FREEMASONS AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY Alphabetical List of ...

Fellows of the Royal Society who are or were Freemasons, listed alphabetically
His nephew, Henry Jenner, was WM of short-lived Country Stewards’ L. No. 540; 297 ProvGM, Bristol, 1 Nov
1799, resigning 1807. GSupt, Bristol, 25 Jan 1803, resigning 1807.
Edward’s son, Robert F. Jenner (fl.1823), 298 and another nephew, The Revd G.C. Jenner, ProvGChap, Bristol,
c.1817, were both members of L. of Faith and Friendship No. 449 and in Oct 1817, the former was JW, whilst the
latter was Sec.
Johnston, 299 Alexander, FRS [22 Nov 1810], later [1811] Sir Alexander Johnston, then [1833] PC (25 Apr 1775–4
Mar 1849), linguist and translator.
Born and brought up in India, became an ardent evangelical Christian and spent much of his life in Madurai where
he became fluent in Tamul, Telegu and Hindustani man and evinced a lifelong interest in Tamil literature, Tamil
Shaivism, and Sinhalese Buddhism. Sent to England, where he entered Lincoln’s Inn and was presumably called to
the Bar. In 1799, after marrying Lord William Campbell’s 300 elder daughter, Anne Campbell (1766–1852), on 14 Jun
that year, became Advocate-Gen, Ceylon, then, 1805, Ch Justice, Ceylon, and after being knighted by the Prince
Regent, 1811, appointed Pres of Council, Ceylon, that year. Responsible for many reforms and the reorganization of
the Govt of Ceylon, he returned to England from time to time, including 1 visit in 1819. In 1828 he became the owner
of York House, Twickenham, but for most of his ownership the house was let to tenants.
Given a copy of a Marathi translation of Aesop’s Fables, 1817, by the Raja of Tangore, which he presented to the
then Library of the Br Museum in Jul 1821. There is a collection of 8 of his letters from Colombo (Sri Lanka) 1810–
32 in the Br and Foreign Bible Socy’s Archives. 301 Found a copy of Ezour Vedom in Ponicherry, with other MSS
similar in format. He and his wife apparently had no children.
Initiated, 302 13 Apr 1810, passed and raised, 18 May 1810, Prince of Wales’s L. No. 412, now No. 259, only
paying his dues for 1810. ProvGM, Ceylon, 1 May 1810 (while still an EA)–4 Mar 1849. Joined, 23 Jan 1822, L. of
Antiquity No. 2, London, being excluded, 1827, from membership ‘for non-payment of arrears’. 303
Jones, William, FRS [30 Nov 1711; V-PRS] (1675–3 Jul 1749), mathematician.
Born at Merddyn, Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd, Anglesey, son of John George Jones and his wife, Elizabeth
Rowland, of the family of Bodwigan, Llanddeusant.
Educ at a school at Llanfechell, and showed such skill as a calculator that his landlord, Bulkeley of Baron Hill,
sent him up to London; after a period in a counting house there he became instructor on a man-of-war, and attracted
the notice of Admiral Anson. Tutorships in great families followed; 2 of his pupils, Thomas Parker, 1 st Earl of
Macclesfield (1667–1732), and Philip Yorke, 1 st Earl of Hardwicke (1690–1764), both became Ld Chan, 1718–25
and 1737–56, respectively. Macclesfield afterwards took him as tutor to his son, George Parker, later 2 nd Earl of
Macclesfield, FRS [qv, below].
Set up as a mathematics teacher, 1702, publishing that year New Compendium of the Whole Art of Navigation. His
large-scale mathematics text-book, 1706, Synopsis palmariorum mathesos, or A New Introduction to the Mathematics
introduced the symbol π [pi] for the first time. His mathematical works were very highly esteemed and he published
Machin’s calculation of pi to 100 decimals. This work attracted the attention and friendship of Sir Isaac Newton, PRS,
and Edmund Halley, FRS. Edited and published a compilation of Newton’s smaller works: De Analysi, Quadratura
Curvarum, Enumeratio Linearum Tertii Ordinis and Methodus Differentialis, 1711. Member, RS committee to
determine the originator of the calculus, Mar 1711. In 1737, had a house next to the Salt Office in York Buildings. He
lost heavily when his banker failed, but his friendship with the great brought him profitable sinecures, including Dep-
Teller to the Exchequer.
Married Mary Nix and they had 2 sons and a daughter, and he died in London. William and Mary Jones’s
youngest child, William Jones (1746–1794), after entering Univ of Oxford, 1764, embarked on a career as a tutor and
translator for the next 5 or 6 years, partly supporting himself by acting as tutor to John Spencer, Viscount Althorp
(1758–1834), the future 2 nd Earl Spencer, KG, PC, FRS [6 Apr 1780], and in 1766 he obtained a fellowship. During
this time he published Histoire de Nader Chah (1770), a French translation of a work originally written in Persian by
Mirza Mewhdi Khan Astarabadi, at the request of King Christian VII of Denmark, FRS [qv, above], who had visited
him and by the age of 24 had already acquired a reputation as an orientalist. He was a linguistic prodigy, learning
Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age and obtained very great fame
as a philologist and an authority on Hindu law. Elected FRS [30 Apr 1772], he gained his MA (Oxon), 1773 and in
1776 was appointed a commissioner in bankruptcy. In 1783 became a Puisne Judge at Calcutta in Bengal and was
297
Formed on 25 Jul 1781, at Guildhall Coffee House, Gresham Street, London, for the 1st two years; the L. moved in 1790 to Freemasons’
Tavern, Great Queen Street, becoming No. 449 under AGL, 1792 and making its last payment in 1799, lapsing about 1802
298
WM of No. 449 4 times, in 1827, 1828, 1847 and 1848. He was a Lt-Col in the S. Gloucestershire Regt [Dodsley, 145].
299
Spelt Johnstone in The Prince of Wales’s L. No. 259 List of Members (1910; rev. 1938), 111; BP, 1921, 132, under Argyll, and elsewhere,
but Johnston in BP, 1867, 34, and elsewhere, this being regarded as the generally accepted spelling of his surname.
300 th th
(†1778), Capt, RN, MP, Argyllshire, 1764–66, Govr, Nova Scotia, 1766, and Carolina, 1773, 4 son of Archibald Campbell, 4 Duke of
Argyll, KT (c.1693–1761).
301
Internet website: http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:ksCinPtQsUYJ:janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp%3Fid%3DEAD%252FGBR%2
52F0374%252FBSAX%252F1%252FJ+Sir+Alexander+Johnstone+(1775–1849)&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk.
302
Having been proposed by Gen S. Hulse, RWM, and 2nded by Chevalier Bartholomew Ruspini (1728–1813), Treas.
303
Firebrace, 278; John Hamill, then Librarian, GL Library, in a letter dated 6 Dec 1978, to a correspondent of QC L
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