John Graunt and his Natural and political observations

Abstract

I. Some notes on the life of John Graunt In commemorating the work of Graunt, the founder of demography, it was clearly desirable that a search be made for further information on his life. Perhaps the most striking result of that search has been to show how heavily we must still depend for our knowledge of Graunt as a person on Aubrey’s notes (I)—both in their original form and in their more elegant elaboration by Anthony Wood (2)—and on the brief but warm comment by another of Graunt’s contemporaries, the famous book-collector, Richard Smyth. ‘An understanding man’, Smyth called him, ‘of a quick witt and a pretty schollar, my old acquantaince’ (3). Hull added a few facts (4), and there are some interesting snatches of correspondence from Petty to, or about, Graunt in Lord Lansdowne’s volume (5). These remain basic sources. But additional material has been found elsewhere—in the City of London Records and in the records of the Drapers’ Company, as well as in the full Petty correspondence from which Lord Lansdowne cited a few sentences. The contribution of these and other sources will be seen as the story is pieced together (6).