xii Proceedings. [October ipt/i, 1915- 



The Society's Memoirs and Proceedings are now forwarded to 

 the editor of the " Subject Index to Periodicals" published by 

 " The Athenceum." 



Mr. C. L. Barnes, M.A,, read a communication entitled, 

 "A Lancashire Worthy." 



In the quiet churchyard of St. Margaret's, Hollinwcod, near 

 the south-east corner of the Church, may be seen a tombstone 

 with an inscription bearing testimony to the mathematical abilities 

 of one James Wolfenden, who " born in a humble station of 

 life, and compelled to toil as a weaver for his daily bread, self- 

 instructed, became a distinguished mathematician, familiar with 

 the writings of Simpson, Emerson, and the ancient geometry ..." 

 A tablet in the Church itself, erected by "a grateful pupil," 

 gives further evidence of his powers, and this is by no means 

 empty flattery, as we shall proceed to shew. 



One looks in vain for any mention of him in the " Dictionary 

 of National Biography,'' nor does his name appear in the 

 catalogue of the Reference Library, but a memoir by Thomas 

 Wilkinson, of Blackburn, may be found in the " Mechanic's 

 Magazine " for 1849, an d he is given prominence in an article on 

 "Lancashire Mathematicians," by Morgan Biierley, in the 

 "Papers of the Manchester Literary Club," Vol. IV. 



James Wolfenden was born in 1754, at Hollinwood, where 

 his father, a native of Higginshaw, near Royton, had removed 

 to follow his trade of hand-loom weaving. His mother was also 

 of humble origin, so that on neither side was there any intellectual 

 heritage or pre-disposition to mental endowment. By what 

 process of telegony or fusion of qualities their only son was 

 endowed with such unusual abilities can only be surmised. The 

 boy was left motherless at an early age, and the father betook 

 himself to Oldham, where young James received a rudimentary 

 training in " the three R's " from a journeyman hatter. He was 

 sent to school — for one week, and the whole cost of his education 

 was i^d. He was afterwards assisted by Jeremiah Ainsworth, 

 a Hollinwood mathematician of some repute, but in the main he 



