Gregory King

15 December 1648 (Lichfield, Staffordshire) - 29 August 1712 (London). English genealogist, engraver and especially well-known for his work as a statistician. Gregory King was the eldest son of Gregory King from Leicester and his first wife Elizabeth Andrews of Sandwich in Kent. His father was a mathematician and surveyor. At the age of five to fourteen, Gregory King was sent to the grammar school Lichfield Free School by his father. In his last two years at school, Gregory King began to help his father with work as well. Gregory King was an excellent student who was skilled in Greek, Hebrew and Latin and wished to attend university. But his father decided that Gregory King became a clerk to the herald William Dugdale. In 1672 King moved to London where he worked for the printer and cartographer John Ogilby. Gregory King undertook for John Ogilby some minor engravings, including for Sir Peter Leycester's Historical Antiquities in 1673. From 1675 to 1680 Gregory King mostly worked as an engraver of maps and did survey work while working with John Ogilby. From 1677 to 1689 Gregory King became Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of the College of Arms or Herald's College. Gregory King became Lancaster Herald in 1688 and held that post until his death. In 1695 King ended his heraldic career for the most part and started focusing on his work in the field of political arithmetic for which he is nowadays best known.

Gregory King was married twice. His first marriage in 1674 was with Anne who was the daughter of John Powel of Tirley in Gloucestershire and his second wife was Frances Grattam in 1701 with whom King had three children who all died young. Gregory King died on 29 August 1712 and was buried in the chancel of St Benet Paul's Wharf in London.

The incomplete autobiography of Gregory King was published after King's death in J. Dallaway's Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry in England from 1793.

Works and Writings

The work of Gregory King was multi-faceted. In 1936 were the two best known writings Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England, 1696 and Of the Naval Trade of England, 1688, and the National Profit then Arising thereby printed and published as the collection Two Tracts by Gregory King as part of a Johns Hopkins University Series. Gregory King became famous for his work as a statistician because of his manuscript Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England, 1696. It was first published in 1801 and depicts the population and wealth of England at the end of the 17 th century. The work illustrates for instance precise accounts of demographic characteristics like age, gender, marital status, number of children, servants and sojourners of the population of England and Wales at that time. Furthermore he presented a calculation of the annual amount of beer, ale and malt that was consumed in England in this work. King was also interested in population development and calculated a projection about future population growth in his work. The manuscript Of the Naval Trade of England, 1688, and the National Profit then Arising thereby is a statistical summary of the trade and wealth of England from 1600 to 1688. Therefore calculated King the increases in shipping for war and trade, customs, coinage, buildings, fortresses and the purchases and improvements of land. Both manuscripts are essential writings for his work in the theories of political arithmetic for which he was later known. In the 17 th and 18 th century, political arithmetic was a study of economic and demographic statistics of political units. Gregory King also edited the Book of Roads, supervised the engravings inside the book and even contributed some of his own works as an engraver to it. Furthermore assisted Gregory King in the drawing of the map of London and constructed the map of Westminster. He was also responsible for the layout of the streets and squares in Soho, London and for drawing up many of the first building leases in various parts of London.

King-Davenant law of demand

The King-Davenant law of demand probably goes back to Gregory King but it is also possible that King's colleague Charles Davenant (1656-1714) was involved in this as well because the law was first published in Davenant's work with reference to King's statistic data. The law implied that a low supply fluctuation on food products can lead to overproportional price or income fluctuations. Gregory King referred this rule to a decline of the corn harvest at that time which resulted in an overproportional increase in grain prices.

References

"Gregory King". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 15 Jun. 2013 [ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/318299/Gregory-King]

Hoppit, Julian. "King, Gregory (1648-1712)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. 13 Jun. 2013 [http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/15563 ]

[1] Gregory King Collection, Johns Hopkins University

[2] Kingsche Regel

[3] Kingsche Regel