Buckle, Henry Thomas: - Henry Thomas Buckle was an English historian, author of an unfinished History of Civilization, and an accomplished amateur chess player. He is also referred to as "the Father of Scientific History". Buckle, the son of rich London merchant and shipowner Thomas Henry Buckle (1779-1840) and his wife Jane Middleton (d. 1859) of Yorkshire, was born on November 24, 1821, in Lee, London (Kent County). He has two sisters. His father died in January 1840. Buckle's "delicate health" made him unsuitable for the typical formal schooling or games of middle-class youngsters. However, he enjoyed reading. This qualified him to be "educated at home" by his mother, whom he adored until her death in 1859. Buckle completed one year of formal education at Gordon House School when he was fourteen years old. Buckle requested "to be taken away from school" after his father promised him a reward for winning a math competition. He learned everything on his own after that. Buckle later stated, "I was never much tormented by what is called education, but allowed to pursue my own way undisturbed." Whatever I am currently expected to know, I taught myself." Buckle initially distinguished himself as a chess player when he was nineteen years old. He was widely regarded as one of the best in the world. In match play, he defeated Kieseritsky and Loewenthal.