Edward Davenant 1569-

Edward DAVENANT 1569-

Biographical Note

Brother of John Davenant and father of Edward Davenant 1596-1680; matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1585 but did not graduate. He pursued a career as a London merchant, which failed when "the winds and seas cross'd him" (Aubrey); he then went to Whiddy Island near Cork, where he established a successful pilchard fishery, enabling him to pay his debts and re-establish his fortune. Noted by Aubrey as a scholar, who "understood Greek and Latin perfectly, and was a better Grecian than the Bishop; he writ a rare Greek character as ever I saw" and was noted in particular as a mathematician.

Books

After various bequests, Edward’s brother, John, directed that none of his remaining books should be sold but that his brother Edward should take whatever he wished, distributing English books to any of his nieces and friends as he thought fit. Whatever was then left was to be shared out among a number of friends and relatives.

Characteristic Markings

None of the Davenants' books have been identified, beyond the few mentioned here.

Sources

• Feingold, M., The mathematician's apprentice, Cambridge, 1984, p.80.
• Larminie, Vivienne. '"Davenant, John (bap. 1572, d. 1641), bishop of Salisbury."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Pearson, D., The libraries of English bishops, 1600-40, The Library 6th ser 14 (1992), 221-257, p.239.