about half were weavers, and the rest were typically brewers, braziers, bakers, bricklayers. This Society operated as a working men's club and we know that it was a natural choice for a weaver who taught mathematics since of the members by 1744:. He was an early member of the Spitalfields Mathematical Society being one of 49 members in 1736. oracle of Nuneaton, Bosworth and the environs.Įxactly how long he remained in Derby is unknown but we do know that from 1736 he was living in London with his family. This would certainly fit in with the fact that he was known as the:. had to flee to Derby in 1733 after he or his assistant had frightened a girl by dressing up as a devil during an astrology session. The reason which has been reported by his biographers is as follows. In fact Simpson and his wife had left Nuneaton before his children were born. They had one daughter Elizabeth born in 1736 and one son Thomas born in 1738. Simpson had lodgings in Nuneaton with a lady by the name of Swinfield whom he married in 1730.

From about 1725, when Simpson was fifteen years old, until around 1733, he taught mathematics in Nuneaton. He moved away from his home town to take up a position as a schoolmaster in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. He taught himself mathematics, something which was not uncommon for weavers at that time as we shall see below. He did attend school in Market Bosworth for a while but his first job was as a weaver.

Biography Thomas Simpson's father was a weaver.

The simpsons mathematics