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Luke Howard

Male 1772 - 1864  (91 years)    Has 17 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Luke Howard 
    Birth 28 Nov 1772 
    Gender Male 
    Death 21 Mar 1864 
    Siblings 2 Siblings 
    Person ID I31497  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 7 Oct 2006 

    Father Robert Howard,   b. 1739, Folkestone, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Jan 1812 (Age 73 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Leatham,   b. 1742, Pontefract, Yorkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1816 (Age 74 years) 
    Marriage Feb 1772 
    Family ID F13127  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mariabella Eliot,   b. 1759   d. 1852 (Age 93 years) 
    Children 
     1. Mary Howard,   b. 1797, Plaistow, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1816 (Age 19 years)
    +2. Robert Howard,   b. 27 Jun 1801, Plaistow, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Jun 1871, Ashmore Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 69 years)
    +3. Elizabeth Howard,   b. 26 Jan 1803   d. 19 Jan 1836, Tottenham, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 32 years)
     4. Rachel Howard,   b. Aug 1804   d. 1837 (Age 32 years)
    +5. John Eliot Howard,   b. 11 Dec 1807, Plaistow, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 22 Nov 1883, Lords Meade, Tottenham, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)
     6. Joseph Howard,   b. 1811   d. Jun 1833 (Age 22 years)
    Family ID F13124  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Aug 2000 

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  • Notes 
    • meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds , which he proposed in an 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society .
      Howard has been called "the father of meteorology" because of his comprehensive recordings of weather in the London area from 1801 to 1841 and his writings, which transformed the science of meteorology. In his late twenties, he wrote the Essay on the Modification of Clouds, which was published in 1803. He named the three principal categories of clouds - cumulus , stratus , and cirrus , as well as a series of intermediate and compound modifications, such as cirrostratus and stratocumulus , in order to accommodate the transitions occurring between the forms. He identified the importance of clouds in meterorology:
      [Clouds] are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which affect all the variations of the atmosphere; they are commonly as good visible indicators of the operation of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person's mind or body.
      Howard was not the first to attempt a classification of clouds- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck ( 1744 - 1829 ) had earlier proposed a list of descriptive terms in French-but the success of Howard's system was due to his use of universal Latin, as well as to his emphasis on the mutability of clouds. By applying Linnean principles of natural history classification to phenomena as short-lived as clouds, Howard arrived at an elegant solution to the problem of naming transitional forms in nature.
      In addition to his seminal work on clouds, Howard also contributed numerous papers on other meteorological topics, although with less success. He was also a pioneer in urban climate studies, publishing The Climate of London in 1818-20, which contained continuous daily observations of wind direction, atmospheric pressure, maximum temperature, and rainfall; it also demolished James Hutton 's theory of rain, though without suggesting a definitive alternative.
      Howard's cloud classification had a major influence on the arts as well as on science. Howard corresponded with Goethe , who wrote a series of poems in gratitude to him, including the lines:
      But Howard gives us with his clear mind
      The gain of lessons new to all mankind;
      That which no hand can reach, no hand can clasp
      He first has gained, first held with mental grasp.
      Howard also inspired Shelley 's poem "The Cloud" and informed John Constable 's paintings and studies of skies and the writings and art of John Ruskin , who used Howard's cloud classification in his criticisms of landscape paintings in Modern Painters.
      Howard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821. He was a Quaker , later converting to the Plymouth Brethren , and a pharmacist by profession. He was born and lived in London , although he spent the years 1824 to 1852 in Ackworth , Yorkshire. His daughter Rachel founded a school there, which also contains a Plymouth Brethren burial ground. There is an English Heritage blue plaque to Howard at 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham , the house in which he died, aged 91.


