Figure 7, page 54
Paul Sandby, The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, c. 1770.
Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018.
Figure 8, page 56
Thomas Seccombe, Gentlemen Cadets, 1783.
Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018.
Figure 9, page 72
Edward Scriven, The Gallery of Portraits with Memoirs (1833–7), vol. 6, plate between pp. 20–21.
The Print Collector/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 10, page 89
Charles Hutton, ‘The Force of Fired Gun-Powder, and the Initial Velocities of Cannon Balls, Determined by Experiments’, Philosophical Transactions 68 (1778), accompanying plate.
Photograph by the author from a copy in the author’s collection.
Figure 11, page 97
Joshua Reynolds, Sir Joseph Banks, 1773.
The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 12, page 115
Engraving of Charles Hutton by Charles Knight after Mary Byrne.
Wellcome Collection. CC BY.
Figure 13, page 147
Philip Reinagle, Isabella and Camilla Hutton, 1788.
Photograph by Jim Campbell. Reproduced by kind permission of the Vignoles family.
Figure 14, page 159
Portsmouth Record Office, Vignoles papers 1072A/App. 10, fol. 1.
Reproduced by kind permission of Portsmouth Libraries & Archives Service, Portsmouth City Council, All rights reserved.
Figure 15, page 176
Engraving of Olinthus Gregory by Henry Robinson after Richard Evans.
Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 16, page 190
Engraving of Charles Hutton after H. Ashby.
Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 17, page 216
Thomas Phillips, Sir Joseph Banks, 1810.
Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 18, page 225
Engraving of Hutton’s bust after Sebastian Gahagan, 1822.
Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo.
Figure 19, page 227
Andrew Morton, Charles Hutton, c. 1822.
Photograph reproduced by permission of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society.
Index
The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
Adams, John 126
Addiscombe, Surrey 132, 210
Adrain, Robert 178, 243
Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh 230
American Philosophical Society 118
American War of Independence 66, 68–9, 104, 126, 229
Analytical Society, Cambridge 197
Andrew, Dr James 210, 222
Archimedes 134, 185
Armstrong, William 215
Asiatic Researches 186
Astronomical Society of London 217, 221, 239
Augoyat, Antoine-Marie, Mémoire sur l’effet des feux verticaux 179–80
Austen, Jane 173, 201, 211, 229
Austin, Gilbert 213
Avison, Charles 30
Ayscough, Hannah 125
Babbage, Charles 175, 218, 220, 221, 223, 238
Baily, Francis (astronomer) 210, 212, 217, 218, 221, 223
C. and R. Baldwin (publishing company) 166, 167
ballistics experiments 88–92, 135–41, 176, 240–1
Banks, Joseph 83; animosity towards Hutton 97–9, 100–2, 104–5, 110–13, 203–4; attempts to replace Pringle’s men with his own 99; blocks Maskelyne’s re-election to RS Council 104–5; character and description 115, 215–16; conduct considered bullying and overbearing 102–3; contentious role as president of Royal Society 97–8, 99, 102–13, 115, 215–18; death of 218; dislike of mathematics and mathematicians 99, 167, 216–17, 223, 238; posthumously savaged by Hutton and Gregory 219–20; reduced tension with Hutton 115–17, 120; replaces Pringle as secretary of Royal Society 97
Banson family 40
Barbados 157
Barlow, Peter 222
Belford, General 60
Bell, John 242
Bengal Artillery 224, 243
Benwell Hall 32
Bergen-op-Zoom 201
Bewick, Thomas 45
Blagden, Charles 120
Blake, William 119–20
Blasphemy Act (1698) 29
Blomfield, Thomas 88
Board of Longitude 73, 76, 77, 81, 82, 96, 118, 216–17
Board of Ordnance 51, 55, 99, 118, 142, 144, 161, 172, 179, 235
Bombay 243
Bombay Observatory 224
Bonnet, Charles 106
Bonnycastle, John 174, 202, 205, 218
bridge building 45–6, 149, 173, 186, 193
Brisbane, Sir Thomas 201
Bristol 11
The British Critic 165, 168
British Museum 115, 166, 203–4, 215
Brown, Hugh (mathematical translator) 50
Bruce, Edward 214
