Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury

The achievements of the polymath Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury (1834–1913) spanned banking, politics and science. This two-volume biography by Horace G. Hutchinson (1859–1932), first published in 1914, traces Lubbock's extraordinary life and career, from the early influence of Charles Darwin to professional, intellectual and philanthropic pursuits.

The achievements of the polymath Sir John Lubbock (1834–1913) spanned banking, politics, science and philanthropy. First published in 1914, this two-volume biography by Horace G. Hutchinson (1859–1932) traces Lubbock's extraordinary life and career. Hutchinson, who knew his subject in later years, paints a highly favourable portrait of Lubbock's varied accomplishments. Notably, Lubbock became a partner of his father's bank at twenty-two, a Member of Parliament in 1870, and in 1900 received the title of Baron Avebury. Tutored in natural history by Charles Darwin in his youth, he remained fascinated by evolutionary theory: it influenced his archaeological and anthropological work, including Pre-Historic Times as Illustrated by Ancient Remains (1865) and The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man (1870), both reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Volume 2 focuses on Lubbock's later life, with Hutchinson remarking that by seventy Lubbock was still politically active and in good health.