John Taylor (mathematician)


John Taylor was an English mathematician and traveller, author of a manuscript account of Jamaica.

Life

John Taylor was the posthumous son of a minor gentleman from the Isle of Wight. In 1685 Taylor fought for James II against the Monmouth Rebellion. Returning to London to study mathematics and chemistry, he published the textbook Thesaurarium mathematicae in 1686, and married. Shortly after, with his wife pregnant, Taylor left for the Caribbean after an argument with his father-in-law, and arrived in Jamaica at Christmas 1686. Though he stayed for under six months, his Multum in Parvo collected together natural history and social description of the island.

Works