Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Ambrose Godfrey to Hans Sloane – July the 29 1734
Item info
Date: July the 29 1734
Author: Ambrose Godfrey
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4053
Folio: f. 245
Original Page
Transcription
July ye 29:1734
Sir
I have made the usual tryals with all the Acids, and find them to have not the least action on the powder; which discovers it to be only an insipid earth, and after having fluxed it find it to contain nothing metallick. I am Sir yr most obed.tserv.t to Comand
Ambrose Godfrey Sr. (1660-1741) was a chemist. He was first employed by Robert Boyle and went on to work at Apothecaries’ Hall. Godfrey analyzed the chemical properties of stones, waters, and other materials for Hans Sloane and the Royal Society. His work was published in the Philosophical Transactions from 1731 to 1736 (Lawrence M. Principe, Godfrey, Ambrose, the elder (16601741), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10865, accessed 14 Aug 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Tancred Robinson to Hans Sloane – April 8, 1688
Item info
Date: April 8, 1688
Author: Tancred Robinson
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4036
Folio: ff. 32-33
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Collections, Government, Legal, Royal College of Physicians, Scholarship, Social, Travel
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Subjects
Books, China, Colonialism, East Indies, Jamaica, Japan, Netherlands, North America, Plantations, Plants, Royalty, Specimens, War, West Indies
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Date (as written)
April 8, 1688
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
London
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Others mentioned
King William John Ray Paul Hermann William Courten
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Robinson was glad to hear Sloane made the voyage to Jamaica safely and was surviving ‘under the fiery sun, and new climate.’ He forwarded Sloane’s letter to his ‘friends at Dicks, Bettys, Trumpet, etc.’ Mr Courten showed Robinson Sloane’s letters. Robinson sent John Ray’s latest book by Captain Brooks. For Ray’s next volume Robinson believes Sloane can furnish ‘dryd samples, seeds, or written observations, Mr Key publishing them in your name’. Robinson expects ‘many discoveries of North America from Mr Bannister’. Van Drakensteen and Dr Claudius were expected to return from the East Indies soon where they visited ‘all the Dutch plantations and Colonies’. Dr Claudius spent 10 years in Asia, including China, Japan, and Java. He also visited Africa. Dr Hermann was working on a history of Ceylon. Robinson hopes Sloane makes progress on a history of the West Indies while he is in Jamaica. He heard rumours Dr Trapham was growing ‘Jesuits Tree in his garden at Port Royall’. The apothecaries and surgeons have been complaining about the ‘late laws made by the College of Physitians’. Robinson does not expect a war with the Dutch despite recent problems. A ‘Prince of Wales is expected next July’. Colonel Talmash was leading a regiment in Holland and Lord Cook ‘is master of the Houshold to the Prince of Orange.’ Sloane did not respond to Robinson’s letters of the previous November and December, making him think they were lost en route.
Robinson was a naturalist, physician, and fellow of the Royal College of Physicians from 1685. He was appointed physician-in-ordinary to King George I 1714 (G. S. Boulger, Robinson, Sir Tancred (1657/81748), rev. Kaye Bagshaw, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23873, accessed 26 June 2013]).
Posted on March 14, 2017 by Amy Smith -
Benjamin Holloway (1690/91-1759) was a Church of England Clergyman and religious controversialist. He provided evidence to support the geological theories of John Woodward, which were published in the Philosophical Transaction. In 1723, with Sir Hans Sloane’s support, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Holloway published many books on religious topics.
Reference:
Scott Mandelbrote, ‘Holloway, Benjamin (1690/91-1759)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13572 [accessed 25 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy Smith -
Charles Delafaye was a public servant. He wrote for the London Gazette from 1702 and was selected by the Duke of Shrewsbury, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as his secretary in 1713. In 1717 he became under-secretary to Lord Sunderland, the Secretary of State. He resigned from that post in 1733 due to illness.
Reference:
J. C. Sainty, ‘Delafaye, Charles (1677-1762)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39578 [accessed 19 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy Smith -
Sir Christopher Wren was an architect, mathematician, astronomer, and member of the Royal Society.
Reference:
Kerry Downes, “Wren, Sir Christopher (1632-1723)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30019 [accessed 3 June 2011]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy Smith -
Mark Catesby was a naturalist, influenced by John Ray and Samuel Dale. In 1712 he went to Virginia and collected botanical specimens, gaining the attention of Dr Sherard and Sloane upon his return in 1719. In 1725 he explored the Bahamas and published his ‘The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands’ a year later.
Reference:
F. Nigel Hepper, ‘Catesby, Mark (1683-1749)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4882 [accessed 23 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 13, 2017 by Amy Smith -
James Jurin was a physician and natural philosopher, elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1717. He served the latter as secretary from 1721 to 1727 and edited several volumes of the Philosophical Transactions. He was a stalwart support of Newtonianism and collected meteorological data from contacts across the world.
Reference:
Andrea Rusnock, ‘Jurin, James (bap. 1684, d. 1750)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15173 [accessed 23 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 14, 2017 by Amy Smith -
John Freind was a physician and natural philosopher. He published his first medical treatise in the Philosophical Transactions in 1699. Freind served as a physician to the Earl of Peterborough and the Duke of Ormond during wartime. In 1717 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and continued to publish medical treatises and political tracts, including his very popular ‘The History of Physic’. In 1727 he became Queen Caroline’s physician.
Reference:
Anita Guerrini, ‘Freind, John (1675-1728)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10153 [accessed 24 July 2013]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 14, 2017 by Amy Smith -
Francis Hutchinson was the Perpetual Curate of St James’s Church in Bury St Edmunds. In 1720 he became the Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland. He was a historian and wrote ‘Defence of the Antient Historians’, published in 1734.
Reference:
Toby Barnard, ‘Hutchinson, Francis (1660-1739)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14282 [accessed 13 June 2011]).
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File:
Posted on March 17, 2017 by Tracey Cornish -
John Bagford was a bookseller based in Holborn and dealt with some of the preeminent collectors of his day including Sloane, Samuel Pepys, Humfrey Wanley, and Thomas Hearne. He contributed to several works of scholarship and published an essay on the history of printing in the Philosophical Transactions
Reference:
Theodor Harmsen, Bagford, John (1650/511716), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1030, accessed 9 July 2013].
Dates: to
Occupation: Unknown
Relationship to Sloane:
Virtual International Authority File: