Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
If you would like to write a summary for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com
Wikipedia
| John Wilkins | |
 |
|
| Born | January 1, 1614 Fawsley, Northamptonshire |
|---|---|
| Died | November 19, 1672 (aged 58) London |
| Occupation | Anglican clergyman, Author, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Secretary of the Royal Society, Bishop of Chester |
| Religious beliefs | Church of England |
| Spouse | Robina Cromwell (sister of Oliver) |
John Wilkins (January 1, 1614 - November 19, 1672) was an English clergyman and author. He was founder and first secretary of the Royal Society in 1660 and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. As an author, he is particularly known for An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language.
Wilkins is the only person to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
[edit] Biography
Wilkins was born at Fawsley, Northamptonshire, and educated at Magdalen Hall (which later became Hertford College), Oxford. His father was a goldsmith, and his grandfather was a vicar, John Dodd. After ordination, Wilkins became vicar of his home town of Fawsley in 1637, but soon resigned and became chaplain successively to Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Berkeley, and Prince Charles Louis, nephew of King Charles I and afterwards elector palatine of the Rhine.
In 1641, Wilkins published an anonymous treatise entitled Mercury, or The Secret and Swift Messenger.[1] This small but comprehensive work on cryptography proved a timely gift to the diplomats and leaders of the imminent English Civil War.
In 1648, he became warden of Wadham College, Oxford. Under him the college prospered extraordinarily, for, although a supporter of Oliver Cromwell, he remained in touch with the most cultured Royalists, who placed their sons in his charge. In 1656, he married Robina Cromwell, sister of Oliver Cromwell. In 1659, shortly before his death, Oliver Cromwell arranged his appointment as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge[2], an appointment that was confirmed by Cromwell's successor as Lord Protector, his son Richard Cromwell.
At the Restoration in 1660, the new authorities deprived Wilkins of the position given him by Cromwell; he gained appointment as prebendary of York and rector of Cranford, Middlesex. In 1661, he was reduced to preacher at Gray's Inn, lodging with his friend Seth Ward. In 1662, he became vicar of St Lawrence Jewry, London. He became vicar of Polebrook, Northamptonshire, in 1666, prebendary of Exeter in 1667, and in the following year prebendary of St Paul's and bishop of Chester.
Possessing strong scientific tastes, Wilkins was the chief founder of the Royal Society and its first secretary. In 1668 he published his Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, in which he attempted to create a universal language to replace Latin as a completely unambiguous tongue with which scholars and philosophers could communicate.[3]
The Ballad of Gresham College (1663), an ode to the society, describes his efforts:
| “ |
A Doctor counted very able |
” |
In 1668, Wilkins presented to the Royal Society his suggestions for rationalising the measurement system; his plan was not taken up, though in retrospect it has been identified as the first statement of a metric system.[5]
[edit] Death and legacy
He died in London of complications arising from kidney stones.
The influence and ambitions of John Wilkins were an important thread in the historical fiction trilogy The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
[edit] Works
His numerous written works include:
- The Discovery of a World in the Moone (1638)[6][7]
- A Discourse Concerning a New Planet (1640)
- Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger (1641), the first English-language book on cryptography
- Mathematical Magick (1648)
- An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (London, 1668), in which he proposes a new universal language for the use of natural philosophers.
- Of the Principle and Duties of Natural Religion (London, 1675).
[edit] References
- ^ M E R C V R Y: The secret and swift Messenger Scan of original book
- ^ The Master of Trinity at Trinity College, Cambridge
- ^ The Analytical Language of John Wilkins from alamut.com
- ^ Stimson, Dorothy. "'Ballad of Gresham College'". Isis volume 18, number 1, 1932. pp. 103-117.
- ^ Metric system 'was British' - from the BBC video news
- ^ Cromwell's moonshot: how one Jacobean scientist tried to kick off the space race from The Independent
- ^ The Discovery of a World in the Moon from http://www.positiveatheism.org
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[edit] External links
- Galileo Project: Wilkins from the Rice University website
- Works by John Wilkins at Project Gutenberg
- Bishop Wilkins College A Rosicrucian SRIA College named after Wilkins
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Pitt |
Warden of Wadham College, Oxford 1648–1659 |
Succeeded by Walter Blandford |
| Preceded by John Arrowsmith |
Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 1659–1660 |
Succeeded by Henry Ferne |
| Religious titles | ||
| Preceded by George Hall |
Bishop of Chester 1668–1672 |
Succeeded by John Pearson |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wilkins, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Secretary of the Royal Society, Bishop of Chester |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1614-01-01 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fawsley, Northamptonshire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1672-11-19 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | London, England |
Annotations
-
Fascinating figure
A mathematician and divine, Wilkins (1614-72) was about 56 years old when he first shows up in the diary on 25 November 1660.
