Lord Rayleigh, 1875 - 1947

Abstract Robert John Strutt, fourth Baron Rayleigh, was born on 28 August 1875. Already well known in the world of science as R. J. Strutt, he succeeded to the title on the death of his distinguished father in 1919. He himself wrote the life of John William Strutt, O.M., F.R.S., the third Baron, and in that biography there is much to be found about the family history. It is sufficient therefore in this notice to refer to a few of the main facts. His mother was Evelyn Georgina Mary, daughter of James Maitland Balfour of Whittingehame, East Lothian; she was a sister of Arthur James Balfour, F.R.S. (Prime Minister, 1902-1905) and a niece of Robert, Marquis of Salisbury, F.R.S. (Prime Minister, 1885, 1886, 1895); her mother, Lady Blanche Cecil, was Lord Salisbury’s sister. His uncle on his mother’s side was Francis Maitland Balfour, F.R.S., and his aunt, Eleanor Mildred, Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and wife of Professor Henry Sidgwick, Professor of Moral Philosophy, Cambridge University. Several uncles on his father’s side were distinguished agriculturists, C. H. Strutt, M.P. for Maldon, was a pioneer in tropical agriculture, and E. G. Strutt, C.H., well known for his influence on large-scale dairy farming; another, R. Strutt, was also an authority on tropical agriculture. The Strutts were descended from John Strutt (d. 1694), a mill owner of Moulsham, Chelmsford. There had been a succession of stalwart forbears, who had been members of parliament and leaders in the county. His grandfather was a stoutly religious English gentleman, and his grandmother (Clara Elizabeth) was daughter of Richard Vicars, R.E. Whether it was the austere wisdom of the father, or the instincts engendered by military science of the mother, their son, the third Baron, had all the attributes of genius. Could it have been because he tumbled downstairs and was badly bruised in the head as a baby of twenty months? Who other than a genius could have written the Theory of Sound (or much of it), on board a ‘dahabeah’ on the Nile?