John Houghton (1645 – 1705) was an English apothecary and writer on agriculture and trade, a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1][2]
John Houghton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1645 |
| Died | 1705 (aged 59–60) |
| Education | Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Apothecary, writer |
| Known for | Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Claget |
Life
editHoughton studied for a time at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He subsequently became an apothecary and dealer in tea, coffee, chocolate, and other luxuries. First he traded by the Ship Tavern in St Bartholomew Lane, St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, behind the Royal Exchange. By 14 December 1703, he was at the Golden Fleece, on the corner of Little Eastcheap in Gracechurch Street, London.[3][4]
A kind of agent for advertisers, Houghton had his newspaper advertisements appended to his Collections. On 19 July 1695, Houghton printed the first personal ad from a man seeking a wife in A Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, initiating the "lonely hearts" industry.[5] He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.[6] on 29 January 1680, and served on the society's committee for agriculture. He died in 1705.[3]
Works
editHoughton edited a periodical, A Collection of Letters for the Improvement of Husbandry & Trade, published as two vols. London, 1681–3. The authors of the letters included John Evelyn and John Worlidge. Houghton first noticed the potato plant as an agricultural vegetable, and that turnips were eaten by sheep.[3]
In November 1691, Houghton issued, with the support of leading Fellows of the Royal Society, A Proposal for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, which later took the shape of another Collection published in weekly folio numbers, of which the first appeared on 30 March 1692, and the last (No. 583) on 24 September 1703. In all, according to the editor's plan, 19 volumes appeared. A selection in four volumes was published by Richard Bradley in 1727–8, with the title A Catalogue of all sorts of Earths, the Art of Draining, of Brewing, of all sorts of Husbandry.[3]
Houghton also published in 1693 a sixpenny sheet, containing An Account of the Acres and Houses, with the proportional tax … of each county in England and Wales (reprinted in Somers Tracts, ed. Scott, x. 596). To Philosophical Transactions he contributed in 1699 "A Discourse of Coffee" and "The Conclusion of the Protestant States of the Empire, of the 23d of Sept. 1699 concerning the Calendar".[3]
Family
editOn 11 November 1687 Houghton married Elizabeth Claget of Greenwich in 1687.[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b McConnell, Anita. "Houghton, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13868. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "John Houghton (1645-1705) Journalist, apothecary and F.R.S". Pharmaceutical Historian. 9 (1): 2–3. 9 April 1979. ISSN 0079-1393. PMID 11630658.
- ^ a b c d e Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Barry, Jonathan (2018). "John Houghton and Medical Practice in London c. 1700". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 92 (4): 575–603. doi:10.1353/bhm.2018.0072. ISSN 1086-3176. PMC 6369514.
- ^ Beauman, Fran (2011). Shapely ankle preferr'd : a history of the lonely hearts ad. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 1–3. ISBN 978-0-09-951334-6. OCLC 664324635.
- ^ "Search Results". catalogues.royalsociety.org. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Houghton, John (d.1705)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 27. London: Smith, Elder & Co.