Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/371

 was sent to Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath, to live with his uncle, Thomas Spencer [q. v.], who was an advanced radical and a leader of various social movements, such as temperance reform. From his strict regime the lad quickly ran away, walking to Derby in three days (48 miles the first day, 47 the next, and about 20 the third day), with little food and no sleep. He was sent back to his uncle, however, and for three years his education was carried on at Hinton Charterhouse with greater success.

At sixteen he returned to Derby, with his education completed. A year later he commenced his career as assistant to a schoolmaster at Derby. After some three months, however, his uncle William obtained for him a post under (Sir) Charles Fox [q. v.], resident engineer of part of the London and Birmingham railway. He was thus definitely launched in 1837 on the career of civil engineer, a profession which was recognised as well suited to him. Fox soon perceived his capacities, and in less than a year he was promoted to a better post on the Birmingham and Gloucester railway (now absorbed by the Midland railway), with headquarters at Worcester. Capt. Moorsom, the engineer-in-chief, appointed him his private secretary for a few months. Spencer continued to work on the construction of the line till its completion in 1841, when his services were no longer required and he was discharged. 'Got the sack — very glad' was the entry-in his diary ; and he refused a permanent appointment in the locomotive service, without asking what it was. During this period of a little over three years' engineering his interest had centred largely on geometrical problems, which fill his letters to his father. He also published a few short articles in a technical newspaper, and made one or two inventions of considerable ingenuity, such as a velocimeter for determining velocities in the trials of engines. Good-looking in appearance, but with brusque and unpolished manners, he was on the whole liked by his companions ; but was probably somewhat hampered in promotion by his excessive self-assertiveness and tendency to argue with his chiefs.

After his discharge Spencer returned to Derby, and a period of miscellaneous speculation and activity commenced : natural history, mechanical inventions, phrenology, modelling all occupied his attention. The following year his first serious literary attempt took the form of a series of letters to the 'Nonconformist,' an organ of the advanced dissenters. There he urged the limitations of the functions of the State and displayed the extreme individualism which characterised the whole of his social writings in after life. The same year he plunged into active politics, becoming associated with the 'complete suffrage movement,' which was closely connected with the chartist agitation, and was honorary secretary of the Derby branch. In 1843 he was sanguine enough to republish his letters to the 'Nonconformist' as a pamphlet entitled 'The Proper Sphere of Government' ; but it attracted no attention, beyond a polite acknowledgment from Carlyle of a presentation copy. One or two articles sent to reviews were refused ; but at last, in 1844, Spencer was selected as sub-editor to a newspaper called the 'Pilot,' which was at that time being established in Birmingham as organ of the complete suffrage movement. In the anti-corn-law agitation, the anti-slavery agitation, and that for the separation of church and state he took an active part, and was described by one of his friends as 'radical all over.'

The insecurity of the 'Pilot' and some of its promoters' dislike of his anti-religious views, which were becoming manifest, made him welcome an opportunity of returning to his old profession. For the next two years Spencer was engaged in one capacity or other in the work of railway construction. The railway mania was at its height. He continued to improve his position with his colleagues ; but with the failure of some of his chief's schemes his appointment was again brought to an end — this time permanently — through no fault of his own. In 1846-7 he was occupied with various mechanical inventions and projects, including one for a sort of flying machine ; but only on one of them did he succeed in making a little money — a binding-pin for binding together loose sheets of music or printed periodicals. At last the nomadic period of his life came to an end, when in 1848 he was appointed sub-editor of the 'Economist' at a salary of 100 guineas a year, with free lodgings and attendance. The 'Economist' was the property of James Wilson, M.P. (1805-60) [q. v.], who had under his own editorship brought it to a high degree of prosperity.

The years during which Spencer was at the 'Economist' were fruitful in laying the foundations of many of the friendships which profoundly affected his later life. John Chapman [q. v. Suppl. I] carried on a publiUshing business just opposite the