Robert Warington | |
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 Robert Warington | |
| Born | (1807-09-07)7 September 1807 |
| Died | 17 November 1867(1867-11-17) (aged 60) Budleigh Salterton,Devon, England |
| Education | London University |
| Known for | Co-creator of theChemical Society of London |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingRobert |
| Relatives | Katherine Warington (granddaughter) |
Robert WaringtonFRS (7 September 1807 – 17 November 1867)[1] was anEnglishchemist considered the driving force behind the creation of the world's first enduring chemistry society,The Chemical Society of London, which later became theRoyal Society of Chemistry.[2]
Born on 7 September 1807 inSheerness,Kent, he was the third son of Thomas Warington (1773–1843), a ship'svictualler and wine merchant,[1] and his wife Esther Elizabeth Eaton (1779–1861). One of his uncles was Thomas Warington (1765–1850), the father-in-law of AdmiralWilliam Henry Smyth.
After a childhood spent inPortsmouth,Boulogne, and other places, he enteredMerchant Taylors' school in 1818 and in 1822 wasarticled for five years toJohn Thomas Cooper, a lecturer in the medical schools of Aldersgate Street and Webb Street, and a manufacturer ofpotassium,sodium,iodine, and other then-rare chemical substances.[1] On the opening of the London University in 1828, laterUniversity College, London, he was chosen byEdward Turner, the Professor of Chemistry, as his assistant along withWilliam Gregory.[1] In 1831 he was appointed chemist to the London brewersTruman, Hanbury & Buxton, becoming the first qualified chemist to work for a British brewery.[3] From 1842 (uponHennell's death) until shortly before his death he was the chemical operator at theSociety of Apothecaries.[2]
On 3 August 1836 atChrist Church, Spitalfields he married Elizabeth Jackson (1816–1909), daughter of Dr George Jackson MRCP, inventor of improvements to the microscope[1] and they had four children, their eldest son beingRobert Warington Jr., FRS, the father ofKatherine Warington. Robert Warington Sr. died on 17 November 1867 atBudleigh Salterton,Devon.[1]
In 1831 he published his first research, on a native sulphide ofbismuth.[1] In 1839 he started a movement to found the Chemical Society of London, convening the first meeting in 1841 and serving as its first Secretary for ten years.[1] In 1844 he began a series of investigations into theadulteration oftea, and gave evidence at the parliamentary inquiry in 1855.[1] In 1845 he was one of the founders of theRoyal College of Chemistry, later part ofImperial College, London.[1] In 1846 he took part in the formation of the Cavendish Society, of which he was secretary for three years, and from then on had many engagements as chemical expert in legal cases.[1]
In 1851 he revised the ‘'Translation of the Pharmacopœia of the Royal College of Physicians'’ into English, left unfinished byRichard Phillips. He was also engaged in the construction of theBritish Pharmacopoeia from 1864, and was joint editor withBoverton Redwood of the second edition in 1867.[1] In 1854 he was appointed chemical referee by four of the Londoncoal gas suppliers, and held this post for seven years.[1] In 1864 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the Royal Society's catalogue lists 47 papers written by him alone.[1]
The "aquarium principle" was discovered by Warington, who worked out that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as their numbers do not grow too large.[4] He published his findings in 1851 in the Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London.[5][6] and his work is the origin of modern aquaria.
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