Peter Mark Roget: From Napoleonic Captive to Lexicographical Genius
Early Life and Education
Peter Mark Roget was born in 1779, the son of a Swiss watchmaker who had settled in England. Roget showed an early aptitude for language and science, and he went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating, he spent several years working as a physician and inventor, but his true passion lay in words.
Grand Tour and Napoleonic Captivity
In 1802, Roget embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, a rite of passage for wealthy young Englishmen. He was accompanied by two teenage boys, Burton and Nathaniel Philips, whose father had hired Roget as their tutor.
The trio spent several months in Paris, where they witnessed the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. They were fascinated by the great general, but their stay was cut short when Britain and France went to war in 1803. Napoleon issued a decree that all British citizens in French territory over the age of 18 be held as prisoners of war.
Roget and the Philips boys were trapped in Geneva, which Napoleon had annexed. Roget tried to flee, but he was caught and ordered to surrender. Desperate to escape captivity, Roget petitioned officials for exemptions as a medical doctor and a tutor, but his pleas were denied.
Escape to Neuchâtel
With the Philips boys too young to be subject to Napoleon’s edict, Roget sent them over the border to the Swiss Confederacy. He then resorted to a final, desperate course of action: changing his citizenship.
Roget’s father had been a Genevese citizen, and Roget managed to track down his baptismal certificate. With this proof of his Genevese heritage, Roget was able to obtain a passport and rejoin the Philips boys in Neuchâtel.
Return to England and Scientific Pursuits
Roget and the boys eventually made their way back to England, where Roget resumed his career as a physician and inventor. He also published extensively on scientific topics, including a paper on a logarithmic slide rule he had invented.
In 1814, Roget was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. His most significant scientific work was an exhaustive survey of physiology in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, which was published in the Bridgewater Treatises series.
The Creation of the Thesaurus
After retiring from medicine and science in 1849, Roget turned his attention to words. He had always been fascinated by language, and he had compiled a list of some 15,000 words during his youth.
Over the next three years, Roget assembled his words into six overarching categories, including “matter,” “intellect,” and “volition.” He organized and classified them based on their meanings and relationships, creating a comprehensive guide to human knowledge.
Publication and Legacy
Roget’s thesaurus was published in 1853, and it quickly became a bestseller. It was the first thesaurus to offer the depth and scope of Roget’s work, and it revolutionized the way people wrote and spoke.
Roget oversaw more than two dozen additional editions and printings of his thesaurus over the next 16 years. He continued to work on an expanded edition until his death in 1869, at the age of 90.
Peter Mark Roget’s thesaurus remains one of the most important reference books in the English language. It is a testament to his genius and his lifelong passion for words.