William Petty Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
- This article is about the English scientist. For his great grandson the Brith Prime Minister and Irish peer, see William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne.
He went to sea in 1636. and, finding himself in Normandy, supported himself by teaching English while studying at a Jesuit school in Caen. On the outbreak of the English Civil War, he became an exile in Paris and the assistant of Thomas Hobbes, and moved in the circles of Mersenne and Gassendi. Having studied medicine in the Netherlands, he went back to England in 1646 to complete his studies at Brasenose College, Oxford.
In 1651, he left Oxford to become the official physician to Oliver Cromwell's army in Ireland, where, apart from his medical duties, he became involved in devising a scheme to make the army self-financing by undertaking a comprehensive land survey. This successful enterprise made him a rich man, and, as a Cromwellian supporter, he stood for Parliament in 1659 for West Looe. Despite his political alliegances, he was well-treated at the Restoration, although he lost some of his Irish lands.
He was a founder member of the Royal Society, and counted among his many scientific interests naval architecture: he had become convinced of the superiority of double-hulled boats, although they were not always successful; the Experiment reached Oporto on 1664, but sank on the way back.
He is most well known for economic history and statistic writings, pre-Adam Smith.