Michael Faraday was the third of four children in his family.
He was born in 1791 to James Faraday, a blacksmith, and Margaret Faraday. The family had moved to London from Westmorland, and Michael was born at Newington Butts during the following autumn. He was the third child, making the total number of children four.
Faraday’s modest family background is important to his life story. He received only basic formal schooling and later educated himself through reading while apprenticed to the London bookbinder George Riebau. That route eventually led him to attend lectures by Humphry Davy and join the Royal Institution.
The number is sometimes confused with the number of children Faraday had himself. He and Sarah Barnard married in 1821 but had no children. “Third of four” describes Faraday’s position among his siblings, not his own descendants.