UCL’s quest for the philosopher’s rings
IT MIGHT be considered the ultimate memento mori to have your body wired and stuffed so you can be wheeled out at parties after death.
But eccentric philosopher Jeremy Bentham went a step further in ensuring that his friends did not forget him by bequeathing rings containing his bust in silhouette and strands of hair.
The social reformer, who died in 1832, began making plans for his legacy from the age of 21, insisting his body be preserved as an “auto-icon” and leaving a list of 26 individuals who were to receive a special mourning ring.
University College London (UCL) where Bentham’s body remains on display, has tracked down six rings, but is hunting for the remaining 20.
The silhouette portraits of Bentham were created by the artist John Field, who was working by appointment to William IV and Queen Adelaide.
“The mourning rings were probably commissioned by Bentham in 1822, when he had his silhouette painted by Field,” said Dr Tim Causer, of UCL Bentham Project. “We also know that on Nov 2 1822, Bentham’s secretary took some of his hair to Field and his partner John Miers for the rings.”
Bentham is regarded as the founder of utilitarianism. A leading social and economic reformer, he was pivotal in the establishment of Britain’s first police force, the Thames River Police in 1800, which was the precedent for Robert Peel’s reforms 30 years later. He also argued for the rights of women and for homosexuality to be legalised.
A notable eccentric, Bentham called his walking stick Dapple, his teapot Dickey, and kept an elderly cat named The Rev Sir John Langbourne.
But it was his loathing of the church, which he described as “nonsense on stilts”, which led him to donating his organs to medical science and insisting his body be placed on display.
Subhadra Das, Curator at UCL Culture, said: “Bentham revolutionised our idea of what death is. When he donated his body for the advancement of science it was considered a social taboo, but his ideas framed the Anatomy Act 1832 that allowed medical practitioners and students to dissect donated bodies.
“The memorial rings also help to highlight how attitudes to death and memory have changed over time. The rings and the lock of hair might seem morbid to some today, but it was fairly common practice at the time.” Of the rings discovered by UCL, three are engraved with the names of their owners: publisher and bookseller William Tait, the Belgian politician Sylvain van de Weyer, and John Stuart Mill, the other great utilitarian philosopher.
Mill’s ring was discovered in a jewellery shop in New Orleans, suggesting the remaining rings could be spread throughout the world. UCL also has an unidentified ring and two others are known to be in the possession of the descendants of William Stockwell, one of Bentham’s servants.
The whereabouts of the others is unknown, although a ring bequeathed to Jean-Baptiste Say, the French economist, was recently sold at auction by Christie’s. UCL hope the descendants of the original owners may be able to help. José Cecilio del Valle, the Guatemalan philosopher and politician, was painted wearing his ring. “Interestingly, on the bookshelf of that portrait is one of Bentham’s works as well as a Spanish translation of Say’s Traité d’économie d’éco politique,” said Dr Causer. “It’s a neat, tangible link between Bentham, Say and del Valle.” Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the rings should contact UCL.