Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kersey, John

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KERSEY, JOHN, the elder (1616–1690?), mathematician, son of Anthony Carsaye or Kersey and Alice Fenimore, was baptised at Bodicote, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, on 23 Nov. 1616 (cf. Hearne, Coll., ed. Doble. I Oxf. Hist. Soc.,ii. 11). Kersey early came to London, where he seems to have had relatives (cf. Robinson, Reg. Merchant Taylors' School, i. 104; Chester, London Marriage Licenses, p. 790), and gained a livelihood as a teacher. At first (1650) he lived at the corner house (opposite to the White Lion) in Charles Street, near the piazza in Covent Garden, but afterwards moved to Chandos Street, St. Martin's Lane. He was acquainted with John Collins [q. v.], the 'attorney-general for the mathematics,' who persuaded him to write his work on algebra. He was a friend of Edmund Wingate [q. v.], and edited the second edition of his 'Arithmetic' in 1650, and subsequent issues till 1683. Kersey obtained a wide reputation as a teacher of mathematics. At one time he was tutor to the sons of Sir Alexander Denton of Hillesden House, Buckinghamshire, 'whose family,' he writes, 'gave both birth and nourishment to his mathematical studies' (Elements, Ded.; Hearne, Coll. ii. 11). To his pupils Alexander and Edmund Denton he dedicated his first and principal original work, 'The Elements of Mathematical Art, commonly called Algebra,' in two folio volumes, dated respectively 1673 and 1674. A portrait of the author, by Faithorne, was prefixed to the first volume. Both Wallis and Collins wrote in 1672 in the highest terms of their anticipations of this work (cf. Corresp. of Scientific Men, ii. 554; and Nichols, Lit. Illustrations, iv. 46), and on its publication it became a standard authority. It was honourably mentioned in the 'Philosophical Transactions' (viii. 6073-4), and was commended by Hutton. Kersey's method of algebra was employed in Cocker's 'Arithmetic' of 1703. Kersey is said (Beesley, Hist. of Banbury, p. 485) to have died about 1677, but the date must he later, as the eighth edition of Wingate was edited by him in 1683. In the tenth, published in 1699, he is spoken of as 'late teacher of the Mathematicks.'

John Kersey the younger (fl. 1720), lexicographer, son of John Kersey the elder, with whom he has been much confused, revised the work of his father in the fourteenth edition of Wingate (1720), and he, more probably than his father, contributed the 'Discourse to an unlearned Prince' to the 'Translation of Plutarch's Morals,' which appeared 1684-5 (republished 1870). He was mainly occupied with lexicography. The sixth edition of Phillips's 'New World of Words,' which was published in 1706, was edited by him (Pref. to Dict. Anglo-Britannicum, 1 708). He greatly added to the number of words (cf. H. B. Wheatley, 'Chronological Notice of the Dictionaries of the English Language,' in Proc. Phil. Soc. 1866), and published a seventh edition in 1720. Another dictionary, the 'New English Dictionary,' of which the first edition is said to have appeared in 1702 (2nd 1713, 3rd 1731, &c.), was also assigned on the title-page to J. K., but Kersey's responsibility for the work has been questioned. In 1708 was printed his 'Dictionarium Anglo-Britannicum, comprehending a brief explication of all sorts of difficult words;' a new edition in 1715 contained 'words and phrases made use of in our ancient statutes, old records, charters;' the third edition appeared in 1721. The date of his death is uncertain. From Kersey's 'Dictionarium' Chatterton borrowed part of his archaic vocabulary (cf. Professor Skeat's essay in Chatterton's Poems, Aldine ed., ii. xxx sq.)

[Granger's Biog. History, iv. 81; information kindly supplied by the Rev. A. Short; authorities quoted; De Morgan's Arithmetical Books, pp. 48, 58, 73; Biog. Brit. (Suppl.), p. 33; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. vii. 323.]

KERSHAW, JAMES (1730?–1797), methodist preacher, a native of Halifax, was born about 1730. He joined a Socinian club in Halifax, whose members deputed him and another, in 1761, to attend a sermon to be delivered by Henry Venn [q. v.] at Huddersfield, in order 'to furnish matter of merriment for the nest meeting,' But Kershaw left the church after the sermon exclaiming, ' Surely God is in this place; there is no matter for laughter here,' He subsequently called on the preacher, was converted, and became one of Venn's constant correspondents (Life and letters of Henry Venn, 1836, passim).

