To Edward Sabine   5th July 1852

Queenwood College | 5^th July 1852.

Dear Sir,

During the last three or four months a thought, which you doubtless will deem a strange one, has repeatedly suggested itself to me. Had the fates ordained that I should be called away to Toronto it was my intention to reduce this thought into tangible shape and to place it in your hands. To be brief, it was my design to write a brief sketch of my life history for the purpose of furnishing you with some information regarding the private relations of one whom you had so befriended.

Circumstances have occurred which precipitate this resolution of mine. I met you a day or two ago¹ in the Strand and from that time the above thought has been more than ever present with me. I left London yesterday and avail myself of my first tranquil moment to put the thought into execution. Your kindness is now leading you to interest yourself in an especial manner on my account, with regard to this Galway matter;² but even were I successful I could not feel otherwise than unhappy if my success were associated with the thought that your support might have been modified, if you had been more fully informed regarding me.

Of course you have judged me on scientific grounds alone and taken for granted that my private character is unblameable; any thing I have now to communicate will not interfere with the opinions which you hold at present upon these points, for from my childhood to the present hour I have borne a fair character. But, in this country, other circumstances besides character and ability come into play. There is social position for instance, and it is on this point that I want to relieve my mind by giving you precise information.

I believe a couple of generations back the people from whom I am sprung³ belonged to higher portion of the middle classes. But my father was a poor man,⁴ who made a livelihood by selling leather and shoes, during a portion of his life he was a policeman. In these few words I sum up all his shortcomings. I have nothing more to say against him, for a man of more inflexible integrity and intrinsic truthfulness of heart I have never met. From his father he inherited a considerable amount of intelligence, and I well remember when sitting by his death bed tracing the veins upon his forehead and listening to his remarks, being deeply impressed with the thought that if his natural ability had had fair play in this world he would have proved a superior man. His love of intellectual culture induced him to keep me at school until I was upwards of 18 years of age. At this time I joined a division of the Ordnance Survey⁵ which was under the superintendence of a gentleman whose friendship now forms one of the sweetest facts of my life – namely Captain Wynne of the Royal Engineers. I was soon afterwards sent to England and remained connected with the Survey for about four years and a half. During this time I made myself acquainted with all its practical details, as a surveyor and leveller without and as a draughtsman within. In 1843 I separated from the O.S.⁶ and went to Ireland. During my stay there the Grand Jury of Carlow had sufficient confidence in me, though but a very young man, to vote me the entire applotment of my native county – a job which necessitated the outlay of some hundreds of pounds. They afterwards found that they had exceeded their authority in so doing, and the matter fell to the ground. I then obtained an appointment in Manchester⁷ in connexion with railway matters; from Manchester I went to Halifax where I remained nearly three years. During the railway commotion I was constantly in the thickest of the struggle. The lines with which I was connected being the most hotly contested in England, and I being the principal assistant in my employer’s office heavy and arduous duties fell to my lot. If I thought you required it I would shew you testimony to prove that I discharged these duties to the satisfaction of all concerned. Through all my pursuits the idea has been constantly before me that what I profess to do I ought to know how to do well, in fact from my boyhood I have been stimulated by a certain idea of self culture; and looking back upon my life I can call facts and circumstances to mind which marked my tendencies and often indeed make me smile. I was fond of Natural Philosophy, and remember, when quite a lad, borrowing a volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was almost as large as myself, and reading the chapters on Aerostation, Electricity and Phlogiston with intense pleasure. I made balloons at the time, and manufactured gas to the infinite annoyance of almost everybody but myself. My poor father used to inspire me sometimes by calling me Newton, and, with reference to my scriptural knowledge, Stillingfleet.⁸ In 1847 I was induced to accept a situation in this establishment,⁹ the opportunities of improvement which it promised mainly influencing my choice. In 1848 I found myself with two or three hundred pounds. I had long entertained the idea of going to Germany,¹⁰ and read and studied with reference to this object. Well I did go, and remained there three years which was just as long as my funds lasted. As Natural Philosophy connected itself more immediately with my previous pursuits and as I had loved it and dabbled in it from a boy I devoted myself to it. In one respect, at least, I earned a certain reputation in Germany and that is for being a hard worker, a reputation which I hope to maintain as long as my fibre lasts and I have an opportunity to use it. Since my return from Germany I have not been idle. I lecture twice and sometimes three times a week on Natural Philosophy. I have mathematical and physical classes for some hours each day. I have a number of farm students to keep in order, and what spare time I can command I devote to my investigations.

It is, of course, impossible for me to predict what effect the above sketch will have upon your future bearing towards me. I believe it is my duty to make you acquainted with the facts of my position and I leave consequences in the hands of the author of them. I believe plain speaking upon my treated me. For the last ten years the tendency of my life as regards social position has been an upward one, but in no case have I forsaken a straightforward course nor purchased a single advantage by other than honourable means. I will not do so now, nor, even by my silence, permit you to make a mistake regarding me. If you support me¹¹ it must be with the fact of what I am clearly placed before you. I have endeavoured, with what success I know not, to render myself fit for the companionship of cultured men, believing it to be a duty which I owed both to myself and to society. For the rest, I have endeavoured to reap warning, courage, and instruction from the lives of men whose circumstances have been in some degree like my own. I am a debtor to both Burns and Socrates in this respect;¹² and it now remains for me to make the experiment whether a man with nothing but naked character to recommend him, may not in these kingdoms, find the doors to an honourable activity open to him.

I have now done, and standing before you with a clear conscience and unburdened mind

subscribe myself, dear Sir | with sentiments of deep respects | Your faithful Servant | John Tyndall

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