Bruce, John 214, 242
Bryan, Margaret 174
Burney, Charles 223
Burrow, Reuben 73, 84, 118–19, 191
Buxar 119
Caius College, Cambridge 193
Calcutta 243
Caledonian Miscellany 205
Cambridge Mathematical Journal 239
Cambridge Philosophical Society 239
Cambridge Senate House 239
Cambridge University 33, 48, 61, 217, 218
Carnan, Thomas 118
Cavendish, Henry 86, 182–3, 222–3, 240
Chambers’ Cyclopaedia 151
Charles Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) 10
Children, George 231
Christ Church, Oxford 152
Christie, Samuel 222
Clairaut, Alexis 153, 203
Clarke, Henry 102
Clarke, Samuel 60; Diarian Repository 47
coal mining; children employed in 7–9, 16; putting 14; working conditions 8–9, 14–16
collieries 217; appearance of miners 7; building and running 5–6; pit villages and inhabitants 6–7; provision of housing 6
colliery ‘overman’ 5
colliery ‘viewer’ 2–3
Committee of Public Safety 179
Congreve, William 141, 143
Connaissance des tems 222
Corporation of London 212, 228
Cotes, Roger 23
Coughron, George 46–7
Courtois (French merchant) 158, 159, 160
Cowley, John Lodge 48
Croudace, Mr (Camilla Vignoles’s husband) 232, 233
D’Alembert, Jean-Baptiste Le Rond 197
Damen, Dr 152
Davy, Humphry 220–1, 222, 226, 230, 238
De Morgan, Augustus 119
Delaval 9, 37
Descartes, René 23
Despiau, M.L., Select Amusements in Philosophy and Mathematics 165
Diary Companion 121–2
Dictionary of National Biography 241, 243
Diderot, Denis, Encyclopédie 150
Dissenting Academies 61
Dixon, Jeremiah 84
Donne, Benjamin (Master of Mechanics) 8
Douglas, Howard 127–8
Dowling, Charles Hutton (mathematician) 230
Dowling, Daniel 180
Dupin, Charles, Military Force of Great Britain 179
earth’s density measurements 84–7, 118, 171, 183, 183–4, 222
East India Company 119, 132, 144, 175, 186, 222, 224
Edinburgh 152
Edinburgh Review 188
Edinburgh University 96, 174
Edney, J.M. 180
Emerson, William 31, 50, 193, 205
Encyclopaedia Britannica 150
Engineers’ Corps 59, 64, 119
Euclid 42, 61; Elements of Geometry 58, 203
Evans, Lewis 174, 175
Ferguson, James 32, 205
Fisher, Anne, New Grammar 9–10, 19
Flanders 143
Frame, Francis 5, 8, 15, 18
Franklin, Benjamin 99–100, 205
Free Writing School (Newcastle) 40, 51
French Revolution 142, 229
Frend, William 121
Friday Dining Club 116, 120–1
Fryer, John 31, 47, 51
Gahagan, Sebastian 223, 224
The Gentleman’s Diary 34, 121, 174, 176, 240
The Gentleman’s Magazine 157
Geological Society 217
George II 10
George III 100, 115, 126, 135, 172
Gibraltar 139
Gompertz, Benjamin 221
Grand Alliance 5–6
Great Northern coalfield 3, 224
Green, William 55, 63, 64, 65, 67
Gregory family 152
Gregory, Olinthus; background 175; character and description 175; collaborates with Hutton on Course of Mathematics 181–2; collects examples of wrongs done to mathematics by Banks 216; death of 236, 242; as founder member of London University 177; friendship with Hutton 202, 205, 210, 211; given some of Hutton’s papers and a diary 234–6; helps Hutton on revised editions of his works 212; helps organise subscription for bust of Hutton 223; helps Vignoles in his civil engineering career 232; papers rejected by Transactions 218; proposed life of Hutton 242; savages Banks’s character and presidency of the Royal Society 219–20; supports Hutton in print 198; teaches Hutton’s son Charles Henry 202; translator, writer and teacher of mathematics 175, 176–7, 205, 212–13; worked on ballistic pendulums and windage of cannon 176–7; Pantologia 177
Gresham College, London 48
Griffiths, Mary see Vignoles, Mary Griffiths
Guadeloupe 147, 157, 158, 159
Haarlem Philosophical Society 118
Harrison, John 74, 153
Harrow School 22
Henry VIII 53
Herschel, William 121, 216, 220, 221
High Heaton 5, 19, 21
Hobhouse, Benjamin 223
Horsley, Samuel 50, 119, 205; attempts to speak at Royal Society meeting 94; examiner at Woolwich 83; as member of the Friday Club 121; receives preferment within the Church 117; row with Banks 105–6, 107, 109–11, 113; and secession of Fellows from Royal Society 116; steps down as secretary of Royal Society 92; successfully defends Hutton at Royal Society 105