Kershaw soon afterwards became known as an itinerant methodist preacher, and accompanied John Wesley on more than one occasion in his rapid journeys about the north of England. He settled down at Gainsborough about 1770, and waa famous in the neighbourhood for his quack medicines. He still continued to preach, but only at irregular intervals, and occupied his leisure in writing. He died at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1797.

Besides some tracts Kershaw wrote:

1. 'An Essay on the Principal Parts of the Book of the Revelations, in a series of Dialogues between Didaskalos and Phylotheos,' Stockton, 1780, 2 vols. 12mo.
2. 'The Methodist attempted in Plain Metre,' a sort of Wesleyan epic, published at Nottingham in 1780, but not approved by Wesley, who feared it might deter the elect from perusing more edifying works, and determined henceforth to exercise a censorship over methodist publications.
3. 'The Grand and Extensive Plan of Human Redemption, from the Ruins of the Fall . . . in twelve familiar Dialogues,' Louth, 1797. A note appended to this volume states that Kershaw died 'shortly after this work was put to press.'

Arthur Kershaw (fl. 1800), apparently James Kershaw's son, was educated at Wesley's school near Kingswood. He contributed to the 'Monthly Magazine, and was employed by London booksellers in the enlargement of Walker's 'Gazetteer' and similar work at the beginning of the present century.

[Atmon's Methodist Memorial, p. 128; Tyarman's Wesley, ii. 631, iii. 362; Creswell's Hist. of Printing in Nottingham, p. 37; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, p. 188; Kershaw's works in Brit. Mus. Library.]

T. S.

KERSLAKE, THOMAS (1812–1891), bookseller, born in Exeter in July 1812, proceeded in 1828 to Bristol, and soon afterwards commenced business as a second-hand bookseller in Barton Alley, together with his brother-in-law, Samuel Cornish. In 1830 the partnership was dissolved, and Kerslake removed to a shop at the bottom of Park Street. A disastrous fire occurred here in 1860, Kerslake continued on the same site however, until 1870, when be removed to Queen's Road, and shortly afterwards retired. For over twenty years after his retirement he devoted himself to antiquarian controversy. Kerslake died at his private residence, Wynfred, Clevedon, on 5 Jan, 1891. His wife, Catherine Morgan, a native of Bath, predeceased him in 1887. He had no issue.

Previous to the fire, in which many works of great value and scarcity were destroyed, Kerslake had amassed a collection especially valuable in its antiquarian and archæological departments. He was also distinguished as an antiquary. Though self-taught, he had a good command of Latin and of modern languages, and his series of articles and pamphlets on antiquarian subjects is remarkable alike for shrewdness and originality. Kerslake's individuality is well exemplified in his sturdy defence of the historic phrase 'Anglo-Saxon ' (see infra). 'His pamphlets were usually published at his own expense' (cf. Proc. Somerset Archæolg. Assoc. 1892).

The following are Kerslake's chief works:

1. 'A Vindication of the Autographs of Sir Roger de Coverley's "Perverse Widow " and her "Malicious Confident" from a disparaging statement thrown out in the "Athenæum,' Bristol [1855], 8vo.
2. 'Saint Ewen, Bristol and the Welsh Border, circiter A.D. 577–926,' Bristol, 1875, 8vo.
3. 'A Primeval British Metropolis, with some Notes on the Ancient Topography of the South-Western Peninsula of Britain,' Bristol, 1877, 8vo, Revised and re-edited, with additions, under the title of 'Caer Pensaualcoit, a long-lost Unromanized British Metropolis,' London, 1882, 8vo.
4. 'Traces of the Ancient Kingdom of Damnonia, outside Cornwall, in remains of Celtic Hagiology,' London, 1878, 8vo.
5. 'Vestiges of the Supremacy of Mercia in the South of England during the Eighth Century,' Bristol, 1879, 8vo.
6. 'The Word "Metropolis."  'The Ancient Word "Anglo-Saxon." ' 'Anglo-Saxon Bristol and Fossil Taunton.' Three essays, Bristol, 1880, 8vo.
7. 'The Celtic Substratum of England,' London, 1883, 8vo.
8. 'The Liberty of Independent Historical Research,' London, 1885, 8vo. This is a somewhat caustic attack upon the office of her majesty's inspector of ancient monuments and on a preliminary report entitled ' Excavations in the Fen Pits, Penselwood, Somerset,' issued by the first holder of the office General A. Pitts-Rivers.