John Bonnycastle

John Bonnycastle was an English teacher of mathematics and prolific author, baptised on 29 December 1751 at Hardwick in Buckinghamshire, there being no record of his birth. He wrote popular textbooks, among them an Introduction to Algebra and an Introduction to Mensuration and Practical Geometry in 1782, an Introduction to Astronomy for readers without a mathematical background in 1786, and an edition of the Elements of geometry in 1789 containing propositions from Euclid with critical and explanatory notes. He believed Euclid's approach was an outstanding way of teaching young people logical and precise thinking. He also wrote on algebra, analysis and astronomy for the early volumes of Rees's Cyclopaedia. He died in Woolwich on 15 May 1821.