John Barrow (
fl. 1735–1774) was an English
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
, naval
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
. His geographical dictionary first appeared in 1756.
Life
Nothing is known of Barrow's family. He was initially a teacher of
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
and
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
aboard ships of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. He retired before 1750 and devoted himself to writing and compiling dictionaries and other works related to his knowledge of mathematics and science.
Barrow's best-known work was ''Navigatio Britannica'' (1750), a practical handbook of navigation and charts still being advertised by its publisher,
Mount & Page
Mount & Page was a firm of religious and maritime publishers that flourished in the eighteenth century. The name became well-known worldwide as an imprint of nautical charts.
The firm was founded in 1701 by Richard Mount (1654–1722) and Thoma ...
, in 1787. It included an examination of nautical instruments and explained the recently introduced
vernier scale
A vernier scale, named after Pierre Vernier, is a visual aid to take an accurate measurement reading between two graduation markings on a linear scale by using mechanical interpolation, thereby increasing resolution and reducing measurement unc ...
. Barrow seems to have been in close touch with nautical instrument makers while he was a naval instructor. It was not realized until the 20th century that John Barrow the "geographical compiler" mentioned in the British ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' (1885 onwards) and the teacher of mathematics were the same person.
[ODNB entry]
Retrieved 18 July 2011. Subscription required
citing Taylor, E. G. R.: ''Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England, 1714–1840'' (Cambridge: CUP, 1966); Napoleon Bonaparte, "John Barrow". In: ''Napoleon’s Notes on English History made on the Eve of the French Revolution, Illustrated from Contemporary Historians and Referenced from the Findings of Later Research by Henry Foljambe Hall''. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1905, xviii–xx.
In 1756 he published a geographical dictionary anonymously in London.
In the same year, he also published the first edition of his principal work, ''A Chronological Abridgment or History of the Discoveries made by Europeans in the different parts of the world'', whose introduction shows considerable knowledge of astronomical geography in relation to finding latitude and longitude by the stars. The French translation seems to have had more repute than the original work, but even in France Barrow's ''History of Discoveries'' was in a few years superseded by that of the
Abbé Prévost
Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles ( , , ; 1 April 169725 November 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French priest, author, and novelist.
Life and works
He was born at Hesdin, Artois, and first appears with the full nam ...
.
The voyages selected by Barrow are those of
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
,
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...
,
Cabral, Sir
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
, Sir
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...
, Sir
Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and retu ...
,
Olivier van Noort
Olivier van Noort (1558 – 22 February 1627) was a Dutch merchant captain and pirate and the first Dutchman to circumnavigate the world.Quanchi, ''Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands'', page 246
Olivier ...
,
Joris van Spilbergen
Joris van Spilbergen (1568 in Antwerp – January 31, 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer.
Joris van Spilbergen was born in Antwerp in 1568.
His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa.
He then left for As ...
,
Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...
,
William Dampier
William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...
,
Lionel Wafer
Lionel Wafer (1640–1705) was a Welsh explorer, buccaneer and privateer.
A ship's surgeon, Wafer made several voyages to the South Seas and visited Maritime Southeast Asia in 1676. In 1679 he sailed again as a surgeon, soon after settling in ...
,
Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers ( 1679 – 15 July 1732) was an English sea captain, privateer, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader and, from 1718, the first List of colonial heads of the Bahamas, Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of ...
,
Francisco de Ulloa
Francisco de Ulloa () (died 1540) was a Spanish explorer who explored the west coast of present-day Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula under the commission of Hernán Cortés. Ulloa's voyage was among the first to disprove the cartograph ...
,
Lord Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson, (23 April 1697 – 6 June 1762) was a Royal Navy officer. Anson served as a junior officer during the War of the Spanish Succession and then saw active service against Spain at the Batt ...
,
Henry Ellis Henry Ellis may refer to:
* Henry Augustus Ellis (1861–1939), Irish Australian physician and federalist
* Henry Ellis (diplomat) (1788–1855), British diplomat
* Henry Ellis (governor) (1721–1806), explorer, author, and second colonial Gover ...
, and others. The second edition of the compilation appeared in 1765, and was so successful that in the year following a French translation, by Targe, was published at Paris, in twelve volumes.
Barrow created illustrations for ''Sketches Representing the Native Tribes, Animals, and Scenery of Southern Africa'', working alongside
Samuel Daniell
Samuel Daniell (1775 – 16 December 1811) was an English painter of natural history and other scenes in Africa and Ceylon. He first went to South Africa in 1799.
Life
Daniell is perhaps best known as the appointed artist for a 1799-18 ...
.
Selected works
*
Dictionarium polygraphicum' (1735)
*''Dictionarium medicum universale'' (1749)
*''Navigatio Britannia'' (1750)
*''New and Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'' (1751)
*''The Naval History of Great Britain'' (4 vols, 1758)
*''Geographical Dictionary'' (2 vols, 1759–60)
*''A New and Impartial History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Signing of Preliminaries of Peace, 1762'' (1763)
*''Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'' (1764)
*''A Collection of Authentic, Useful, and Entertaining Voyages and Discoveries'' (3 vols, 1765)
References
;Attribution
18th-century English historians
Year of death unknown
18th-century English mathematicians
English lexicographers
Year of birth unknown
English male non-fiction writers
18th-century English male writers
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