accompanying his brother Francis to Italy, and became prominent as a whig politician and educational reformer. In 1821 he founded the School of Arts there for the instruction of mechanics, and thus, according to Lord Cockburn, was ‘indirectly the founder of all such institutions.’ From 1821 to 1826 a series of annual political meetings, ‘by far the most effective of all the popular movements in Scotland at that time’ (Cockburn), were organised chiefly by Horner. In 1825 he was corresponding with Peel, then home secretary, respecting workmen's combinations (Parker, Sir R. Peel, 1891, p. 379).
Horner was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Academy. In 1827 Horner was invited to London to assist in organising the London Institution, and in the following year became warden of the London University at its opening. In 1831 he resigned the latter office, partly on account of ill-health, and went with his family to live at Bonn on the Rhine. While there Horner occupied himself in studying mineralogy, and in 1833 read a paper (Geol. Soc. Proc. Trans. ut infra) on the geology of the environs of Bonn. During that year he was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the employment of children in factories, and was until 1856 one of the chief inspectors under the Factories Act, performing his duties with remarkable energy.
After 1856 Horner mainly devoted his attention to geology, and drew up catalogues of the Geological Society's collections. After a sojourn at Florence in 1861 in search of health, Horner died on 5 March 1864, at Montagu Square, London.
Horner's chief published works were: 1. ‘On the Occurrence of the Megalichthys,’ Edinburgh, 1836; geological details of the coal measures in West Fifeshire. 2. A translation of Cousin's account of the ‘State of Education in Holland as regards the Working Classes,’ 1838, with observations on the necessity of immediate legislation in Great Britain, and arguments drawn from his own observations. 3. ‘On the Employment of Children in Factories in the United Kingdom and in some Foreign Countries,’ London, 1840, with practical suggestions for legislation, and a careful review of what had already been done abroad. 4. An edition of his brother Francis's works, with memoir, London, 1843. 5. A translation of Villari's ‘History of Savonarola,’ London, 1863.
Horner's geological papers appeared in ‘Transactions of the Geological Society,’ i. 281, ii. 94, iii. 338, iv. 433 and 446; ‘Proceedings,’ i. 169, 338, 467; ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1855.
[Times, 9 March, 1864; Ann. Reg. for 1864; Quart. Journ. Geog. Soc. xxi. p. xxx, &c.; Cockburn's Life of Lord Jeffrey, i. 267; Horner's Memoirs of F. Horner, Edinburgh, 1843; Clark and Hughes' Life of Sedgwick, i. 282, ii. 401.]
HORNER, WILLIAM GEORGE (1786–1837), mathematician, son of the Rev. William Horner, a Wesleyan minister, was born in 1786. He was educated at Kingswood School, near Bristol, and at the age of sixteen became an assistant master. In four years he rose to be head master (1806), and in 1809 left to establish a school at Grosvenor Place, Bath, which he kept until he died there 22 Sept. 1837. He left a widow and several children, one of whom, William Horner, carried on the school. Horner was the discoverer of a mode of solving numerical equations of any degree, which is of the highest importance and is still known by his name. He first made it known in a paper read before the Royal Society, 1 July 1819, by Davies Gilbert [q. v.], headed ‘A New Method of Solving Numerical Equations of all Orders by Continuous Approximation,’ and published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for the same year. It was republished in the ‘Ladies' Diary’ for 1838, and a simpler and more extended version appeared in vol. i. of the ‘Mathematician,’ 1843. Horner also published: 1. ‘A Tribute of Friendship,’ a poem addressed to his friend Thomas Fussell, appended to a ‘Funeral Sermon on Mrs. Fussell,’ Bristol, 1820, 8vo. 2. ‘Natural Magic,’ a pamphlet, London, 1832, 8vo. 3. ‘Questions for the Examination of Pupils on … General History,’ Bath, 1843, 12mo. A complete edition of Horner's works was promised by Professor T. S. Davies [q. v.], but never appeared.
[Information kindly supplied by W. P. Workman, esq.; De Morgan's arithmetical books; De Morgan's article on ‘Involution and Evolution’ in Penny Cyclopædia, vol. xiii.; Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 1837, p. 957; Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, 3 Oct. 1837; Bath Journal, 2 Oct. 1837.]
HORNSBY, THOMAS, D.D. (1733–1810), astronomer, son of Thomas Hornsby of Durham, was born at Oxford on 28 Aug. 1733. He matriculated in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 1 Dec. 1749, took degrees of B.A. and M.A. respectively in 1753 and 1757, was elected a fellow of his college, and created D.D. by diploma on 22 June 1785. In 1763 he succeeded James Bradley [q. v.] in the Savilian chair of astronomy, and as ‘an instance of reformation’ in the university, was obliged to go through a yearly course of lectures. He was admitted a fellow of the
