Childhood and early life

Abstract

Abstract There was nothing in his family history to suggest that Frederick Soddy would become a scientist. None of his ancestors had managed to get as far as university, and there was certainly nothing at all scientific in his background. The Soddy family had originated in the Bunhills district of London and family tradition has it that they were of Huguenot extraction, the family having fled to London in the seventeenth century. Frederick’s father, Benjamin Soddy, had moved his family from Walworth in South London to Eastbourne in 1875. No reason has been recorded for this move, but the reputation of the south coast for its health-giving properties prompts the speculation that illness was the likely cause. Although there is no direct evidence, either Benjamin or Hannah, his second wife, might have been the victim. At the time of the move, Benjamin was only in his early fifties, but he retired from full-time employment as a com merchant in favour of a three-day-a-week position at the London Com Exchange as a buyer for ‘Messrs. Tilling, The London Omnibus Company’. However, he lived until 1911 and so perhaps this semi-retirement was a matter of personal choice. On the other hand, Hannah was only in her early thirties and had three young sons, John, Joseph and Thomas, all under three years of age when they moved, and then Frederick was born in 1877. Again, there is no mention of disease but such frequent pregnancies apparently took their toll of Hannah’s health and she died when Frederick, the youngest child, was only eighteen months old.