Bassett Family Association Database

Henry Bassett

Male Abt 1837 - 1920  (~ 83 years)


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  • Name Henry Bassett 
    Born Abt 1837  St. Pancras, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Christened 6 Oct 1837  Christ Church, St. Marylebone, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID 9E024E20E62BC246B5489A8214D04F74E725 
    Died 30 Aug 1920 
    Notes 
    • Royal College of Chemistry
      Henry Bassett, F.I.C
      Born 1837; Died August 30th, 1920
      Henry Bassett, who died on August 30th, 1920, at the age of eighty-three, had been a Fellow of the Society since 1864, and many of our older Fellows, besides those who enjoyed his friendship, will remember him as a once-constant attendant at its meetings and as a member of its Council, on which he served for two full periods, 1870-1837, and 1890-1893.
      He received his early chemical training from Hofmann in the old College of Chemistry, whence he went to Oxford for a time as assistant to Sir Benjamin Brodie. He returned to London and established himself in a little laboratory (which he called “The Den”) in the Polygon, Somers Town, migrating afterwards to Euston Grove (remembered as “Den No. 2”), where he worked and experimented for several years. A good portrait of him by Houghton, painted in the Euston Grove “Den” and exhibited at the Royal Academy, survives as a memento of this period. Subsequently he joined the late F.A. Manning, well remembered as a specialist in matters relating to anthracene, in whose laboratory he spent a large part of his life. In 1893 he re-established himself in independent analytical and consulting practice in St. Andrew’s Hill (his “Den No. 3”), where he continued to work at anthracene, but also largely concerned himself with investigations relating to non-ferrous alloys, as well as with miscellaneous consultative work, in which he was engaged almost up to the time of his death.
      Bassett contributed in his earlier years several papers of interest to the Transactions of the Society. The first of these was on “Tetrabasic Carbonate of Ethyl” (1864). In 1865 he contributed a “Note on the Action of Chloropicrin and Chloroform on Potassium Acetate”; in 1866, a paper on “A Cyanogen Derivative of March Gas”, in 1867, a paper on “Julin’s Chloride of Carbon”; and, in 1872, a paper on “Eulyte and Dyalyte.” As far as the Transactions are concerned he was then silent until 1890, when he contributed a paper on the “Interaction of Iodine, Water, and Potassium Chlorate.” The Abstracts of our Journal give summaries of various other papers chronicling experimental investigations published in the Chemical News, including “Reactions of Tin with Sulphuric Acid” (1886), “Preparation of Tricholoromethyl-Sulphuric Cholirde” (1886), “Analysis of Anthracene” (1895), and “Reduction of Chromic Acid by Acetic Acid and its effect on Anthracene Testing” (1889); and also of a paper (1892) on the “Tabular Expression of the Periodic Law.”
      Bassett was fond of artistic society and a lover of music, being for many years an active member of the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society, in which he played the trumpet - an instrument in the construction of which he interested himself to the extent of devising improvements therein.
      He was married in 1879 to Mary Kate Colchester, who happily survives him, and left two daughters and one son, Dr. Henry Bassett, who is Professor of Chemistry at University College, Reading.

      Nature - International Weekly Journal of Science
      September 16, 1920
      Obituaries - Henry Bassett
      By the death of Mr. Henry Bassett, F.I.C., at the age of eighty-three on August 30, we have lost one of the few remaining survivors of that ardent band of young chemists who studied under Dr. A.W. Hofmarin at the Royal College of Chemistry. Handicapped at the start by the death of his father when he was only nine years old, Mr. Bassett had an uphill fight all his life; but he was animated by the same spirit which often enables the poet and the artist to produce good work under most unfavourable conditions.

      1841 British Census of Kentish Town, St. Pancras, Middlesex, England
      Henry Bassett - 35 - M - Born in County - Architect
      Maria - 35 - F - Not born in County
      Henry - 3 - M - Born in County
      Rose - 1 - F - Born in County

      1851 British Census of 10 Terriane Terrace, Kentish Town, St. Pancras, Middlesex, England
      Maria Bassett (Widow) - 47 - F - Head - Deptford, Kent - Proprietor of Houses
      Henry - 13 - M - Son - Camden Town, Middlesex - Scholar
      Rose - 10 - F - Daughter - Hampstead Road, Middlesex - Scholar

      1861 British Census of Somers Town, St. Pancras, Middlesex, England
      Maria Bassett (Widow) - 57 - F - Head - Deptford, Kent - Proprietor of Houses
      Henry - 23 - M - Son - Pancras, Middlesex - Professional Chemist
      Rose - 20 - F - Daughter - Hampstead, Middlesex

      1871 British Census of 56 Upper Gloucester Street, St. Marylebone, London, England
      Maria Bassett - 67 - F - Head - Deptford, Kent - Income from leases
      Henry - 33 - M - Son - St. Pancras, Middlesex - Analytical Chemist
      Rose - 30 - F - Daughter - Hampstead, Middlesex

      1881 British Census of 26 Beliatha Villas, London, Middlesex, England
      Henry Bassett - 43 - M - Head - St. Pancras, Middlesex - Analytical Chemist (Scientific Quantity)
      Mary K. - 35 - F - Wife - Ipswich, Suffolk
      Julia E. Ardney - 22 - F - Servant - Ireland - General Servant

      1901 British Census of Barsbury, Islington, London, England
      Henry Bassett - 62 - M - Head - St. Pancras, London - Analytical Chemist
      Mary K. - 55 - F - Wife - Ipswich, Suffolk
      Henry - 19 - M - Son - Islington, London
      Kate R. - 18 - F - Daughter - Islington, London
      Mary J. - 17 - F - Daughter - Islington, London
    Person ID I3  473B Henry Bassett of St. Pancras, Middlesex, England
    Last Modified 19 May 2019 

    Father Henry Bassett,   b. 1803, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Oct 1846, Hampstead Road, St. Pancras, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 43 years) 
    Mother Maria Baumer,   b. 1803, Deptford, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Jan 1880, St. Pancras, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 77 years) 
    Married 15 Sep 1836  Christ Church, Stg. Marylebone, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Mary Kate Colchester,   b. Abt 1846, Ipswich, Suffolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married 1879 
    Children 
    +1. Doctor Henry Bassett,   b. Abt 1882, Islington, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Kate R. Bassett,   b. Abt 1883, Islington, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location
     3. Mary J. Bassett,   b. Abt 1884, Islington, London, England Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F2  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart