Toxteth Park.
The Puritans were tolerated in the England of the 1620s, but because of their unorthodox approach to religion they were not allowed to hold high public office. It was common, therefore, for them to put their energies into trade. Thus James Horrocks was a watchmaker and his wife Mary Aspinwall was the daughter of a watchmaker. This was a time long before the Industrial Revolution; Liverpool and Lancashire had never yet seen a bale of cotton. It is very possible that the Horrocks and Aspinwall families were not only manufacturers of watches, but also dealers who marketed watches made in Nuremberg and other European centers.
When their first son was born in 1618, James and Mary Horrocks christened him Jeremiah. The couple seemed to have a penchant for Old Testament prophets of doom, for when their second son was born three yearslater they called him Jonah. Both sons were expected to enter the family business, but Jeremiah showed an early interest in philosophy and other subjects beyond watch-making.
A University Education
At the age of 14, with the help of his family and the local minister, Richard Mather, Horrocks had acquired sufficient knowledge of the scriptures to gain a place at Emmanuel College, Cambridgeâthe most puritanical of the Oxbridge colleges. Horrocks did not go to Cambridge to study astronomy, however. At this time it was not possible to study the subject at Cambridge. There was no department of astronomy and no professor of astronomy. Indeed, there were very few who knew anything at all about the subject. One of Horrocksâ friends and contemporaries, John Wallis (1616â1703), who matriculated in the same year, arrived to study mathematics. The status of mathematics was much the same as that of astronomy, and Wallis described it:
I did thenceforth prosecute it [mathematics], (at School and in the University) not as a formal study, but as a pleasing Diversion, at spare hours; as books of Arithmetick, or others Mathematical fell occasionally in my way. For I had none to direct me, what books to read, or what to seek, or what methods to proceed. Formathematics, (at that time with us) were scarce looked upon as Academicall studies, but rather mechanical; as the business of Traders, Merchants, Seamen Carpenters, Surveyors of Lands, of the like; and perhaps some Almanac-makers in London. And amongst more than Two hundred Students (at that time) in our College, I do not know of any Two (perhaps not any) who had more of Mathematics than I, (if so much) which was then but little; And but very few, in that whole University. For the study of Mathematics was at that time more cultivated in London than in the Universities.
The same educational shortcomings could be leveled at astronomy. All undergraduates, if they were not of the aristocracy, were expected to train for the church and to become country parsons. The library shelves were straining with theological publications, but there was hardly a single volume on mathematics or astronomy. And yet, by the time he left Cambridge in 1635, Horrocks had read many of the latest astronomical publications and knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. In Horrocksâ time the total complement of Emmanuel College was between 200 and 300 people. He would therefore have known all of his contemporaries. His closest friends were John Worthington and John Wallis. They both went on to become active members of the Royal Society. Amongsthis other acquaintances was Ezekiel Cheever (
c
.1614â1708), the son of a London spinner educated at Christâs Hospital School. Cheever entered as a sizar (an undergraduate who received aid from the college for maintenance in return for performing various duties) the year after Horrocks. He left for America in 1637 and became the best-known teacher in the early history of Massachusetts. Another, even better-known, contemporary was John Harvard (1607â38), who later emigrated to the New World. When he died,
The Puritans were tolerated in the England of the 1620s, but because of their unorthodox approach to religion they were not allowed to hold high public office. It was common, therefore, for them to put their energies into trade. Thus James Horrocks was a watchmaker and his wife Mary Aspinwall was the daughter of a watchmaker. This was a time long before the Industrial Revolution; Liverpool and Lancashire had never yet seen a bale of cotton. It is very possible that the Horrocks and Aspinwall families were not only manufacturers of watches, but also dealers who marketed watches made in Nuremberg and other European centers.
When their first son was born in 1618, James and Mary Horrocks christened him Jeremiah. The couple seemed to have a penchant for Old Testament prophets of doom, for when their second son was born three yearslater they called him Jonah. Both sons were expected to enter the family business, but Jeremiah showed an early interest in philosophy and other subjects beyond watch-making.
A University Education
At the age of 14, with the help of his family and the local minister, Richard Mather, Horrocks had acquired sufficient knowledge of the scriptures to gain a place at Emmanuel College, Cambridgeâthe most puritanical of the Oxbridge colleges. Horrocks did not go to Cambridge to study astronomy, however. At this time it was not possible to study the subject at Cambridge. There was no department of astronomy and no professor of astronomy. Indeed, there were very few who knew anything at all about the subject. One of Horrocksâ friends and contemporaries, John Wallis (1616â1703), who matriculated in the same year, arrived to study mathematics. The status of mathematics was much the same as that of astronomy, and Wallis described it:
I did thenceforth prosecute it [mathematics], (at School and in the University) not as a formal study, but as a pleasing Diversion, at spare hours; as books of Arithmetick, or others Mathematical fell occasionally in my way. For I had none to direct me, what books to read, or what to seek, or what methods to proceed. Formathematics, (at that time with us) were scarce looked upon as Academicall studies, but rather mechanical; as the business of Traders, Merchants, Seamen Carpenters, Surveyors of Lands, of the like; and perhaps some Almanac-makers in London. And amongst more than Two hundred Students (at that time) in our College, I do not know of any Two (perhaps not any) who had more of Mathematics than I, (if so much) which was then but little; And but very few, in that whole University. For the study of Mathematics was at that time more cultivated in London than in the Universities.
The same educational shortcomings could be leveled at astronomy. All undergraduates, if they were not of the aristocracy, were expected to train for the church and to become country parsons. The library shelves were straining with theological publications, but there was hardly a single volume on mathematics or astronomy. And yet, by the time he left Cambridge in 1635, Horrocks had read many of the latest astronomical publications and knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. In Horrocksâ time the total complement of Emmanuel College was between 200 and 300 people. He would therefore have known all of his contemporaries. His closest friends were John Worthington and John Wallis. They both went on to become active members of the Royal Society. Amongsthis other acquaintances was Ezekiel Cheever (
c
.1614â1708), the son of a London spinner educated at Christâs Hospital School. Cheever entered as a sizar (an undergraduate who received aid from the college for maintenance in return for performing various duties) the year after Horrocks. He left for America in 1637 and became the best-known teacher in the early history of Massachusetts. Another, even better-known, contemporary was John Harvard (1607â38), who later emigrated to the New World. When he died,
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