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Authorised form of nameMolyneux; Samuel (1689 - 1728)
Dates1689 - 1728
NationalityBritish
Place of birthChester, Cheshire, England
Date of birth16 or 18 July 1689
Place of deathKew, Surrey
Date of death13 April 1728
Research fieldAstronomy
Optics
ActivityEducation:
Trinity College, Dublin. BA (1708), MA (1710), LLD (1717)
Career:
Travelled in England, to Antwerp (1712-1713), and then on a diplomatic mission to Hanover (1714); accompanied the royal family to England; Secretary to the Prince of Wales (1714-1727); MP for Bossiney (1715-1722); MP for St Mawes (1726-1727); MP for Exeter (1727-death); MP for the University of Dublin in the Irish Parliament (1727); Privy Councillor; assisted James Bradley (FRS 1718) in making Newtonian telescopes, one of which he presented to John V of Portugal; had a private observatory at his house at Kew; one of the Lords of the Admiralty (1727-death); had a fit in the House of Commons and died a few days later; his wife's second husband, a Swiss surgeon, won an action for defamation on a charge of having killed Molyneux by administering opium in his last illness
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election01/12/1712
ProposerSir Isaac Newton
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Council (1716, 1718, 1721, 1723, 1725, 1727)
RelationshipsSon of William Molyneux (FRS 1686) and his wife, Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domville, Attorney-General for Ireland; nephew of Sir Thomas Molyneux (FRS 1686); kinsman of John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont (FRS 1702); married Elizabeth, daughter of Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex; no children
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Thomas; Burtchaell
References:
K Theodore Hoppen, 'The Royal Society and Ireland. II' in NR 1965 vol 20 pp 78-99
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/198572397
CodeNA7967
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
MS/390/151Bond of Samuel Molyneux to the Treasurer of the Royal Society1 December 1712
CLP/10iii/39Paper, 'A discourse of His Grace the Lord Arch Bp [Bishop] of Dublin containing an account of the manner of manuring lands by sea shells as practiced in the county's [sic] of Londonderry and Donegall' by [William King][1708]
CLP/12ii/20Letter, 'Sectio oculorum duorum cataracta affectorum' from unknown author to Samuel Molyneux[1724?]
RBO/12/6'Sectio oculorum duorum Cataracta affectorum' from a letter to Richard Waller by Samuel Molyneux 1724
CLP/4i/55Paper, 'A relation of the strange effects of thunder and lightning which happened at Mrs Close's house at New Forge in the County of Down in Ireland, on the 9th of August, 1707' by Samuel Molyneux1707
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