William Backhouse
William Backhouse (born January 17, 1593 in Swallowfield , Berkshire , † May 30, 1662 ibid) was an English alchemist .
Backhouse was born in Swallowfield Park, his father's country estate five miles south of Reading . He was one of the younger sons of the Member of Parliament, businessman and high sheriff of Berkshire Samuel Backhouse (1554-1626), studied from 1610 as a commoner at Christ Church College, Oxford, but did not earn a degree. After taking on his legacy in Swallowfield Park, he became involved in alchemy, Rosicrucian ideas, and astrology. He passed these ideas on to Elias Ashmole , for example , whom he adopted in 1651 and who later published the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum , a collection of British alchemical writings.
He married Anne Richards, with whom he had two sons who died before him, and a daughter, who was married to a relative of Backhouse's second marriage (Sir William Backhouse, 1641–1669) and was third to Henry Hyde (1638–1709). , the 2nd Earl of Clarendon .
He left behind some alchemical manuscripts:
- The pleasant Founsteine of Knowledge, supposedly first written in French in 1413 and translated into English verse by Backhouse in 1644
- Planctus Nature: The Complaint of Nature against the Erroneous Alchymist, also a translation allegedly by Jean de Meung
- The Golden Fleece, or the Flower of Treasures, also a translation from the French by a Solomon Trismosin , “Master of Paracelsus ” , and dealing with the Philosopher's Stone.
He is also said to have invented an odometer for carriages (Way wiser).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Backhouse, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British alchemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 17, 1593 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Swallowfield , Berkshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1662 |
| Place of death | Swallowfield , Berkshire |