HE could neither read nor write, he had no idea of how to spell his own name and he spent his entire working life as a farm labourer.
Yet Jedidiah Buxton was recognised throughout the length and breadth of England as a mathematical genius – and he was born in Elmton 300 years ago.
The son of a village schoolmaster and the grandson of the local vicar, Jedidiah had been born int
o an educated family background on 20th March 1707.
But despite efforts to teach him, he always remained illiterate in the extreme with a mental age of a 10-year-old.
As a child he had learned up to his 10 times table but he had always showed a decided distaste for orthodox school and any kind of mathematical training.
By 18th century standards he was classed as stupid and unteachable even though his calculations were astounding – and they were all mental.
But because of his lack of formal education he was forced to spend all his working life as a farm labourer.
Jedidiah had no idea why numbers came to mean so much to him, but by the age of 17 he could perform complex calculations without the aid of a pen, paper or chalk.
Using his own complex methods he was able to quickly complete problems set by local people.
And because he lacked proper training he was unaware of arithmetical short-cuts familiar to today's students, making his mathematical achievements even more remarkable.
His life was totally dominated by numbers. A regular church attender, he was unable to recall church sermons but knew exactly how many words each hymn or psalm contained.
And if he was presented with a series of problems he would resolve them all at the same time.
Difficult problems took their own particular toll on him. He would withdraw into himself and when it was all over he would more often than not need a good sleep to recover from the strain.
If a time was mentioned he would straight away convert it into minutes and seconds. While distances were changed into alternative units of measurement.
On one memorable occasion, when he was asked by his employer to calculate the size of his estate, he strode it out, giving the answer in acres, roods, perches and eventually into square hair's breadths, astounding the experts.
In addition to numbers, Jedidiah's other interest was the Royal Family, and in 1754 he decided to walk to London to see the king – a distance of 204 miles.
Unfortunately, George II was away at the time, but while he was in London Jedidiah was invited to appear before the Royal Society, where his talents were put under the spotlight.
Members were so satisfied by his answers that they gave him a gratuity aknowledging that he really was a genius.
While he was in London he was taken to the Drury Lane Theatre to see the renowned David Garrick in Richard III.
However, the grandeur of the occasion meant little to him and rather than watch the play he preferred instead to count the actor's words and add up the dancers' steps.
After the excitement of London Jedidiah resumed his life in the country.
Over the years his talent attracted several visitors – one of them a well-known mathematician, Mr T.Holliday.
He said: "When I met him he was a man of middle age."
"He was almost in rags and was working with a spade as a farm labourer. "His wife and daughter and their home reflected their poor circumstances."
The first question put to Jedidiah was a complex cubical problem
Mr Holliday set about finding the answer using a pen and paper, but Jedidiah came up with the right answer long before him and it had all been worked out in his head.
And when he was asked if he could tell what acreage 3,584 broccoli plants would need if the rows were four feet apart and seven feet separated them he came up with an answer within 30 minutes.
He was always calculating – it was said that he could multiply numbers of 20 to 30 figures easily in his head and repeat the figures of his answer backwards while holding a conversation at the same time.
In January 1764 he agreed to have his portrait painted.
He was so unmoved by the experience that while he was sitting for the artist he calculated his age from the point when the portrait was started at 3.38pm and 43 seconds in the afternoon to be 56 years, 10 months, one week, two days, nine hours, 53 minutes and 43 seconds or 20,743 days, 497, 841 hours, 29 870, 513 minutes or 1,792,230,823 seconds.
The manner of Jedidiah's death was equally as memorable as his remarkable life had been.
While visiting the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey one day he told the duke that they would not be meeting again, saying he would die the following Thursday.
The Duke thought he was out of sorts and told his servants not to give him too much beer, but Jedidiah was insistent and bade his farewells to his friends and neighbours oblivious of the fact that they thought it amusing.
When Thursday came he went about his business as usual. But after he had eaten his dinner he sat down and died at the very time he had predicted. A fitting end for an enigmatic genius.
Jedidiah was finally buried in Elmton on 5th March 1772.
Although his descendants can still be found in the area, others made their way to Australia and North America.
His grandson Henry Buxton was a pioneer in Canada and later in the United States.
The town of Buxton in Oregon still bears the family name.
The Guardian would like to thank Elmton with Creswell Local History Group for their help with this feature. Contact them on 01909 720943 or 01909 721695.
