George Walker (Presbyterian)
Encyclopedia
George Walker was a versatile English
dissenter
, known as a mathematician
, theologian, Fellow of the Royal Society, and activist.
, 1732, Durham
, 1736, and Leeds
, 1748. He attended the Durham grammar school
under Richard Dongworth. In the autumn of 1749, being then about fifteen, he was admitted to the dissenting academy at Kendal
under Caleb Rotherham; here he met his lifelong friend, John Manning (1730–1806). On Rotherham's retirement (1751) he was for a short time under Hugh Moises at Newcastle-on-Tyne. In November 1751 he entered at Edinburgh University with Manning, where he studied mathematics under Matthew Stewart. He moved to Glasgow
in 1752 for the sake of the divinity lectures of William Leechman
, continued his mathematical studies under Robert Simson
, and heard the lectures of Adam Smith
, but found their private conversation more instructive. Among his classmates were Newcome Cappe
, Nicholas Clayton, and John Millar, members with him of a college debating society.
Leaving Glasgow in 1754 without graduating, he did occasional preaching at Newcastle and Leeds, and injured his health by study; he recovered by a course of sea bathing. In 1766 he declined an invitation to succeed Robert Andrews
as minister of Platt Chapel, Manchester, but later in the year accepted a call (in succession to Joseph Wilkinson) from his uncle's former Presbyterian flock at Durham, and was ordained there in 1757.
At Durham he finished, but did not yet publish, his ‘Doctrine of the Sphere,’ begun in Edinburgh. With the signature P.M.D. (presbyterian minister, Durham) he contributed to the Ladies' Diary, then edited by Thomas Simpson
. He left Durham at the beginning of 1762 to become minister at Filby
, Norfolk
, and assistant to John Whiteside (died 1784) at Great Yarmouth
. Here he resumed his intimacy with Manning, now practising as a physician at Norwich
. He began his treatise on conic sections, suggested to him by Isaac Newton
's Arithmetica Universalis
, 1707. He took pupils in mathematics and navigation. Through Richard Price
he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and recommended to William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
for the post of his librarian, afterwards filled by Joseph Priestley
, but declined it (1772) owing to his approaching marriage. He accepted in the same year the office of mathematical tutor at Warrington Academy
, in succession to John Holt (died 1772). Here he prepared for the press his treatise on the sphere, himself cutting out all the illustrative figures (twenty thousand, for an edition of five hundred copies). It appeared in quarto
in 1775, and was reissued in 1777. Joseph Johnson
gave him £40 for the copyright, returned by Walker on finding Johnson had lost money. The pay at Warrington did not answer his expectation. He resigned in two years, and in the autumn of 1774 became colleague to John Simpson (1746–1812) at High Pavement Chapel
, Nottingham.
Here he remained for twenty-four years, developing in public work and as a pulpit orator. He reconciled a division in his congregation, founded a charity school (1788), and published a hymn-book. His colleagues after Simpson's retirement were (1778) Nathaniel Philipps (died 20 October 1842), the last dissenting minister who preached in a clerical wig (1785), Nicholas Clayton (1794), William Walters (died 11 April 1806). In conjunction with Gilbert Wakefield
, who was in Nottingham from 1784 to 1790, he formed a literary club, meeting weekly at the members' houses. Nottingham was a focus of political opinion, which Walker led both by special sermons and by drafting petitions and addresses sent forward by the town in favour of the independence of the United States and the advocacy of parliamentary and other reforms. He won the commendation of Edmund Burke
. His reform speech at the county meeting at Mansfield
, 28 October 1782, was his greatest effort. William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland compared him with Cicero
. From 1787 he was chairman of the associated dissenters of Nottinghamshire
, Derbyshire
, and part of Yorkshire
, whose object was to achieve the repeal of the Test Act
s. His Dissenters' Plea, Birmingham (1790), was reckoned by Charles James Fox
the best publication on the subject. He was an early advocate of the abolition of the slave trade. In 1794 he published his treatise on conic sections, while he was agitating against measures for the suppression of public opinion, which culminated in the Seditious Meetings Act 1795
.
