Somerville Mary

Queen Of Science


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which the inexperienced Stuart killed his man, probably by mistake. Stuart was tried and acquitted, but did go to America. He had, however, married in 1802 and so, presumably, Mary Somerville remembers gossip from an earlier period and conflates it with later events.

       FIVE

      First Marriage (1804) – Widowhood – Studies – Second Marriage

      [Mr Samuel Greig was a distant relation of the Charters family. His father°, an officer in the British navy, had been sent by our government, at the request of the Empress Catherine, to organise the Russian navy. Mr Greig came to the Firth of Forth on board a Russian frigate, and was received by the Fairfaxes at Burntisland with Scotch hospitality, as a cousin. He eventually married my mother: not, however, until he had obtained the Russian consulship, and settled permanently in London, for Russia was then governed in the most arbitrary and tyrannical manner, and was neither a safe nor a desirable residence, and my grandfather only gave his consent to the marriage on this condition. My mother says:—]

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      MY cousin, Samuel Greig, commissioner of the Russian navy, and Russian consul for Britain, came to pay us a visit, and ultimately became my husband. Fortune I had none, and my mother could only afford to give me a very moderate trousseau, consisting chiefly of fine personal and household linen. When I was going away she gave me twenty pounds to buy a shawl or something warm for the following winter. I knew that the President of the Academy of Painting, Sir Martin Archer Shee°, had painted a portrait of my father immediately after the battle of Camperdown, and I went to see it. The likeness pleased me, – the price was twenty pounds; so instead of a warm shawl I bought my father’s picture, which I have since given to my nephew, Sir William George Fairfax. [1D, 53: I never repented, though I suffered for it. My husband had a gig which he drove to the City where he was engaged the whole day, and on coming home late in the evening used frequently to take me to drive. On these occasions I suffered severely from the cold as winter came on having only a small scarf; for although I could ask money for the household, I could not ask it for myself.] My husband’s brother, Sir Alexis Greig°, who commanded the Russian naval force in the Black Sea for more than twenty years, came to London about this time, and gave me some furs, which were very welcome. Long after this, I applied to Sir Alexis, at the request of Dr Whewell°, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and through his interest an order was issued by the Russian Government for simultaneous observations to be made of the tides on every sea-coast of the empire.

      LETTER FROM DR WHEWELL TO

      MRS SOMERVILLE

      UNIVERSITY CLUB, Jan. 5, 1838

      MY DEAR MRS SOMERVILLE,

      I enclose a memorandum respecting tide observations, to which subject I am desirous of drawing the attention of the Russian Government. Nobody knows better than you do how much remains to be done respecting the tides, and what important results any advance in that subject would have. I hope, through your Russian friends, you may have the means of bringing this memorandum to the notice of the administration of their navy, so as to lead to some steps being taken, in the way of directing observations to be made. The Russian Government has shown so much zeal in promoting science, that I hope it will not be difficult to engage them in a kind of research so easy, so useful practically, and so interesting in its theoretical bearing.

      Believe me, dear Mrs Somerville,

      Very faithfully yours,

      W. WHEWELL

      My husband had taken me to his bachelor’s house in London, which was exceedingly small and ill ventilated. I had a key of the neighbouring square, where I used to walk. I was alone the whole of the day, so I continued my mathematical and other pursuits, but under great disad-vantages; for although my husband did not prevent me from studying, I met with no sympathy whatever from him, as he had a very low opinion of the capacity of my sex, and had neither knowledge of nor interest in science of any kind. I took lessons in French, and learnt to speak it so as to be understood. I had no carriage, so went to the nearest church; but, accustomed to our Scotch Kirk, I never could sympathise with the coldness and formality of the service of the Church of England. However, I thought it my duty to go to church and join where I could in prayer with the congregation.

      [1D, 55: The members of the Russian legation came frequently to see us, but as they were all unmarried I had no female society. Baron Nicolai, the secretary, Mr Greig and I once spent a day at Windsor and went in the evening to see George III, the Queen and royal family taking their usual walk on the terrace of the castle. The princes and princesses were fine looking merry young people, the whole party talking frankly to everyone they knew.]

      There was no Italian opera in Edinburgh; the first time I went to one was in London as chaperone to Countess Catharine Woronzow°, afterwards Countess of Pembroke, who was godmother to my eldest son. I sometimes spent the evening with her, and occasionally dined at the embassy; but went nowhere else till we became acquainted with the family of Mr Thomson Bonar, a rich Russian merchant, who lived in great luxury at a beautiful villa at Chiselhurst, in the neighbourhood of London, which has since become the refuge of the ex-Emperor Napoleon the Third° and the Empress Eugénie. The family consisted of Mr and Mrs Bonar, – kind, excellent people, – with two sons and a daughter, all grown up. We were invited from time to time to spend ten days or a fortnight with them, which I enjoyed exceedingly. I had been at a riding school in Edinburgh, and rode tolerably, but had little practice, as we could not afford to keep horses. On our first visit, Mrs Bonar asked me if I would ride with her, as there was a good lady’s horse to spare, but I declined. Next day I said, ‘I should like to ride with you.’ ‘Why did you not go out with me yesterday?’ she asked. ‘Because I had heard so much of English ladies’ riding, that I thought you would clear all the hedges and ditches, and that I should be left behind lying on the ground.’ I spent many pleasant days with these dear good people; and no words can express the horror I felt when we heard that they had been barbarously murdered in their bedroom. The eldest son and daughter had been at a ball somewhere near, and on coming home they found that one of the men-servants had dashed out the brains of both their