The Life and Times of John Wilkins (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press)

John Wilkins (1614-1672) was an English clergyman and author. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and after ordination, became vicar of his home town of Fawsley but soon resigned and became chaplain successively to Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Berkeley, and Prince Charles Louis. In 1648, he became warden of Wadham College, Oxford and in 1659, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the only person to have headed a college at both universities. He was founder and first secretary of the Royal Society in 1660. At the Restoration he gained appointment as prebendary of York and rector of Cranford, Middlesex, was reduced to preacher at Gray's Inn and in 1662 became vicar of St Lawrence Jewry, London. He became vicar of Polebrook, Northamptonshire, in 1666, prebendary of Exeter in 1667, and in the following year prebendary of St. Paul's and Bishop of Chester, which he remained until his death. As an author, he is particularly known for An Essay Towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (1668) in which he attempted to create a universal language to replace Latin as a completely unambiguous tongue with which scholars and philosophers could communicate.