During the Interregnum, Wilkins’s connection to Oliver Cromwell, his brother-in-law, “had done much to protect Oxford from political interference. His written works, composed in language notable for its simplicity and clarity, included forecasts of submarines and interplanetary travel,” says his entry in the L&M Companion volume (source of all the information in this annotation).
Pepys’s library eventually contained at least seven of Wilkins’s books, including his “Essay towards … a philosophical language” (1668), in which the author created a universal language in the form of symbols. Pepys made some criticisms of the naval section of the book.
-
Correction:
Wilkins had his 46th birthday 1660. Not 56th. -
Career
(his age, roughly, in parentheses below)
1614 — born
1648-59 (34-45)
Warden of Wadham College, Oxford1659-60 (45-46)
Master of Trinity College, Cambridge1662-onward (48- )
Vicar of “St. Lawrence Jewry”1663-onward (49- )
Dean of Ripon1663-68 (49-54)
One of the two secretaries of the Royal Society1668-72 (54-58)
Bishop of Chester1672 — died (58)
— L&M Companion volume -
Wilkins’s standing & where he stood
“One of the most original scholars of his day; a founder of the Royal Society,” he was a “liberal” divine who strongly favored keeping moderate Presbyterians in the Church of England and advocated toleration for Nonconformists.
— L&M Companion -
Wilkins on the web
The L&M Companion only hints at Wilkins’s extraordinary life. He had connections both to some of the highest members of English society during the Interregnum and the Restoration. He was the (popular) head of Oxford and Cambridge universities at different times, and was influential in the groupings of scholars who eventually founded the Royal Society. He invented various mechanical devices, speculated on others that would be invented in the next few centuries and wrote pioneering books in ciphers and symbolic language.
Imagine a kind of 17th century clerical Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, in terms of their holding of high office, intellect, originality, literary output and interest in tolerance.
Links to some informative web pages:
Much more detailed resume:
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/wilkins.htmlExcellent online biographical essay:
http://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/alumni/wilkins.htmMany links to Wilkins-related web pages:
http://reliant.teknowledge.com/Wilkins/
-
Wilkins’s airy speculation …
“Yet I do seriously and on good grounds affirm it possible to make a flying chariot in which a man may sit and give such a motion unto it as shall convey him through the air. And this perhaps might be made large enough to carry divers men at the same time, together with food for their viaticum and commodities for traffic. It is not the bigness of anything in this kind that can hinder its motion, if the motive faculty be answerable thereunto. We see a great ship swims as well as a small cork, and an eagle flies in the air as well as a little gnat
-
Jorge Luis Borges on Wilkins’s language book
Borges here is writing about “An Essay Towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language” (600 pages in large quarto, 1668) by Wilkins (the translation seems a little rough at points):
“He divided the universe in forty categories or classes, these being further subdivided into differences, which was then subdivided into species. He assigned to each class a monosyllable of two letters; to each difference, a consonant; to each species, a vowel. For example: de, which means an element; deb, the first of the elements, fire; deba, a part of the element fire, a flame. … The words of the analytical language created by John Wilkins are not mere arbitrary symbols; each letter in them has a meaning …”
“[I]t is clear that there is no classification of the Universe not being arbitrary and full of conjectures. … The impossibility of penetrating the divine pattern of the universe cannot stop us from planning human patterns, even though we are conscious they are not definitive. The analytic language of Wilkins is not the least admirable of such patterns. The classes and species that compose it are contradictory and vague; the nimbleness of letters in the words meaning subdivisions and divisions is, no doubt, gifted. The word salmon does not tell us anything; zana, the corresponding word, defines (for the man knowing the forty categories and the species of these categories) a scaled river fish, with ruddy meat.”
From: “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins”
A short essay by Jorge Luis Borges -
Head of colleges at both Cambridge and Oxford
There’s a mistake in my “Wilkins on the web” annotation. He didn’t head up both universities, but colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. I misread a sentence at this web page, which has another very good biographical essay on Wilkins.
-
See added notes for contacts and writings by some leaned Gents.http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1663/08/23/
-
Saw the error of my ways
See added notes for contacts and writings by some learned Gents. http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1663/08/23/