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20 J. Legal Econ. 15 (2014)
Benjamin Gompertz and the Law of Mortality

handle is hein.journals/jole20 and id is 21 raw text is: James E. Ciecka. 2014. Benjamin Gompertz and the Law of Mortality. Journal of Legal Economics 20(1-2): pp. 15-29. Reviews and Cases of Note Benjamin Gompertz and the Law of Mortality James E. Ciecka* I. Introduction Benjamin Gompertz (1779-1865) was born in London into a Jewish family with roots in Holland. Gompertz's father and grandfather were diamond merchants; but Benjamin's interests, although business related, were more academic and scholarly. Denied university admission because he was a Jew, he was self-taught in higher mathematics by reading Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746).' In 1810, Gompertz married the sister of Moses Montefiore (1784-1885), the financier and philanthropist. It was through Montefiore that Gompertz was connected to Nathan Rothschild (1777-1836), the founder of his family's international banking empire in Great Britain. Montefiore's wife's sister was married to Rothschild; and Montefiore and Rothschild has some shared business ventures, one of which Gompertz managed for several years. In addition to being a practicing insurance actuary and businessman, Gompertz communicated his first paper to the Royal Society in 1806, became a Fellow in the Royal Society in 1819, and was a founding member of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, Royal *James E. Ciecka, Professor, Department of Economics, DePaul University, 1 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago IL, 60604. Phone: 312 362-8831, E-mail: jciecka@depaul.edu. I wish to thank Gary R. Skoog for reading this note and suggesting improvements, as did John Berdell, Seth Epstein, Lane Hudgins, Anthony Krautmann, and Timothy Opiela. Also, I wish to thank special editors Lane Hudgins, Thomas R. Ireland, and Marc A. Weinstein for their willingness to publish notes of historical interest. Jews in Great Britain did not enjoy full civil rights until after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. Shortly after the passage of that act, Jews were accorded similar treatment under the law as Catholics. Afterwards, many Jewish families flourished. Two very public signs of progress include the 1837 knighthood of Moses Montefiore, then the Sherriff of London, by Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) became Prime Minister in 1868. He was a member of Church of England when he was Prime Minister, but he was born a Jew and baptized at age 12. Ciecka: Benjamin Gompertz and the Law of Mortality

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