Phrenology Research Environment

WILLIAMS, William Mattieu (1820-1892)

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Metadata

Born: 1820

Died: 1892

Editorial Description

son of a London fishmonger; worked with William Ellis in the London Mechanics' Inst to establish secular primary schools; studied at Edin Univ, 1841-2, and subsequently made a European tour; manufactured electrical instruments; headmaster of COMBE'S secular school in Edin, 1848-54, then, to 1863, science teacher in the Industrial Dept of Birmingham Midland Inst; manager of the Birmingham Polytechnic, 1881-2; contributed science notes to the GENTS MAG, 1880-9, and wrote The Intellectual Destiny of the Working Man (1863) in which he argued that scientific education must not be allowed to degenerate in learned societies for the benefit of "dilettante fine gentlemen"; an advocate of shorthand, he also wrote on the chemistry of cookery (1885); acquired his knowledge of phrenology at the London Mechanics' Inst where he also lectured on phrenology in 1848 and tutored on the subject. (MEB; memoir by J. Angell in Williams, Vindication, 1894.)

Works as Listed by Roger Cooter (1989)

1203.1 — 1203.1 "The Study of Phrenology [a lecture on 'The Present State and Prospects of Phrenology South of the Tweed']," J HEALTH, 13 (Jan 1864): 7-8.
1203.2 — 1203.2 A Vindication of Phrenology. London: Chatto & Windus, 1894. Pp. 428.

Editorial Information

Identifier	1203.
Type	Person
Source	Roger Cooter, Phrenology in the British Isles (1989)
PDF page	351
Printed page	346
Database ID	3307

Original Transcription

1203. WILLIAMS, William Mattieu (1820-92), son of a London fishmonger; worked with William Ellis in the London Mechanics' Inst to
establish secular primary schools; studied at Edin Univ, 1841-2, and
subsequently made a European tour; manufactured electrical instruments; headmaster of COMBE'S secular school in Edin, 1848-54, then,
to 1863, science teacher in the Industrial Dept of Birmingham Midland Inst; manager of the Birmingham Polytechnic, 1881-2; contributed
science notes to the GENTS MAG, 1880-9, and wrote The Intellectual
Destiny of the Working Man (1863) in which he argued that scientific
education must not be allowed to degenerate in learned societies for
the benefit of "dilettante fine gentlemen"; an advocate of shorthand,
he also wrote on the chemistry of cookery (1885); acquired his knowledge of phrenology at the London Mechanics' Inst where he also lectured on phrenology in 1848 and tutored on the subject. (MEB;
memoir by J. Angell in Williams, Vindication, 1894.)