      The eldest of Robert Howard's second family has already been mentioned, but it seems right to glance at his early life.
      He was sent to school at the early age of seven years, at a distance of 79 miles from home - then quite a long journey. Th emaster of this school which was at Burford, oxon, was a worthy man, his name was Thos. Huntley, but he was very strict in his rules towards his scholars, and his wife no less so in her department. However little Luke soon became much attached to his home of learning, where he spent seven years, only coming home at the Midsummer vacation, which was then regualted by Whitsuntide. He was a very good and thoughtful little boy and gained the god will of all the school as well as at his parental home. In time his younger brother joined him at school.
      Soon after leaving school Luke Howard went a further distance from home as an apprentice to Olive Sims, the son of John Sims of Yarmouth, a friend and old acquaintance of Robert Howard’s. Olive Sims had not long before commenced business as a Chemist and Druggist at Stockport in Cheshire. Here Luke Howard spent seven years more of his life, and when he quitted Stockport at the end of his apprenticeship he left a good report behind him. Luke Howard then lived for a short time at home. In the summer of 1794 he met with a serious accident at a wholesale warehouse in Bishopgate Street, where he was engaged in acquiring insight into the trade of a druggist before going into business for himself. The cause of this terrible disaster as it proved to him was going up to a place where something wanted by a customer was kept and in descending the step ladder, a glass bottle containing a poisonous liquid broke, cut the inside of his hand and the contents entered the wound. A surgical operation was afterwards needful and the case altogether from the suffering it occasioned and the long effect it had on the constitution is painful to recall to mind. A cure being at length completed as regarded the use of the hand, Luke Howard entered into business as a chemist and druggist in a retail shop, with a small laboratory behind it, sometime in the year 1795. In the 12th month in the following year Luke Howard married Mariabella Eliot, the only daughter of John and Mary Eliot of Bartholomew Close, London.
      They lived about three quarters of a year in Fleet Street where Luke Howard first began business, he then joined William Allen in the manufacturing part of the Plough Court business which was carried on at Plaistow, and in consequence they removed to that place.
      Their first child Mary was born at Plaistow in the year 1797
      Robert the eldest son was born in 1801
      Elizabeth was born in the 1st month 1803
      Rachel in the 8th month 1804
      John Eliot in 1807
      Joseph in 1811
      Another boy died an infant and a little girt whose name was Mariabella, died when about one year and a half old.
      In 1813, Luke Howard removed to Tottenham, he was then an active member of the Society of Friends, and his qualifications rendered his services very valuable; in these services he was often associated with his brother-in-law the benevolent and humble minded John Eliot. The business in which Luke Howard was engaged had been removed from Plaistow to Stratford, it was much extended and had become a lucrative concern; he had active partners, and his two elder sons as they grew up were introduced into the business so that he was much at liberty for benevolent, scientific and literary pursuits in which he took great interest. In 1820, Luke Howard purchased an estate at Ackworth, the house was called the Villa, and there he and his family spent the summer months of each year until 1828 when they moved entirely to Ackworth, and the house at Tottenham was given up. The sons at this time were engaged in business, the two elder were partners in the concern at Stratford, and Robert who had married in 1825 was settled in Bruce Grove, Tottenham. John Eliot had a home with his aunt Elizabeth Howard until his marriage in 1830. Joseph was employed in a wholesale business in London, and principally resided with his uncle John Eliot in Bartholomew Close.
      Mary the eldest child of Luke and Mariabella Howard was of a delicate constitution and after some time of declining health she died of rapid consumption in 1816 in the 19th year of her age.

      Sources: See Stanley Howard the elder

      Luke and Mariabella Howard’s family having been reduced to two sons, both of whom as well as their son Hodgkin resided in Tottenham, after the year 1837 they took up their abode at Tottenham during the winter months, occupying one of the smaller houses in Bruce Grove.the summers were passed at Ackworth when they generally had the company of some of their children and grandchildren. This arrangement was carried out without much variation until the year 1852 when during their residence at Tottenham Mariabella Howard after a few hours of much suffering expired on the 24th of the second month 1852 in the 83rd year of her age. The funeral took place on the 28th at Winchmore Hill.
      Mariabella Howard’s health had been gradually declining for some time and bodily infirmities had increased upon her, but her mind was very clear and there was such true humility with a peaceful expression of countenance and an increase of genial manner, as plainly proved that a peculiar brightness rested on theclosing days of the aged Christian. After Mariabella Howard’s death, Luke Howard went to reside with his son Robert Howard’s family. Luke Howard has hitherto spent some months each summer at Ackworth always having some of his children and grandchildren with him.
      The aged parent is permitted to pass the evening of his life in much comfort and peace, cheered by the unremitting care and love of his children,and now in his ninetieth year, he is waiting in humble hope the summons of his Lord.



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