Born in 1821 in Lee, Kent to very wealthy parents (his father was a London ship-owner), Henry Buckle's start in life was unusual. His early education was dominated by his mother, and by the age of eighteen he had yet to read more than a few books. Then, his father died, and Buckle, now a young man of considerable means, set out on a course that more than made up for this slow start. He took his mother and sister on a tour of Europe during 1840-1, where he learnt a number of languages; by 1850 he could read 19 of them. He continued to travel for the rest of his life, maintaining that it was the best education a man could have. He also started to read voraciously and, aided by a famously powerful memory, began his philosophical, literary a…
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Citation: Nixon, Mark. "Henry Thomas Buckle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=630, accessed 25 November 2024.]