Horticultural Society 215
Hurworth 31
Hutton, Catherine (CH’s ‘cousin’) 124, 205, 211, 223, 230, 231
Hutton, Charles; appointed foreign secretary to Royal Society 95–6, 98, 100–2, 104–5, 106; appointed Professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy 48–51, 52–68, 82, 127–8, 130–2, 160–1, 172–3; arm injury 9, 17; attacks Banks posthumously in print 219–20; awarded the Copley Medal 92, 135; becomes part of Maskelyne’s mathematical/astronomical circle 76; believes he is related to Isaac Newton 124–5; birth and parentage 2–4; as book collector and reader 10, 124; building projects 128–30, 133; bust commissioned in gratitude and admiration for 223–5; character and description 4, 9, 12, 22–3, 27–8, 45, 62, 98, 106, 127–8, 211–12; consolidates his position 171; continues to promote mathematics and produce new editions of his works 212–13; contributes mathematical puzzles to magazines 35–7; controversies and insults 191–4, 198; death of father and re-marriage of mother 5; death of his wife Margaret 206–7; death and obituaries 227–8, 230; deaths of Camilla and Charlotte 156–60; decides to auction his book collections 202–6; disliked by Banks 97–9, 100–2, 104–5, 110–13, 216–18; education 4, 9–10, 12–14, 23, 41; elected Fellow of several institutions 83, 118; exchanges manuscripts with friends 124; experiments with ballistics 88–92, 135–41, 195; family mishaps and tragedies 198–202, 206–8; family resentments concerning his will 233–4; fills his time doing extra work and networking 72, 81, 83; freshly calculates logarithm tables 78–80; as gifted schoolmaster 19–23; influence on making mathematics acceptable 169–70, 237–43; influence on military training 132, 237–8, 243; involved in gravitational calculations 83–8, 183–4, 222; leaves his wife and lives with Margaret Ord 70–1; leaves Newcastle for good 51; looks after his grandson 160; map constructions 43, 85–6; marriage of his daughter Camilla 146–7; marriage to Isabella 24; marries Margaret Ord 125–6; mathematical tables 76–80, 82, 83, 117, 141, 149, 181, 185–6; middle-class status 29–34; mystery of whereabouts of his papers 234–6; opens a Writing and Mathematical School 24, 26–7, 31–3; peaceful, friend-filled final years 210–11, 213–15, 226–7, 228; persuaded not to re-visit Newcastle 214–15; piety and religious beliefs 11–12, 28–9; presented to the King 135; produces mathematical tables for Board of Longitude 76–8; promised Secretaryship of the Royal Society 92–3, 95, 111; promotion and consolidation of his life’s work 174–88; pseudonyms used by 35, 47; re-elected to Royal Society Council 226; receives honorary doctorate from Edinburgh University 96; reduced tension with Banks 115–17, 120; reputation, influence and memories of 230, 234, 237–43; retires with a pension 172–3; as revered scientist 1, 148–9; sent down the pit 1, 7, 9, 14, 16–18; submits first paper in thirty-seven years to Transactions 222–3; takes on editorship of The Ladies’ Diary 81–2, 118–19, 121; works on calculations for the Nautical Almanac 75–6; writing career 38–48, 132–5, 150–6, 160–70, 212–13;
works
Abridgement (of the Philosophical Transactions) (1806/1809) 166–9, 176, 184; Compendious Measurer (1786) 132–4, 160, 161, 180, 242, 243; Course of Mathematics (1798) 160–2, 169, 171–2, 178, 180, 181–2, 195, 212, 242–3; Diarian Miscellany (1771–1775) 46–8; Diary Companion (1788–1806) 121–2; Dictionary (1795) 150–6, 162–3, 169, 178, 181, 184, 185, 187, 212, 213; Elements of Conic Sections (1787) 134–5, 150, 161, 243; Key (worked answers to his Guide) 134; Mathematical Tables 126, 178, 180, 187, 199; Miscellanea Mathematica (1775) 48, 77, 187; Principles of Bridges (1772) 45–6, 193; Recreations (Montucla’s) 163–6, 169, 181, 212, 242; The School-master’s Guide (1764) 38–40, 76, 160, 161, 175, 178, 180, 181, 242; Tracts (1812) 185–8; Tracts, Mathematical and Philosophical (1786) 122–4, 135; Treatise on Mensuration (1770) 41–6, 76, 160, 161, 178, 180, 181, 186
