William Oughtred, or, as he sometimes wrote his name, Owtred, was born at Eton, the seat of Eton College, the year of his birth being variously given as 1573, 1574, and 1575. “His father,” says Aubrey, “taught to write at Eaton, and was a scrivener; and understood common arithmetique, and ’twas no small helpe and furtherance to his son to be instructed in it when a schoole-boy.”[1] He was a boy at Eton in the year of the Spanish Armada. At this famous school, which prepared boys for the universities, young Oughtred received thorough training in classical learning. According to information received from F. L. Clarke, Bursar and Clerk of King’s College, Cambridge, Oughtred was admitted at Kin…
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