ABSTRACT
William Petty was a man of many parts, and this article focuses specifically on his role in Ireland, and more specifically his contributions to Irish institutions. He was an adventurer who came to Ireland as part of the Cromwellian army. He was born in Romsey, Hampshire, the eldest son of Anthony Petty, a cloth worker who perhaps was also a small landowner. He found amusement as a boy watching various local craftsmen, and then, aged 13, went to sea as a cabin boy for a short period and studied navigation. He attended a Jesuit college in Caen for a year after an accident at sea, returning to England to join the navy. Shortly thereafter he went to the Netherlands to study medicine. He was introduced to natural philosophy by Hobbes in Paris and joined a famous circle of savants that included Mersenne. He returned to England in 1646, and by 1649 was in Oxford University at the time the Royal Society of London was formed; it soon began holding meetings in his lodgings. He received his doctorate in physic in 1650.
