| AdminHistory | Seth Ward: born, 1617; educated at Buntingford school; admitted to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge, 1632; scholar; devoted much attention to studying mathematics; graduated BA, 1637; MA, 1640; Fellow of Sidney Sussex, 1640; mathematical lecturer, 1643; following the outbreak of civil war, deprived of his fellowship for refusing the covenant, 1644; took refuge with friends; improved his knowledge of mathematics; appointed Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, 1649; took the oath to the Commonwealth; attempted to revive interest in the astronomical lectures, which had fallen into neglect; also gained fame as a preacher; incorporated MA at Oxford, 1649; a member of the Philosophical Society of Oxford (one of the forerunners of the Royal Society), c1649; entered as a fellow-commoner Wadham College, 1650; chiefly remembered as an astronomer by his theory of planetary motion, publishing a treatise on the subject, 1653; issued a more elaborate form of his thesis, 1656; DD, Oxford, 1654; became involved in a mathematical and philosophical controversy with Hobbes; appointed precentor at Exeter, 1656; DD, Cambridge, 1659; chosen president of Trinity College Oxford, 1659; possessing none of the statutory qualifications for the office, he was compelled to resign, 1660; made a prebendary at Exeter, 1660; resigned his professorship, retired to London, and was compensated by Charles II with the vicarage of St Lawrence Jewry, to which he was admitted, 1661; elected dean at Exeter, 1661; rector of Uplowman, Devonshire; rector of St Breock, Cornwall, 1662; consecrated bishop of Exeter, 1662; translated to the see of Salisbury, 1667; chancellor of the order of the Garter, 1671; declined the bishopric of Durham, 1672; died at Knightsbridge, 1689; buried in Salisbury Cathedral. Publications include: 'Astronomia geometrica' (London, 1656). |
| CustodialHistory | The manuscript formed part of the library of John Thomas Graves (1806-1870), mathematician and Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, whose collection included manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 19th century, relating mainly to mathematics. Formerly Graves 1925. Other pressmarks: 121.c.24; 50.h.3. |