Rochester, Kent

Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles

Walter de Merton (??-1277), founder of the eponymous Oxford college, was Bishop of Rochester, and is buried in the north choir transept of the Cathedral there [1]

There was a Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School, founded in 1701, in the High Street, where Gallery Two now stands - the city wall actually was part of the building. The master's house survives at 115 High Street. The school actually survives, but moved some years ago to a site on the edge of Rochester, on the road to Maidstone. David Garrick was a pupil, but did not achieve fame as a mathematician! [2]

Sir Clowdisley Shovell was MP for Rochester and presented the ceiling of the Council Room in the Guildhall [3]. His coat of arms is on the clock on the outside of the Old Corn Exchange [4]

Samuel Horsley (1733-1806), Bishop of Rochester, was Secretary of the Royal Society from 1773.

References (show)

1. Greenwood, Douglas. Who's Buried Where in England. (1982); 2nd ed., Constable, London, 1990., pp.151-152
2. Coster, E. L. Out and Around London - South. A Geographia Guide, Geographia Ltd., London, nd [c1973], p.111
3. Timpson, John. Timpson's Towns of England and Wales. Oddities & Curiosities. Jarrold, Norwich, (1989), PB ed, (1994), 2nd ptg, 1995. p.100
4. Coster, E. L. Out and Around London - South. A Geographia Guide, Geographia Ltd., London, nd [c1973], p.110

The Mathematical Gazetteer of the British Isles was created by David Singmaster.
The original site is at THIS LINK.