David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons

Not to be confused with David Salomons.

Caricatuture by Sly for Vanity Fair, 1908

Sir David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons, 2nd Baronet (born January 28, 1851 – 19 April 1925) was a scientific author and barrister.

The son of Philip Salomons of Brighton, and Emma, daughter of Jacob Montefiore of Sydney, he succeeded to the Baronetcy originally granted to his uncle David Salomons in 1873. He married Laura, daughter of Hermann Stern, 1st Baron de Stern and Julia, daughter of Aaron Asher Goldsmid, brother of Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid by which he had one son and four daughters. He assumed the additional surnames and arms of Goldsmid and Stern in 1899.

He studied at University College, London and at Caius College, Cambridge, gaining a B.A. in 1874.^[1] In the same year he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple.^[1] He went on to produce several scientific works and pamphlets. He was a J.P., D.L. and High Sheriff of Kent, mayor and alderman of Tunbridge Wells, County Councilor for the Tonbridge division of Kent for 15 years and J.P. for London, Middlesex, Sussex, and Westminster.

His home north of Tunbridge Wells, Broomhill, is preserved as the Salomons Museum. It is also a part of Canterbury Christ Church University, and is a centre for postgraduate training, research and consultancy. Salomons was interested in electricity from an early age and when he inherited Broomhill in 1873, he set up large laboratories and workshops where he investigated electromotive force and electric conductors and carried out countless experiments. He took out patents for electric lamps, current meters and various improvements to electrical equipment. The workshops were said to contain some 60,000 tools, which could manufacture anything from a watch to a steam engine and also included a huge electromagnet. One of the new technologies Salomons installed at Broomhill was electric light. He had his own coal-fired generator and could produce enough electricity for 1,000 sixteen candle-power (about 60 watt) light bulbs. Electricity was installed on a small scale at first, in the workshops in 1874, where it was used for an arc light and to drive motors. Domestic electric lighting did not come in until about 1877-1880 when Joseph Swan invented a light bulb that could be used in homes, and Broomhill became one of the first to be lit with electricity. Salomons also developed one of the first electric cooking devices, an electric butter churn and the first electric alarms, all made and installed by Salomons and his staff.^[2] There is also a Welte Philharmonic organ from 1914^[3].

References

1. ^ ^{a b} David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
2. ^ "David Lionel Salomons - Master of electricity". Canterbury Christ Church University. http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/salomons-museum/david-lionel-salomons.asp. Retrieved 11 November 2010. 
3. ^ WELTE restored. Royal Academy of Music, 2011

External links

• Biography at Salomons Museum
• Works by or about David Lionel Goldsmid-Stern-Salomons in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by David Salomons	Baronet (of Broom Hill) 1873–1925	Extinct

Persondata
Name	Salomons, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 28, 1851
Place of birth
Date of death	19 April 1925
Place of death