ROWLEY, John (1666-1728) — London
Instrument maker; engraver. Known for a silvered brass globe of about 1700, as well as orreries, dividing engines, micrometers, octants, sectors, slide rules, sundials, telescopes, etc. He issued proposals for globes in association with Robert Morden (see BME 2011) and later proposals, in 1704, for a pair of thirty-inch globes with the St. Paul’s Churchyard bookseller Daniel Midwinter. Known as one of the finest craftsmen of his time, his planetary model made in 1712-1713 for Charles Boyle, the Fourth Earl of Orrery, seemingly based on an earlier model made by Thomas Tompion and George Graham (see BME 2011) in about 1704, gave the orrery its name.
Born in 1666 and baptised 9 Sep 1666 at St. Chad, Lichfield, Staffordshire, the son of William Rowley (d.1673), sword cutler, and his wife Elizabeth. Apprenticed (Broderers) to Joseph Howe 20 Oct 1682. Free (Broderers) 26 Feb 1691. He married Catherine Harding (d. 1756) at Woburn, Buckinghamshire, 18 Apr 1697, and a daughter, Elizabeth was baptised at St. Bartholomew the Less 31 May 1698. He supplied instruments to many institutions, including Christ’s Hospital Mathematical School, the Office of Ordnance, and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Some of his instruments were advertised in John Ward, ‘The young mathematician’s guide’ 1707, while he himself was the chief retailer of John Warner, ‘Warner’s mathematical exercises for the use of schools’ 1710. He made elaborate orreries for the Habsburg emperor Charles VI, for Peter the Great, and for the East India Company. A detailed description of a Rowley “horary” was included in John Theophilus Desaguliers, ‘A system of experimental philosophy : prov’d by mechanicks’ 1719. Appointed Master of Mechanics to George I in 1715, at which point his former apprentice Thomas Wright (see BME 2011) took over the day-to-day business in Fleet Street. His premises under St. Dunstan’s were at the second shop from the western end, just beneath the famous clock. He died intestate 14 Jan 1728 and was buried 19 Jan at St. Dunstan in the West.
Behind the Exchange, Threadneedle Street, London — 1691
The Globe, under St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet Street — 1702-1716
— Under the Dial of St. Dunstan’s Church, Fleet Street — 1714-1716
— and Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street — 1706-1728
Apprentices: John Potting 1699; Eden Sheppard 1701; Benjamin Scott 1706 (see BME 2011) (t/o from James Anderton); Thomas Wright 1707 (see BME 2011); William Dean(e) 1710. Employed Thomas Wright; John Coggs.
BM. Brown (1979). Calvert. Clifton. LHD. ODNB. Robinson. Taylor (1954). Taylor (1966). Tyacke. Webster.