Towards the close of 1797, after a fruitless application to Thomas Belsham
, Walker was invited to succeed Thomas Barnes
as professor of theology in Manchester College
. He resigned his Nottingham charge on 5 May 1798. There was one other tutor, but the funds were low, and Walker's appeal (19 April 1799) for increased subscriptions met with little response. From 1800 the entire burden of teaching, including classics and mathematics, fell on him. In addition he took charge (1801–3) of the congregation at Dob Lane Chapel, Failsworth
. He resigned in 1803, and the college moved to York
.
Walker remained for two years in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and continued to take an active part in its Literary and Philosophical Society, of which he was elected president on the death of Thomas Percival
. In 1805 he removed to Wavertree
, near Liverpool, still keeping up a connection with Manchester. In the spring of 1807 he went to London on a publishing errand; he died at Draper Hall, London, on 21 April 1807, and was buried in Bunhill Fields
.
in the Dictionary of National Biography
, Walker's theology, a ‘tempered Arianism
,’ played no part in his own compositions, but shows itself in omissions and alterations in his ‘Collection of Psalms and Hymns,’ Warrington, 1788. He wrote a few hymns. Many of his speeches and political addresses are found in his ‘Life’ and collected ‘Essays.’ Besides the mathematical works already mentioned, he published:
Posthumous were:
a son, George Walker, his father's biographer and author of ‘Letters to a Friend’ (1843) on his reasons for nonconformity, became a resident in France, and a daughter, Sarah (died 8 December 1854), who married on 9 July 1795 to George Cayley
of Brompton, near Scarborough.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
dissenter
Dissenter
The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...
, known as a mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, theologian, Fellow of the Royal Society, and activist.
Life
He was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in or around 1734. At ten years of age he was placed in the care of an uncle at Durham, Thomas Walker (died 10 November 1763), successively minister at CockermouthCockermouth
-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
, 1732, Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, 1736, and Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, 1748. He attended the Durham grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
under Richard Dongworth. In the autumn of 1749, being then about fifteen, he was admitted to the dissenting academy at Kendal
Kendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
under Caleb Rotherham; here he met his lifelong friend, John Manning (1730–1806). On Rotherham's retirement (1751) he was for a short time under Hugh Moises at Newcastle-on-Tyne. In November 1751 he entered at Edinburgh University with Manning, where he studied mathematics under Matthew Stewart. He moved to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 1752 for the sake of the divinity lectures of William Leechman
William Leechman
-Life:The son of William Leechman, a farmer of Dolphinton, Lanarkshire, he was educated at the parish school; theT father had taken down the quarters of Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, which had been exposed after his execution on the tolbooth of Lanark...
, continued his mathematical studies under Robert Simson
Robert Simson
Robert Simson was a Scottish mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow. The pedal line of a triangle is sometimes called the "Simson line" after him.-Life:...
, and heard the lectures of Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, but found their private conversation more instructive. Among his classmates were Newcome Cappe
Newcome Cappe
Newcome Cappe , was an English unitarian divine.-Life:Cappe was the eldest son of the Rev. Joseph Cappe, minister of the nonconformist congregation at Millhill Chapel, Leeds, who married the daughter and coheiress of Mr. Newcome of Waddington, Lincolnshire, and was born at Leeds 21 February 1733....
, Nicholas Clayton, and John Millar, members with him of a college debating society.
Leaving Glasgow in 1754 without graduating, he did occasional preaching at Newcastle and Leeds, and injured his health by study; he recovered by a course of sea bathing. In 1766 he declined an invitation to succeed Robert Andrews
Robert Andrews (translator)
Robert Andrews was an English Dissenter, known as a poet and translator of Virgil.-Life:He was descended from an eminent nonconformist family which had lived for nearly two centuries at Little Lever and at Rivington Hall, near Bolton, Lancashire. He received his theological education under Dr....
as minister of Platt Chapel, Manchester, but later in the year accepted a call (in succession to Joseph Wilkinson) from his uncle's former Presbyterian flock at Durham, and was ordained there in 1757.
