Martin Folkes (29 October 1690 – 28 June 1754) was an English antiquary, numismatist, mathematician and astronomer who served as the

president of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society who presides over meetings of the society's council. After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gres ...

from 1741 to 1752.

Life

Folkes was born in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

on 29 October 1690, the eldest son of Martin Folkes, councillor at Law.Albert G. Mackey, M.D. An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, New and Revised edition. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1894. p. 280 Educated at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

, he so distinguished himself in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

that when only twenty-three years of age he was chosen a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He was elected one of the council in 1716, and in 1723

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His book (''Mathe ...

, president of the society, appointed him one of the vice-presidents. On the death of Newton he became a candidate for the presidency, but was defeated by

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

, whom, however, he succeeded in 1741; in 1742 he was made a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences; in 1746 he received honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. Folkes was a prominent Freemason, being appointed Deputy Grand Master of the

Premier Grand Lodge of England The organisation now known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Originally concerned with the practice of Freemasonry in London and Westminster, it soon became known as ...

during the year 1724–1725. In 1733 he set out on a tour through

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in the course of which he composed his ''Dissertations on the weights and Values of Ancient Coins''. Before the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was president from 1749 to 1754, he read in 1736 his ''Observations on the Trajan and Antonine Pillars at Rome'' and his ''Table of English Gold Coins from the 18th Year of King Edward III''. In 1745 he printed the latter with another on the history of silver coinage. He also contributed both to the Society of Antiquaries and to the Royal Society other papers, chiefly on Roman antiquities. In 1739 he was elected one of the founding vice-presidents of London's charitable

Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...

for abandoned children, a position he maintained until 1747. Folkes was married in 1714 to Lucretia Bradshaw, an actress who had appeared at the Haymarket and Drury Lane (see Nichols's ''Lit. Anecdot.'' ii. 578–598). His portrait was painted and etched by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

(1697–1764). Folkes was a noted

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and opposed racial prejudice. Some of his public statements have been interpreted as evidence of a Darwinian viewpoint. According to the archaeologist

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

, he set up an ''Infidels Club'' in 1720, and caused several young noblemen of the

to jeer whenever scriptural material was injected into a scientific debate.W. C. Lucis (ed), The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley M.D., Surtees Society, 1882, pp 98–100 For Sir John Hill's attack on Folkes (''Review of the Works of the Royal Soc.'', 1751), see

Isaac D'Israeli Isaac D'Israeli (11 May 1766 – 19 January 1848) was a British writer, scholar and the father of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. He is best known for his essays and his associations with other me ...

, ''Calamities and Quarrels of Authors'' (1860), pp. 364–366. There is a memorial to Folkes at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

.'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p12: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966

Sources

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folkes, Martin 1690 births 1754 deaths English atheists Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England English numismatists 18th-century English mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Presidents of the Royal Society Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Life

Sources

See also

References

External links