RUMFORD, BENJAMIN Triomrsox, Count, an American inventor, was b. at Woburn, Mar. 26, 1753. Having received the rudiments of education at a common school, he entered a merchant's office at Salem, at the age of 13, and got his living as a clerk and school teacher, while he studied medicine and physics. In 1770 he was engaged as teacher of an acadertly at Rumford, now Concord, the capital of New Hamp shire; and in 1772 married a rich widow of that place, and was made maj. of militia by governor. The jealousy of officers over whom he had been promoted, and charges of disaffection to the royal cause, at this period of the outbreak of the American revolution, drove him from Rumford to Boston, where he became acquainted with gen. Howe; and when gen.Washington compelled the surrender of Boston, Thomp son was sent to England as bearer of dispatches. In London he so won the favor of the government by his intelligence as to be appointed under-secretary of state in the colo nial office. On a change of ministry, however, lie returned to America, and fought in the royal cause. When it failed, he entered the service of the king of Bavaria, by whom he was knighted; and in 1784 lie was settled at Munich as aid-de-camp and chamber lain to the reigning sovereign. In this post lie exhibited the energy of his mind and the fertility of his invention. He reorganized the .army and improved its tactics. In 1790 he suppressed beggary throughout the kingdom; took measures for improving the breeds of horses and cattle, and laid out a park for Munich. He rapidly rose io the offices of maj.gen., councilor of state, lieut.gen , minister of war, and was created count of the holy Roman empire, when he chose Rumford, where his fortunes had begun, as his titular designation. Iu 1795 he visited London, where he was treated with much atten
tion, and finding that his opinion was sought after on technological subjects, he pub lished the results of his experience and the records of his labors in Bavaria. Having long and carefully studied the phenomena of heat, he set himself to devise a remedy for the smoky chimneys, which were one of the greatest nuisances at that time in England; and discovered the principles upon which fireplaces and chimneys have since been con structed. Other cases in which greater economy of the application or production of heat could be obtained, as cooking-ranges, stoves, etc., engaged much of his attention. On his return to Bavaria he was appointed president of the council of regency, and soon after, minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James; but the British govern ment, holding to the doctrine of inalienable allegiance, refused to recognize him in that capacity. He declined an invitation to revisit America, where he was greatly admired, in spite of his loyalty. He finally settled in Paris; devoted himself to improvements in artillery and illumination; founded a professorship in Harvard college, of the applica tion of science to the arts of living; married the widow of Lavoisier; and died at Auteuil, near Paris, Aug. 21, 1814, after making many important bequests to the royal society of London, the American academy of sciences, and Harvard university. Sec Memoir by Ellis (1876).