John George Children

Who was John George Children?

John George Children was a British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist.

John George was born on 18 May 1777 at Ferox Hall, Tunbridge Kent. His father George Children, a lawyer, belonged to a family that lived at the home, "Childrens", near Nether Street in Hildenborough and his mother Susanna, who was the daughter of Rev. Thomas Marshall Jordan of West Farleigh died six days after he was born.

Children studied at Tonbridge School, Eton College and Queens' College, Cambridge. He married Hester Anna Holwell, granddaughter of John Zephaniah Holwell in 1798. After her death in 1800, he began to travel widely. He was a friend of Sir Humphry Davy and together they conducted several experiments. In 1808 he visited Spain where he met Joseph Blanco White. In 1813 he constructed a large galvanic cell and conducted experiments using them. These were published in Philosophical Transactions in 1815 and for this he received the Royal Institution medal in 1828. In 1824 he discovered a method of extracting silver without the need for mercury which was purchased by several American mining companies. He married Caroline, daughter of George Furlong Wise of Woolston, in 1809 but she died the next year. In 1819 he married Mrs. Towers.