Mrs. Marcet

Jane Marcet (née Haldimand; 1 January 1769 – 28 June 1858) was an English salonnière of Republic of Geneva descent, and an innovative writer of popular, explanatory science books. She also broke ground with Conversations on Political Economy (1816), which explain the ideas of Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo.

Life

Jane Marcet was born in London on 1 January 1769, one of twelve children of a wealthy Genevan merchant and banker, Anthony Francis Haldimand (1740/41–1817), and his wife Jane (died 1785). She was educated at home with her brothers. Her studies included Latin (essential for the sciences), chemistry, biology and history, as well as topics more usual for young ladies in England. She took over the running of the family at age 15, after her mother's death, managing the house and helping to bring up her younger siblings. She also acted as her father's hostess, helping to entertain frequent parties of scientific and literary guests. She developed an early interest in painting during a visit to Italy with her father in 1796, and studied with Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Lawrence. Her artistic training later enabled her to illustrate her books.

Her younger brother William Haldimand (1784–1862) became a director of the Bank of England and a member of Parliament.

She was married in 1799 to Alexander John Gaspard Marcet (1770–1822), a political exile from Geneva, Switzerland who graduated from medical school at the University of Edinburgh as a physician in 1797. After their marriage, the Marcets continued to live in London. They had four children, one of whom, François Marcet (1803–1883), became a well-known physicist.