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Authorised form of nameArbuthnot; John (1667 - 1735)
Dates1667 - 1735
NationalityBritish
Place of birthArbuthnot, Kincardineshire, Scotland
Date of birth29 April 1667
Place of deathHis house in Cork Street, London
Date of death27 February 1735
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
St James's Piccadilly, Westminster
OccupationAuthor; Physician
Research fieldMathematical statistics
ActivityEducation:
Marischal College, Aberdeen; St Andrews; MD (1696); Cambridge; MD (Lit Reg 1705)
Career:
Moved to Doncaster and then to London (1697); gave lessons in mathematics; commenced practice in London (1700); Physician to Prince George of Denmark and to Queen Anne (1705-1714); Physician to Chelsea Hospital (1713); visited France, where his brother was a banker (1714, 1718); friend of Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield (FRS 1708) and of Jonathan Swift; known as a wit and humorous writer
Freemason, unnumbered and unamed Lodge at the Bedford's Head, Southampton Street, Covent Garden, London 27 November 1725
Memberships:
FRCPE (1707, Honorary); FRCP (1710)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election30/11/1704
RSActivityRoyal Society roles:
Council: 1706, 1708-1714, 1716, 1726-1727
RelationshipsSon of a Scottish Episcopal clergyman who lost his preferment at the Glorious Revolution
PublishedWorks'An Examination of Dr Woodward's Account of the Deluge, etc..' 1697; 'Essay on the usefulness of Mathematical learning' 1700
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Venn; Munk; Thomas
References:
A W F Edwards, 'Is the Frontispiece of Gulliver's Travels a Likeness of Newton?' in NR 1996 vol 50 pp 191-194
A Cook, 'The end of the affair. The correspondence of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, vol 3 (1703-1719) by E G Forbes, L Murdin and F Willmoth' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 113-116
'Freemasons and the Royal Society: Alphabetical List of Fellows of the Royal Society who were Freemasons' 2010. Library and Museum of Freemasonry, page 4-5
Notes:
Box 155 cited as a source. Munk says he received his MD from Aberdeen
CodeNA6385
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
IM/000121Arbuthnot, Johnnd
EL/A/54Paper, 'An argument for divine providence taken from the constant regularity observed in the birth of bothe sexes' by John ArbuthnotApril 1711
EL/A/53Letter, from John Arbuthnot to Justice [John] Chamberlayne30 April 1711
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