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The mathematician, John Wallis, was born in Ashford on the 23rd of November 1616. His father, Reverend John Wallis (1567-1622) died a week after John’s sixth birthday so his mother, Joanna (nee Chapman) raised her 5 children alone.

John began his education in Ashford, but after an outbreak of plague in 1625, was moved to James Mouat’s private school at Ley (Leigh) Green, near Tenterden. He continued at Mouat’s school under the tutelage of Mr Finch, until 1630, when the school closed, then in 1631 he was enrolled at the school of Martin Holbeach in Felsted, Essex.

During the Christmas holidays of 1631, he spent two weeks in Ashford, where his brother Henry taught him arithmetic which according to Wallis: “suited my humour so well that I did henceforth prosecute it, not as a formal study, but as a pleasing diversion at spare hours.”¹ Wallis’ assessment of his Kentish education is not complimentary. He wrote: “I got more good in 2 yeares with the blessing of god, under the diligient labours of my godly master Mr Holbeach, then I got in many twoos before.”²

In 1632, he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge on a scholarship where he studied philosophy, ethics, physics, metaphysics, medicine and anatomy.

On attaining his M.A in 1640, Wallis began working as a private chaplain, first in Yorkshire and then in Essex, but it was his talent for deciphering the intercepted letters and papers of the Royalists for the parliamentarian cause during the English Civil War that got him noticed. He was rewarded with the living of St Gabriel, Fenchurch Street in 1643, the same year that his mother died leaving him property in Kent.³ His mother, who was originally from Godmersham, had bought “a messuage, barn, and various buildings, closes, gardens and orchards, and 6 parcels of arable, meadow and pasture land called Vaggestowne, the Littlecroft next the lane, Great Culverlese, Little Culverlese and Perycroft, in Egerton” from John Deedes in 1633, however there was a quitclaim four years later.⁴

Nevertheless, this gives some clues as to the area of Kent where his property may have been. Accounts as to the extent of this estate vary, with Meli stating that it was extensive yet Rampelt arguing that it was more modest. Wallis already had an income of £10 per annum left to him by his father⁵ which was equivalent to 142 days wages for a skilled tradesman⁶. However, the additional inheritance from his mother may have given him the security he needed. From 1645 he appears to have lived in London and was much freer to pursue his intellectual interests, attending meetings in London and Oxford. He also married which possibly implies increased prosperity.

Continuing to help the parliamentarians, Wallis was held in high regard by Oliver Cromwell who awarded him with the Savilian Chair of Geometry at Oxford in 1649. In 1655 he published Arithmetica Infinitorum, which became a seminal mathematical work. As an undergraduate, Isaac Newton developed his binomial theorem after reading it. Wallis contributed to the study of trigonometry, calculus, geometry and infinity and corresponded with Fermat and Pascal.

How much time Wallis spent in Kent during this period is uncertain, although he still had associations with the county. His brother Henry wrote to him from Lydd in 1651; Samuel Shorte wrote to “his much respected friend” from Tenterden in 1653; and John Finch wrote to him from Rolvenden in 1653. On a letter from his brother Henry, dated 6th March 1654 and sent from Ashford, John scribbled: “Reasons why the limits of the Commission should not be bounded as is desired by Sir Cheyny Culpeper, to Oxny Ferry” revealing that he still has some interests in the area.⁷ Indeed according to Wallis during the period 1659/1660: “I was my self very little at Oxford all that time, (and, much of it, my Family was also absent, in London, Kent, Essex, and Cambridge)” revealing his continued connection with the county.⁸

At the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Wallis was keen to refute any claims that he had deciphered Charles I’s correspondence in such a way that might have harmed the king and in fact implied that he “could have discovered a great deal”.⁹ In recognition that he had signed the remonstrance against the king’s execution in 1648, he was allowed to keep his posts and was also nominated a royal chaplain.

In 1666, John’s brother Henry died leaving his Kentish estates to John, with a £60 annuity for his widow.¹⁰ As there were debts to pay, this may not have swelled John’s income considerably, but it did bind him further to the county. Henry also left house and lands in Ruckinge, which he had bought in the previous year to his cousin Julius Deedes. This consisted of “a message with barn 17 pieces of land of 65 acres. Pasture & wood called Adrians, land called “Howards” all in Ruckinge”.¹¹

A year later, a publication on high tides, reveals further connections with Kent. Wallis argued that annual high tides were not on the two equinoxes, nor on the winter and summer solstices but at a middle time: “and particularly for the Coast of Kent (and consequently the Rivers of Thames and Medway) about the beginning of November and February”.¹² These observations were not his own but sent to him.

Two years later in 1669/70 he received letters from Hythe recording one of the highest tides they had had in a while. We do not know who these were from but we do know that Wallis had relatives in Hythe (his niece Anne had married Julius Deedes, of Newington next Hythe, whose father was the captain of the Hythe militia during the Commonwealth).¹³ Julius had settled lands in Lyminge and Hythe on Anne at their marriage.¹⁴ According to Henning, Julius married into a “leading Cinque Ports family”¹⁵ (the Bates) which suggests that the Wallis family were able to make good marriages. John’s father had been a schoolmaster at Saltwood, and later curate for Hythe and Aldington before becoming vicar in Ashford,¹⁶ so had strong connections with the area; his daughter Helen married Richard Bate of Lydd.

During the months of April and May 1670, Wallis is known to have visited Kent with his son John who fell ill of “a very desperate malignant fever … which after did degenerate into a Chronick desease (of which part was a Kentish ague)”.¹⁷ Wallis records: “After a considerable stay where I was; til I saw him begin (as wee hoped) to amend; I was fain (being called home) to leave him there behind mee.”¹⁸ It is clear that Wallis considered Oxford, not Kent as his home, despite his many ties there.

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Wallis worked for William III, deciphering correspondence which was thought to shed light on the birth of the Prince of Wales (James Francis Edward Stuart). Later, his grandson, William Blencoe, became a government cryptographer. John Wallis died at Oxford in 1703. An autobiographical account of his life is held at the Kent Archives.

Today, the John Wallis Academy in Ashford is named after him in recognition of his importance to the field of mathematics. Other mathematicians associated with Kent include John Edensor Littlewood, who researched Diophantine analysis and the Riemann zeta function and Ada Lovelace who spent her summers in Kent.

Research for this article was undertaken by Barnaby and Charlie as part of the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and written up by Michelle Crowther. This article was published: 16 December 2021.

Bibliography

Clerke, A.M. ‘John Wallis (1616-1703)’, Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900, vol.59.
Hutchinson, John (1892). “John Wallis” . Men of Kent and Kentishmen. Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. pp. 139–140. Meli, Domenico Bertoloni. ‘John Wallis’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2007.
Rampelt, Jason M. Distinctions of Reason and Reasonable Distinctions The Academic Life of John Wallis (1616–1703), 2019.

References