor,[3] at All Saints, Edmonton, Middlesex.[16] The licence for their marriage was dated 1 July 1795.[17] (The marriage date is widely given as 9 July 1795, as in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,[3] Clay's expanded edition of Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire[18] and thePeerage.com[19] but the image of the parish register on Ancestry shows 3 July.[16] J Laurence Pritchard's biography of Sir George has the correct date.[20])
They had the following children:
Sir George's wife was apparently prone to uncontrolled outbursts of temper,[31] but her husband seems to have doted on her. For her 80th birthday he gave her a loving poem of his own composition.[32] Their daughter Catherine described Sir George Cayley as Sarah's "slave through life".[33]
The 1841 census lists Sir George at Hertford Street, London, age 67. Other in the household include the following Cayleys: Sarah, 68; Isabella, 40; Emma, 40; Anne, 40 ( the ages of the last three were rounded).[34]
The 1851 census lists Sir George at the High Hall, Brompton by Sawdon, Yorkshire, age 77, born Scarborough, Yorkshire. Wife: Sarah, 77, born Warrington, Lancashire. Son: Digby, 44. Daughter-in-law: Dorothy, 49. Grandchildren: Dora Cayley, 8; Emily Beaumont, 19.[35][36]
George died at Brompton Hall, Brompton by Sawdon, Yorkshire on 15 December 1857.[37] He was buried at the parish church of Brompton by Sawdon.[3] His death was registered in the Scarborough district of Yorkshire in the 4th quarter of 1857.[38][39] Probate was granted on his estate on 9 February 1858, with his death date given as 15 December 1857.[40]
Wikipedia's entry for Sir George wrongly named his wife as Sarah Benskin Charlotte Elizabeth Illingworth up to 29 May 2022, when this was corrected.[41] The mistake may stem from the fact that the death of a Sarah Benskin Charlotte Elizabeth Cayley was registered in the Newington district of Surrey in the 4th quarter of 1854.[42]
Sarah Benskin Charlotte Elizabeth Cayley's birth was registered at Newington, Surrey in the 3rd quarter of 1849, with her mother's last name given as Hobbs.[43]
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
George is 21 degrees from Herbert Adair, 14 degrees from Richard Adams, 14 degrees from Mel Blanc, 19 degrees from Dick Bruna, 22 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 27 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 21 degrees from Sam Edwards, 21 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 23 degrees from Marty Krofft, 18 degrees from Junius Matthews, 14 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 23 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: Yorkshire, Notables | Brompton by Sawdon, Yorkshire | Scientists | Engineers | Members of Parliament, Scarborough | Members of Parliament, United Kingdom 1832 | Fellows of the Royal Society | English Inventors | Inventors | Aviation History | Aviation | England, Notables | Baronets Cayley of Brompton
Different LNAB