The Booles and the Hintons : Two Dynasties That Helped Shape the Modern World

In 1983 Gerry Kennedy set off on a tour through Russia, China, Japan and the USA to visit others involved in the global anti-war movement.Only dimly aware of his Victorian ancestors: George Boole, forefather of the digital revolution and James Hinton, eccentric philosopher and advocate of polygamy, he had directly followed in the footsteps of two dynasties of radical thinkers and doers.Their notable achievements, in which the women were particularly prominent, involved many spheres.Boole's wife, Mary Everest, niece of George Everest, surveyor of the eponymous mountain, was an early advocate of hands-on education.Of the five talented Boole daughters, Ethel Voynich, wife of the discoverer of the enigmatic, still unexplained Voynich Manuscript, campaigned with Russian anarchists to overthrow the Tsar.Her 1897 novel The Gadfly, filmed later with music by Shostakovich, sold in millions behind the Iron Curtain.She was rumoured to have had an affair with the notorious 'Ace of Spies', Sidney R