Gregory King facts for kids

Gregory King (born December 15, 1648 – died August 29, 1712) was an important English expert in many fields. He was an officer of arms (someone who manages coats of arms and ceremonies), an engraver, a cartographer (mapmaker), and a statistician (someone who collects and studies data).

The Life of Gregory King: A Man of Many Talents

Early Life and Learning New Skills

Gregory King was born in Lichfield, England. His father worked as a surveyor, which means he measured land. He was also a landscape gardener. Young Gregory was very smart. He often helped his father with surveying tasks.

When he was just 14, Gregory became a clerk for William Dugdale. Dugdale was an antiquary (someone who studies old things) and a herald (like an officer of arms). This job taught Gregory a lot about history and noble families.

Later, from 1667 to 1669, King worked for Lord Hatton. Lord Hatton was trying to collect all the coats of arms of important families. After this project ended, Gregory worked for Lady Gerard in Sandon, Staffordshire. He was her steward, auditor, and secretary from 1670 to 1672.

Moving to London and Royal Work

In 1672, King moved to London. There, he worked as an engraver for a printer named John Ogilby. He also continued to do surveying and engrave maps.

In 1677, Gregory King got a special job. He was named a Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary at the College of Arms. This college is where official records of coats of arms and family histories are kept. In 1688, he became a Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary. He held this important position until he died in 1712.

These jobs were well-paying and involved official ceremonies. King even traveled abroad three times. He went to give the Order of the Garter (a very high honor) to princes in other countries.

Working for the Government

By 1695, Gregory King started a second career working for the government. He became a commissioner for a new tax on marriages, births, and burials. Later, he served as Secretary to the Commission of Public Accounts. He was also Secretary to the Controllers of Army Accounts. In 1708, he was one of three people chosen to figure out the debts of the late King William.

Gregory King's Important Works and Ideas

Understanding England's Population and Wealth

Many people call Gregory King "the first great economic statistician." He continued the work of earlier thinkers like John Graunt and William Petty. While their work was often published, King's was usually kept secret. He was a trusted advisor to the government.

Some of his ideas appeared in the writings of his friend Charles Davenant. A century later, parts of his work were also used by Adam Smith in his famous book, Wealth of Nations. George Chalmers also used King's ideas in his book, An Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Britain.

King's manuscript, "Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England," written in 1696, is very important. It estimated the population and wealth of England at the end of the 1600s. It described details about the people of England and Wales, such as their age, gender, marital status, and how many children or servants they had.

King also calculated how much beer, ale, and malt was consumed in England each year. He made these estimates by cleverly using information the government collected for taxes. He even thought about the future of the world's population. In his notebook, he predicted that by around the year 5000 or 5500, the world would be "fully peopled." He thought the population would be 10 times larger than it was in 1695.

Studying England's Trade and Wealth

Another important work by King was "Of the Naval Trade of England, 1688, and the National Profit then Arising thereby." He wrote this in 1697. It was a statistical summary of England's trade and wealth from 1600 to 1688. He calculated how much shipping (for war and trade), customs duties, coinage, buildings, and fortresses had increased. He also looked at how land had been bought and improved.

What is "Gregory King's Law"?

"Gregory King's Law," sometimes called the "King-Davenant law," is an idea about how much the price of corn (grain) goes up when there isn't enough of it. This idea appeared in a book by Charles Davenant. Since the early 1800s, people have usually said that King came up with it.

The idea suggests that even a small shortage of corn can make prices rise a lot. For example, if there's only one-tenth less corn than usual, the price might go up by three-tenths. If there's half the usual amount of corn, the price could go up to nearly five times the normal price! This shows how important a good harvest was for people's lives and food prices back then.

Scholars like Whewell and Jevons later turned this idea into a mathematical equation. People still discuss who exactly created this law and how accurate it is.

Writings by Gregory King

• Two Tracts by Gregory King.(a) Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England. (b) Of the Naval Trade of England Ao. 1688 and the National Profit then arising thereby. Edited with an introduction by George E. Barnett. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1936.

• The Earliest classics [facsimile reprints of] John Graunt, Natural and political observations made upon the bills of mortality, 1662 [and] G. King, Natural and political observations and conclusions upon the state and condition of England 1696 [from the 1804 printing] [and] 'The L.C.C. Burns Journal', a manuscript notebook containing workings for several projected works, composed c.1695-1700 with an introduction by Peter Laslett. Farnborough UK : Gregg, 1973.