Percival Spencer Umfreville Pickering

Born to Anne Maria Spencer-Stanhope, granddaughter of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester and her husband Percival Pickering, he was the second eldest of four children. His elder sister was the artist Evelyn de Morgan and he was followed by Rowland Neville Umfreville (1861–1931) and writer Wilhelmina, later known as A. M. W. Stirling (1865-1965). He was able to start a career in science by building his own laboratory in his private house. == Career ==

In 1881, he took up a position as lecturer at Bedford College, where he stayed until 1887. After losing an eye in a serious accident in his lab, his health waned and he moved to the countryside to the village of Harpenden. Among the residents of the village were already four fellows of the Royal Society, and Pickering was to become the fifth by 1890. ==References==