Background

Martin Folkes was born on October 29, 1690, in London, United Kingdom. He was the eldest son of Martin Folkes, a solicitor, and his wife, Dorothy.

Education

Martin entered Clare Hall (today Clare College), Cambridge, in 1706, to study mathematics and matriculated in 1709.

Career

Martin Folkes was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1714 and became vice-president of the Royal Society in 1722. After Newton’s death in 1727, he was defeated by Sir Hans Sloan for the presidency but remained vice-president. He continued his numismatic and antiquarian pursuits, but his contributions to the Philosophical Transactions were minor.

Upon Sloan’s retirement from the presidency of the Royal Society in 1741, Folkes succeeded to the office. His “literary rather than scientific bent” was reflected in the society’s meetings which, according to his friend William Stukeley, became “a most elegant and agreeable entertainment for a contemplative person.” Nevertheless, under Folkes the Royal Society lost much of its professional character.

In 1733 Folkes set out on a tour through Italy, in the course of which he composed his Dissertations on the weights and Values of Ancient Coins. Before the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was president from 1749 to 1754, he read in 1736 his Observations on the Trajan and Antonine Pillars at Rome and his Table of English Gold Coins from the 18th Year of King Edward III. In 1745 he printed the latter with another on the history of silver coinage. He also contributed both to the Society of Antiquaries and to the Royal Society other papers, chiefly on Roman antiquities. In 1739 he was elected one of the founding vice-presidents of London's charitable Foundling Hospital for abandoned children, a position he maintained until 1747. His health began to fail, and he resigned his office in the Royal Society in 1752.

Achievements

• Martin Folkes was a well-known antiquary and numismatist of his time. Clare College granted him an Master of Arts in 1717. He also received honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge in 1746.

Works

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  • A Table of English Silver Coins From the Norman Conquest to the Present Time: With Their Weights, Intrinsic Values, and Some Remarks Upon the Several Pieces 1744
  • A table of English gold coins from the eighteenth year of King Edward the Third, when gold was first coined in England, to the present time 1745

Membership

Folkes was a prominent Freemason, being appointed Deputy Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England during the year 1724-1725. He was also a member of the French Royal Academy of Sciences and the Society of Antiquaries.

Connections

Martin was married to Lucretia Bradshaw.

Father:

Martin Folkes

Mother:

Dorothy Folkes

Spouse:

Lucretia Bradshaw Folkes

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography