Henry Fawcett

Henry Fawcett (26 August 1833 – 6 November 1884) was a blind English statesman and economist. [cite web|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH1038&type=P|title=University of Glasgow,Biography of Henry Fawcett|accessdate=2008-03-01]

He was born in Salisbury, and educated at the University of Cambridge, where he became Fellow of Trinity Hall. A statue of him stands in Salisbury Market Square.

In 1858, when he was 25, he was blinded by a shooting accident, in spite of which he continued with his studies, especially in economics. Soon afterwards, he reportedly attended the 1860 Oxford evolution debate, during which he was asked whether he thought the bishop had actually read the "Origin of Species". "Oh no, I would swear he has never read a word of it", Fawcett reportedly replied loudly. Wilberforce swung round to him scowling, ready to recriminate, but stepped back and bit his toungue on noting that the protagonist was the blind economist. (See p. 126 of Janet Browne (2003) "Charles Darwin: The Power of Place".)

In 1863 Fawcett published his "Manual of Political Economy", becoming in the same year Professor of Political Economy in Cambridge.

After repeated defeats he was elected member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton in 1865. He campaigned for women's suffrage, and through this he met Elizabeth Garrett, to whom he proposed in 1865. She rejected the proposal to concentrate on becoming a doctor at a time when women doctors were extremely rare. Fawcett later married her younger sister Millicent Garrett in 1867. [ [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WfawcettM.htm Millicent Garrett Fawcett] - Spartacus Educational] [The Passing Parade with John Doremus, Evening with Ian Holland, Radio 2CH 20:40 AEST 3 August 2007.]

In 1880 he was appointed Postmaster-General. He introduced many innovations, including parcel post, postal orders, and licensing changes to permit payphones and trunk lines.

His career was, however, cut short by his premature death from pleurisy, but not before he had made himself a recognised authority on economics, his works on which include "The Economic Position of the British Labourer" (1871), "Labour and Wages", etc.

He was elected Rector of Glasgow University, 1883

Sir Leslie Stephen wrote a biography of him, "Life of Henry Fawcett", in 1885.

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