At Durham he finished, but did not yet publish, his ‘Doctrine of the Sphere,’ begun in Edinburgh. With the signature P.M.D. (presbyterian minister, Durham) he contributed to the Ladies' Diary, then edited by Thomas Simpson
Thomas Simpson
Thomas Simpson FRS was a British mathematician, inventor and eponym of Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals...
. He left Durham at the beginning of 1762 to become minister at Filby
Filby
Filby is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 740 in 308 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Great Yarmouth....
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, and assistant to John Whiteside (died 1784) at Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
. Here he resumed his intimacy with Manning, now practising as a physician at Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. He began his treatise on conic sections, suggested to him by Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
's Arithmetica Universalis
Arithmetica Universalis
100px|thumb|Title page of the Arithmetica, published 1707100px|thumb|The English translation by Raphson was published in 1720Arithmetica Universalis is a mathematics text by Isaac Newton. Written in Latin, it was edited and published by William Whiston, Newton's successor as Lucasian Professor of...
, 1707. He took pupils in mathematics and navigation. Through Richard Price
Richard Price
Richard Price was a British moral philosopher and preacher in the tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of the...
he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and recommended to William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne
William Petty-FitzMaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, PC , known as The Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the first Home Secretary in 1782 and then Prime Minister 1782–1783 during the final...
for the post of his librarian, afterwards filled by Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, but declined it (1772) owing to his approaching marriage. He accepted in the same year the office of mathematical tutor at Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the state church in England...
, in succession to John Holt (died 1772). Here he prepared for the press his treatise on the sphere, himself cutting out all the illustrative figures (twenty thousand, for an edition of five hundred copies). It appeared in quarto
Quarto
Quarto could refer to:* Quarto, a size or format of a book in which four leaves of a book are created from a standard size sheet of paper* For specific information about quarto texts of William Shakespeare's works, see:...
in 1775, and was reissued in 1777. Joseph Johnson
Joseph Johnson
Joseph Johnson may refer to:* Joseph Johnson , London bookseller* Joseph Johnson , U.S...
gave him £40 for the copyright, returned by Walker on finding Johnson had lost money. The pay at Warrington did not answer his expectation. He resigned in two years, and in the autumn of 1774 became colleague to John Simpson (1746–1812) at High Pavement Chapel
High Pavement Chapel
High Pavement Chapel is a building on High Pavement in Nottingham. It is now the Pitcher and Piano public house and is Grade II listed.-History:...
, Nottingham.
Here he remained for twenty-four years, developing in public work and as a pulpit orator. He reconciled a division in his congregation, founded a charity school (1788), and published a hymn-book. His colleagues after Simpson's retirement were (1778) Nathaniel Philipps (died 20 October 1842), the last dissenting minister who preached in a clerical wig (1785), Nicholas Clayton (1794), William Walters (died 11 April 1806). In conjunction with Gilbert Wakefield
Gilbert Wakefield
Gilbert Wakefield was an English scholar and controversialist.Gilbert Wakefield was the third son of the Rev. George Wakefield, then rector of St Nicholas' Church, Nottingham but afterwards at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as second...
, who was in Nottingham from 1784 to 1790, he formed a literary club, meeting weekly at the members' houses. Nottingham was a focus of political opinion, which Walker led both by special sermons and by drafting petitions and addresses sent forward by the town in favour of the independence of the United States and the advocacy of parliamentary and other reforms. He won the commendation of Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
. His reform speech at the county meeting at Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....