Hutton, Charles Henry (CH’s grandson) 202
Hutton, Charlotte Matilda (CH’s daughter) 71, 126, 146, 153, 156–7, 202
Hutton, Eleanor (CH’s mother) 2, 3, 5, 23
Hutton, Eleanor ‘Ellen’ (CH’s daughter) 28, 126, 147, 199, 208, 211, 231, 233
Hutton, Henry (CH’s father) 2–5
Hutton, Colonel Henry Francis 233
Hutton, Henry ‘Harry’ (CH’s son) 71, 158, 211, 230, 233
Hutton, Isabella (CH’s 1st wife) 24, 70–1, 125, 242
Hutton, Isabella (CH’s daughter) 205; agrees to let Vignoles’ wife and children join him in London 231–2; birth 28; has soft spot for Vignoles 208–9, 231; as her father’s amanuensis and companion 199, 207, 211; lives with her father in London 71, 146; lives quietly in London after her father’s death 230–1; makes draft catalogue of her father’s books 204; mild flirtation with Jeaurat 118; plays the piano 173; receives income from father’s trust fund 234
Hutton, James (CH’s ‘cousin’) 124
Hutton, Margaret Ord (CH’s 2nd wife); death of 206–7; helps Hutton with logarithm tables 78–9; lives with Hutton and bears him a daughter 71; marries Hutton 125–6; reads and revises draft of Hutton’s work on ballistics 91, 92, 206; verses by 109, 110, 122, 206
Hutton, Robert 213
Huygens, Christiaan 23
The Imperial Review 165
Industrial Revolution 5
Ingram, Alexander 180
Institution of Civil Engineers 239
Ivison, Jonathan 12–13, 17
Ivory, James 218, 221
James, Hugh 23, 37
Jeaurat, Edme 118
Jesmond 5, 13
J
ohnson, Joseph 150, 153
Johnson, Samuel, Dictionary 152
Kelly, Patrick 217
Kent, Prince Edward, Duke of 201
Kinnebrook, David 155, 174
Knight, Charles 177; Cyclopedia 241
Lacroix, Sylvestre 197
The Ladies’ Diary 34, 36–7, 41, 46–8, 50, 74, 79, 81–2, 118–19, 121, 148–9, 152, 174, 175, 177, 181, 214, 230, 240
Lagrange, Louis 179
Lalande, Jérôme 152, 153, 203
Landen, John (mathematician) 50
Landguard Fort, Felixstowe 139
Landmann, Mr (Professor of Fortification) 66, 67
Laplace, Pierre-Simon 197, 203, 222; Traité de mécanique céleste 196
Lear, Charles Hutton (artist) 230
Leiden University 152
Leslie, Sir John 155, 174, 205
Leybourn, Thomas 168, 200, 207, 208, 211, 218, 221, 224, 232, 239
Linnean Society 215
Literary Chronicle 230
The Literary Journal 168
Locke, John 60, 61
Lombard, Jean-Louis 180
London 11, 26; Bedford Row 173, 200, 202, 210, 211, 224, 224–5, 225, 227, 231, 237; Bloomsbury Square 166; Chapter Coffee House, Paternoster Row 118; Clement’s Inn 102, 125; Covent Garden Theatre 173; Cube House, Woolwich 129–30, 146, 160; Globe Tavern (Fleet Street) 116; Inns of Court 72, 200; St Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street 125; St Luke, Charlton churchyard 148, 202, 228, 237; Severndroog Castle 114, 129; Shooter’s Hill 114, 129, 133; Slaughter’s coffee house 1, 93; Soho Square 102; Somerset House (Strand) 94, 116; Woolwich (the ‘Warren’) 52–5, 68–9, 114, 117, 118, 127, 128–9, 237
London Bridge 212, 228
London Mathematical Society 239
London University 177
Long Benton 5, 8, 71, 213
longitude problem 74
Louis XVI 142
Lovelace, Ada 181
Magnus effect 138
Mahon, Charles, 3rd Lord Stanhope 107
Martinique 147, 157
Martin’s Magazine 36
Marx, Karl 243
Maseres, Francis 108, 117, 119, 121; Scriptores Logarithmici 117
Maskelyne, Nevil (Astronomer Royal) 118; books loaned to Nautical Almanac personnel 80; close friendship with Hutton 73, 76, 82, 104; connected with Schiehallion work 183; correspondence on Hutton’s Dictionary 152, 153; criticised for suspicions of the chronometer 74; death of 213; dispersal of his library 217; on examining board at Royal Military Academy 50, 73; lends money to Hutton 129, 130; library of 204, 205; as member of the Friday Club 120, 121; not re-elected to RS Council 104–5; proposes project on gravitational attraction of mountains 83–7; publications of 213; relationship with Banks 116–17, 216–17; speaks up at noisy Royal Society meeting 94, 109; supports election of Henry Clarke 102; wins Copley Medal 85
Gunpowder and Geometry Page 31