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BOTANY OF NEWMARKET
THE BOTANY OF NEWMARKET IN 1660 PATRICK ARMSTRONG Newmarket is virtually an island of Suffolk surrounded by Cambridgeshire. It was in fact within the county of Cambridgeshire until 1851: Ebden’s Map of the county, published in 1825, for example, shows the whole of the town and all its surrounds, as far east as the settlements of Kennet and Kentford, as in Cambridgeshire. This is worthy of note because it means that a small area of what is now Suffolk was covered in what was in effect the first English county Flora, published in 1660, authored by John Ray (1627-1704) - naturalist, theologian, linguist and polymath. It has been said that it is with John Ray that ‘the adventure of modern science begins’ (Raven, 1942; Armstrong, 2000; 2020). It is Ray who has been described as ‘the Father of English natural history’ and ‘the point at which theology and science intersect’. Ewen and Prime (1975) claim that he was ‘the greatest all-round naturalist this country has ever produced’. He was born, lived his early life, and also spent his later years and died, in the village of Black Notley, close to Braintree, in Essex. He was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in May 1644, but soon switched to Saint Catherine’s College, returning to Trinity in November 1646. There he had a distinguished academic career – gaining his BA in 1647/8 (Old Style) and MA 1651. He was elected to a Fellowship in 1649, teaching Mathematics, Greek, and Humanities, and serving as a college administrator. He was ordained (in London) in 1660 and married in 1673. He travelled widely, on the continent and in northern and western England. He lost his fellowship following the political and religious turmoil of the Civil War, the Restoration and its aftermath. He wrote on plants, birds, insects, fish, on the English language and developed ‘natural theology’ - the notion that the study of natural history, and understanding the beauty and complexity of Creation, could provide insights into the nature of the Deity. Parson-naturalist Gilbert White (1720-1793) author of the immortal Natural History of Selbourne referred to ‘the excellent Mr Ray’. His long-term influence on science in England was John Ray, from the frontispiece of one of his books profound.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 59 (2023)