Dr Olinthus Gilbert Gregory LLD, FRAS | |
|---|---|
 Olinthus Gilbert Gregory by Thomson, after William Derby © National Portrait Gallery | |
| Born | 29 January 1774 |
| Died | 2 February 1841 (aged 67) Queen’s Terrace, Woolwich |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Professor of Mathematics |
| Spouses | (1) Rebecca Marshall (2) Anne Beddome |
Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (29 January 1774 –2 February 1841) was an English mathematician, author, and editor.
He was born on 29 January 1774 at Yaxley in Huntingdonshire, [1] the son of Robert, a shoemaker, and Ann, who also had three younger daughters: Harriet Euphrasia, Sophia (who died in 1783) and Marianna.
Having been educated by Richard Weston, a Leicester botanist, Olinthus published a treatise, Lessons, Astronomical and Philosophical in 1793. After moving to Cambridge in 1796, Gregory first acted as sub-editor on the Cambridge Intelligencer, and then opened a booksellers shop. [2]
In 1802 he obtained an appointment as mathematical master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich through the influence of Charles Hutton, to whose notice he had been brought by a manuscript on the Use of the Sliding Rule; and when Hutton resigned in 1807 Gregory succeeded him in the professorship. [2]
Gregory combined his love of mathematics with an interest in music, but not in the melodious sense: music should be subject to rational principles. He proposed "the substitution of proper characters to denote the different kinds of musical time, instead of those vague indefinite ones, which are now in use." No more 3/2 time, or Adagio and Allegro; rather, some absolute rate, based on the swing of a precisely-calibrated pendulum. Each composition should be played at its pre-defined speed, no matter who was conducting. In discussing Gregory's ideas, Werrett draws attention to the environment at Woolwich in which he developed them, and the use of the metronome to maintain a consistent rhythm in military music. [3]
Gregory favoured the establishment of a secular university in London. By the end of 1825 he was on a ten-man committee interviewing and selecting the teaching staff. His name was inscribed on the foundation stone of the new University, laid in Gower Street on 30 April 1827. [4]
Failing health obliged him to retire in 1838, and he died at his home at Queen's Terrace, Woolwich on 2 February 1841. [2] Gregory's library was sold on 17 & 18 March 1842 by Southgate & Son of 22 Fleet Street. [5]
The esteem in which Dr Gregory was held can be judged from the following letter in 1841: [6]
Many in this list are cited in the University of St Andrews website. [4]
In 1802 Gregory was appointed editor of the Gentlemen's Diary, and from 1819 to 1840 editor of the Lady's Diary. [10] From 1817, "he had the whole of the general superintendence of the almanacks published by the Stationers’ Company." [1]
Gregory married, first, Rebecca Marshall on 4 March 1798 in Yaxley, with whom he had a son James and a daughter Eliza; Rebecca died in June 1807. His second marriage was to Anne Beddome on 20 December 1809 at St Mary, Newington, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. [1] Their elder son, Boswell Robert was accidentally drowned in the Thames at Woolwich in the summer of 1834, aged 21. [11] Letitia Elizabeth Landon includes a poetical illustration, to a portrait by Richard Evans, 
Olinthus Gregory, L.L.D., F.R.A.S., &c. . commiserating with this event in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1835. [12] Their second son, Charles Hutton Gregory, who later became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, was named after Charles Hutton, Gregory's patron. [13]
Anne died in Paddington in 1855, aged 65, and was buried at St Nicholas, Plumstead.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work.
William Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master at Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry and mathematics.
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Signals and other technical corps. RMA Woolwich was commonly known as "The Shop" because its first building was a converted workshop of the Woolwich Arsenal.
Charles Hutton FRS FRSE LLD was an English mathematician and surveyor. He was professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1773 to 1807. He is remembered for his calculation of the density of the earth from Nevil Maskelyne's measurements collected during the Schiehallion experiment.
Baden Powell, MA FRS FRGS was an English mathematician and Church of England priest. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1827 to 1860. Powell was a prominent liberal theologian who put forward advanced ideas about evolution.
William Rutherford (1798–1871) was an English mathematician famous for his calculation of 208 digits of the mathematical constant π in 1841.
Sir Charles Hutton Gregory was an English civil engineer. He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between December 1867 and December 1869.
Thomas Stephens Davies FRS FRSE (1795–1851) was a British mathematician.
Patrick Kelly (1756–1842) was a British metrologist, best known for his comparative studies of weights and measures collected in his works Universal Cambist (1811) and Oriental Metrology (1832). Kelly was Master of the Finsbury Square Academy, London. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Imperial system of measurement through the Weights and Measures Act 1824.
Duncan Farquharson Gregory was a Scottish mathematician.
William Lax was an English astronomer and mathematician who served as Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge for 41 years.
James Bryce LLD FRSE was an Irish mathematician, naturalist and geologist.
Thomas Myers was an English mathematician and geographer.
Lewis Evans was a Welsh mathematician.
John Bonnycastle was an English teacher of mathematics and author.
George Harvey, Esq., was an English mathematician, known for his scientific and engineering writings, on meteorology, ship building, and colour blindness.
John Radford Young was an English mathematician, professor and author, who was almost entirely self-educated. He was born of humble parents in London. At an early age he became acquainted with Olinthus Gilbert Gregory, who perceived his mathematical ability and assisted him in his studies. In 1823, while working in a private establishment for the deaf, he published An Elementary Treatise on Algebra with a dedication to Gregory. This treatise was followed by a series of elementary works, in which, following in the steps of Robert Woodhouse, Young familiarized English students with continental methods of mathematical analysis.
James Hann (1799–1856) was an English mathematician, teacher and textbook writer.
Edward Riddle was an English mathematician and astronomer, known for A Treatise on Navigation and Nautical Astronomy.
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