LUBBOCK, John, 1ST BARON AVEBURY, British archzeologist and man of science: b. London, 30 April 1834; d. Kingsgate Castle, near. Ramsgate, Kent, 28 May 1913. He was educated at Eton and joined the banking business of his father, Sir John William Lub bock (q.v.), in 1848, becoming a partner in 1856. He rose to great eminence in his profession, and was appointed to various honorable and responsible posts in connection with it. He en tered Parliament in 1870 as member for Maidstone in the Liberal interest, and from 1880 till 1900 sat for London University, from 1886 as a Liberal Unionist. In 1900 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Avebury. He was a recognized authority on financial and educational questions, and his name is asso ciated with three notable measures of social reform — the Bank Holidays Act, 1881, which secured three national holidays to the workers, on Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the first weekday after Christmas Day. Each of these is often referred to as "Saint Lubbock's Day?) He also instituted the Shop Hours Regu lation Act, 1885, which limited the hours of young persons under 18, and the Shop Hours Act, 1904, which made it compulsory for every store to close for half-a-day once a week. He was at various times chairman or member of a number of royal commissions; the Common Com mittee of Public Accounts ; on the Advancement of Science ; the Public Schools; Internatio:al Coinage; the Gold and Silver Commission; and the Secondary Education Commission. He was the first president of the Institute of Bankers and chairman of the Council of Foreign Bond holders. He was an outstanding supporter of the principle of proportional representation_ But he was still more distinguished as a man of science. His studies were chiefly directed
toward the ancient remains and history of man kind; and the habits of insects, particularly of wasps, ants and bees. Some of his books had enormous circulations and did much to promote popular interest in science, and they possessed the authority that is based on ex haustive personal investigation. A complete list of his writings would make quite a for midable catalogue. They may be divided into four classes: (1) Biology: Wild Flowers in Relation to Insects' (1873) ; and Metamorphoses of Insects' (1873) ; 'Fruits, Flowers and Leaves> (1886) ; 'On Seedlings> (1892) ; 'Buds and Stipules) (1899); 'Notes on the Life History of British Flowering Plants> (1905) ; (2) Geology, Palaeontology and Phys-. ical Geography; 'Prehistoric Man> (1865) 'The Origin of Civilization' (1870) : Scenery of Switzerland) (1896) ; Scenery of England) (1902) ; the two latter of import ance as explanations of how the scenery has come to be what it is. (3) Econ omics: History of Coinage) (1902) ; Trade> (1904). (4) Miscellaneous : 'Fifty Years of Science' (Presidential address to the British Association, 1881) ; 'The Pleasures of Life) (1887); 'Peace and Happiness> (1909) •, and a number of other essays and addresses, of which a very popular one was an attempt to specify the best 100 books in the world's litera ture. These have frequently been published in sets and are known as "Lubbock's Hundred Best Books?