, 28 October 1782, was his greatest effort. William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland compared him with Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. From 1787 he was chairman of the associated dissenters of Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, and part of Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, whose object was to achieve the repeal of the Test Act
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and Nonconformists...
s. His Dissenters' Plea, Birmingham (1790), was reckoned by Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
the best publication on the subject. He was an early advocate of the abolition of the slave trade. In 1794 he published his treatise on conic sections, while he was agitating against measures for the suppression of public opinion, which culminated in the Seditious Meetings Act 1795
Seditious Meetings Act 1795
The Seditious Meetings Act 1795, approved by the British Parliament in November 1795, was the second of the well known "Two Acts" , the other being the Treason Act 1795. Its purpose was to restrict the size of public meetings to fifty persons...
.
Towards the close of 1797, after a fruitless application to Thomas Belsham
Thomas Belsham
Thomas Belsham was an English Unitarian minister- Life :Belsham was born in Bedford, England, and was the elder brother of William Belsham, the English political writer and historian. He was educated at the dissenting academy at Daventry, where for seven years he acted as assistant tutor...
, Walker was invited to succeed Thomas Barnes
Thomas Barnes (Unitarian)
Thomas Barnes was an English Unitarian minister and educational reformer.-Life:He was the son of William Barnes, of Warrington. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Blinston, of Wigan. He was born on 13 February 1747, and he lost his father when he was in his third year...
as professor of theology in Manchester College
Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as Manchester College, it is listed in the University Statutes as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at University ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et...
. He resigned his Nottingham charge on 5 May 1798. There was one other tutor, but the funds were low, and Walker's appeal (19 April 1799) for increased subscriptions met with little response. From 1800 the entire burden of teaching, including classics and mathematics, fell on him. In addition he took charge (1801–3) of the congregation at Dob Lane Chapel, Failsworth
Failsworth
At Failsworth lies north-northwest of London. It shares common boundaries with Manchester and Oldham, on its west and northeast respectively. Failsworth is traversed by the A62 road, from Manchester to Oldham, the heavy rail line of the Oldham Loop and the Rochdale Canal, which crosses the...
. He resigned in 1803, and the college moved to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
.
Walker remained for two years in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and continued to take an active part in its Literary and Philosophical Society, of which he was elected president on the death of Thomas Percival
Thomas Percival
Thomas Percival FRS FRSE FSA was an English physician and author, best known for crafting perhaps the first modern code of medical ethics...
. In 1805 he removed to Wavertree
Wavertree
Wavertree is an area of Liverpool, in Merseyside, England, and is a Liverpool City Council ward. It is bordered by a number of districts to the south and east of Liverpool city centre from Toxteth, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Old Swan, Childwall and Mossley Hill....
, near Liverpool, still keeping up a connection with Manchester. In the spring of 1807 he went to London on a publishing errand; he died at Draper Hall, London, on 21 April 1807, and was buried in Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields is a cemetery in the London Borough of Islington, north of the City of London, and managed by the City of London Corporation. It is about 4 hectares in extent, although historically was much larger....
.
Works
According to Alexander GordonAlexander Gordon
Alexander Gordon , fought as a Royalist and was captured by Oliver Cromwell's army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 at the end of the English Civil War. He was imprisoned at Tothill Field outside London over the winter of 1651–1652. He was transported to the New World in 1652 and...
in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, Walker's theology, a ‘tempered Arianism
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
,’ played no part in his own compositions, but shows itself in omissions and alterations in his ‘Collection of Psalms and Hymns,’ Warrington, 1788. He wrote a few hymns. Many of his speeches and political addresses are found in his ‘Life’ and collected ‘Essays.’ Besides the mathematical works already mentioned, he published:
- ‘Sermons,’ 1790, 2 vols.
Posthumous were:
- ‘Sermons,’ 1808, 4 vols. (including reprint of the 1790 volume).
- ‘Essays … prefixed … Life of the Author,’ 1809, 2 vols.
Family
He married in 1772 and was survived by his widow. They had two children:a son, George Walker, his father's biographer and author of ‘Letters to a Friend’ (1843) on his reasons for nonconformity, became a resident in France, and a daughter, Sarah (died 8 December 1854), who married on 9 July 1795 to George Cayley
George Cayley
Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was a prolific English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight...
of Brompton, near Scarborough.