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Nathaniel Nye - Brum's first scientist?

Aidan

Aidan

master brummie
Nathaniel Nye, mathematician astronomer, cartographer and master gunner, was baptized at St Martin's, Birmingham, on 18 April 1624, the son of Allen Nye.

A list of governors of King Edward VI's School, Birmingham, for 1638 includes an Allen Nye, who may have been Nathaniel's father.

Nathaniel Nye wrote A New Almanacke and Prognostication for 1642; A Prognostication and A New Almanacke and Prognostication for 1643, calculated for ‘the fair and populous Town of Birmicham’, in which he describes himself as ‘Mathematitian, Practitioner of Astronomy’; and two almanacs for 1645.
 
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Against the background of Birmingham's arms trades in the civil war, Nye developed an interest in gunnery.

In 1643 he tested a Birmingham cannon, and he described an experiment with a saker which he carried out in the Deritend area of the town in March 1645.

Following the parliamentarian capture of Evesham in May 1645 Nye held the post of master gunner to the garrison there, and he directed the artillery at the siege of Worcester, from May to July 1646. He then served with the parliamentarian garrison of the city, for he was described as ‘Master Gunner of the City of Worcester’ on the title page of his book, The Art of Gunnery, published in 1647. Nye's avowed intention in writing the book was to restore the reputation of gunners, which had suffered through the appointment of men because of their connections rather than their ability. Arguing that it was as easy to fire a piece of ordnance as a musket, he provided a detailed practical guide to the preparation and employment of artillery, stressing the importance of arithmetic and geometry. The book's second section, with a separate title page, is entitled ‘A treatise of artificiall fire-works for warre and recreation’, and includes information on treatments for gunpowder burns. While pointing out that the book was written from his own experiences, he also acknowledged his debt to earlier writers on the use of artillery and preparation of fireworks: William Bourne, John Bate, John Babington, Robert Norton, Niccolò Tartaglia, and Thomas Malthus. The works on arithmetic to which he refers the reader include those by Robert Recorde and Marcus Jordanus.

Nye also had a practical interest in cartography, and recommended that a gunner should have a map of the environs of his garrison that marked all prominent features within range of the defences. He had copies of such plans for Worcester and Coventry, although they are not included in the book. While he does not state that they were prepared by him, that is implied.

Despite his service with the parliamentarian forces, Nye dedicated The Art of Gunnery to the prominent royalist and member of the king's household Montague Bertie, second earl of Lindsey. In the dedication he mentions ‘the particular service I ever did owe and beare to your Lordship and Noble Family’, although the nature of the connection is unknown. Further editions appeared in 1648 and 1670. The frontispiece is a portrait of Nye by Wenceslaus Hollar (whom we have met with several times before on this Forum), drawn in 1644.


I'm hoping we can find out some more about Nye and his works....
 
Oooh! Another Birmingham mathematician, and an early one too. Of course in those days mathematicians were usually "applied", as was our Nathaniel with his almanacs and work on gunnery. Attached below is his diagram of the cannon attack on Worcester. [Taken from Barbara Donagan's War in England 1642-1649 (Oxford: OUP, 2008).]
Not only were some practical artillerymen highly skilled, but theoretical mathematical artillerists also claimed success, and brash young Nathaniel Nye dazzled his readers with science as he explained the triangulation and calculations that had led to the successful battery of Worcester. [Donagan]​
 
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The trouble is, John, the trail has gone cold on this remarkable Brummie very quickly for me. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography tells us little more than Wikipedia, and they both say: "Nothing is known of Nye's life after 1647" (when he turned just 23). Google Books and archive.org have no e-texts his works; the London Gazette has nothing; the 17th, 18th and 19th century newspapers and periodicals have nothing. There's clearly much scope for serious sleuthing here!

For those whose library card gives them access to the Proquest "Early English Books Online" database, the following Nathaniel Nye works are available as "digital facsimile page images" (e-texts in other words): New Almanack (1642, 1643, 1645 and 1648); A Prognostication (1643, 1645); Art of Gunnery including Artificial Fireworks (1647, 1648 and 1670).

Pictured below: [1] A Prognostication (1645 title page: observe that he adopts the spelling "Brumicham"); [2] A Prognostication (1645 sample page); [3] Art of Gunnery (1647 title page); [4] Artificial Fireworks (1647 title page); [5] Artificial Fireworks (1647 illustration).
 
Thylacine ... could he have disappeared during the chaos of the second, or third sections of the Civil War? It seems highly possible that a young gunnery expert might have been killed during that period. The later editions of his work might have made his publisher a bit of money, with no author to pay!
 
A very plausible hypothesis, John: but you'd think someone (perhaps his publisher William Leak) would have noticed his death. It must have been reported somewhere surely.
 
Aidan said:
...The works on arithmetic to which he refers the reader include those by Robert Recorde and Marcus Jordanus....
Click to expand...

Nice find about Robert Recorde. Brummies seem to have always had an affinity with Wales and the Welsh.

The other guy he name-checks, Marcus Jordanus, was a mathematician and cartographer. No surprise there. However he was born c1531, become Mayor of (in 1568 & 1582) and died in Krempe in Schleswig-Holstein near Hamburg, Germany. He studied and became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

I just find it amazing that such specialist information was accessible at that time. Perhaps it was through the Library?

The first Birmingham Library was founded between 1635 and 1642 by the puritan minister Francis Roberts. Although the library was one of the first public libraries in England its puritan origins meant that its collection was dispersed after the Restoration of 1660.
 
I suppose, in the aftermath of battle, one dead body looks much like another, even supposing there be much of a body left! After all, who is to make a list, if all are fallen?

I'm not sure of the Laws of Copyright and those of an authors' 'royalties' (well, he was a Parliamentarian supporter after all! Sorry, a little 'Roundhead' joke there...) or even if they existed at that time; but would a publisher necessarily go out of his way to seek-out a missing soldier, or his benificiaries? Failing that, he might just have chose to 'keep his head down' after the Restoration; but, that was 1660, so I reckon he probably popped his clogs earlier.
 
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