Combe, George |
| LAWYER, PHRENOLOGIST (SCOTLAND) |
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BORN 21 Oct 1788, Edinburgh - DIED 14 Aug 1858, Farnham, Surrey GRAVE LOCATION Edinburgh: Dean Cemetery, Dean Path (original cemetery, against the north wall) |
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George Combe was the son of the brewer George Combe and his wife Marion (née Newton). The physicist Andrew Combe (1797-1847) was his younger brother. In 1816 Geoge Combe witnessed Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832) dissecting a human brain in Edinburgh. He attended further lectures by Spurzheim and developed an interest in phrenology. In 1817 he published an essay on the subject in "Scots Magazine". Further essays followed and he bundled them in book form in "A System of Phrenology". In 1820 he was involved in the foundation of the Phrenological Society of Edinburgh. He published "The Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects" in 1828. The book was an international bestseller. In 1833 he married Cecilia Siddons, a daughter of the famous actress Sarah Siddons. In 1836 he was a candicate for the chair of Logic at the University of Edinburgh, but Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856), who had previously attacked the phrenologists, was elected. In 1842 Combe gave 22 lectures on phrenology at the University of Heidelberg. After his retirement he lived at 45 Melville Street in Edinburgh with his wife. He died in 1858 and was buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. Family • Wife: Siddons, Cecilia (1833-) |
| Images |
 The grave of George Combe and Cecilia Siddons at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh. Picture by Androom (05 Nov 2019) |
Sources • George Combe - Wikipedia |
