Francis Horner (1778 - 1817)

Born 12 Aug 1778 in Edinburgh, Scotland

Died 8 Feb 1817 at age 38 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

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Biography

Francis Horner born 12 Aug 1778 son of John Horner a linen merchant and his wife Joanna Baillie ^[1]

Addresses: Lincoln’s Inn, London. 108 Great Russell Street, London.

Education: Edinburgh High School. Edinburgh University. Revd John Hewlett, Shacklewell, Middlesex. Lincoln’s Inn.

Occupations: Lawyer (Writer to the Signet). Politician (MP).

Associations: African Institution (director). British and Foreign School Society (vice president). Committee for Liquidating the Debts of the Nabobs of the Carnatic, East India Company. Committee for Promoting the Royal Lancasterian System for Educating the Poor (Finance Committee). Speculative Society.

The son of a linen manufacturer of Edinburgh, John Horner, and of Joanna, daughter of John Baillie, a Writer to the Signet (a lawyer), Francis Horner was educated at the Edinburgh High School, where he was a favourite of the eminent Dr Adams, and at the university, where he was a favourite of the moral philosopher Dugald Stewart.

Horner was called to the Scottish bar in 1800 and to the English bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1807. In 1802 with Francis Jeffrey and Sydney Smith he co-founded the Edinburgh Review. Horner entered parliament in 1806 as Whig member for St Ives. He later sat for Wendover (1807-1812) and then for St Mawes (1813-1817).

Horner was the primary author of the liberal 1810 Bullion Committee report.

In 1820 the Speculative Society sponsored the erection of a statue of Francis Horner in north transept of Westminster Abbey.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Horner

See also:

• "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQCS-F99 : 10 February 2018), Francies Horner, 29 Aug 1778; citing EDINBURGH PARISH, EDINBURGH, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND, reference , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,066,686.

• "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT5C-QQ2 : 10 February 2018), Francies Horner, 12 Aug 1778; citing , reference 2:17PKR4S, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,066,686.

• Blackwood's Magazine (William Blackwood, Edinburgh, April, 1817) Vol. 1, No. 1, Page 3-8

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46362589 : accessed 27 February 2019), memorial page for Francis Horner (12 Aug 1778–8 Feb 1817), Find A Grave Memorial no. 46362589, citing English Cemetery, Livorno, Provincia di Livorno, Toscana, Italy ; Maintained by Nikita Barlow (contributor 46508077) .

• ‘Horner, Francis (1778-1817)’, ODNB.

• ‘Horner, Francis (1778-1817)’, Thorne, History of Parliament. The Commons 1790-1820.

• Philanthropist 1 (1811), p. 280.

• ‘Subscribers … Francis Horner, Esq; M.P.’, in C. MacLaurin, Poetical and Dramatic Works (1812), p. 271.

• Gentleman’s Magazine 121 (1817), p. 275.

• Annual Biography and Obituary 2 (1818), pp. 252-74.

• F. Horner, Memoirs and Correspondence, ed. L. Horner, 2 vols (1843).

• Economists’ Papers 1750-1950 (1975).

• Papers of British Politicians 1782-1900 (1989).