John Hellins
John Hellins FRS (ca. 1749 – 5 April 1827) was an autodidact, schoolteacher, mathematician, astronomer and country parson.
Early years
He was born in Devon ca. 1749, the son of a poor family, and the parish apprenticed him to a cooper.
He became a schoolteacher and through hard work and patronage became assistant to Nevil Maskelyne, the Astronomer Royal in 1773.
Service as priest
He went on to become a clergyman, serving as a curate at Constantine, Kerrier (1779–83) and afterwards at Greens Norton, near Towcester. In 1789 he was entered as a 'ten-year man' at Trinity College, Cambridge, and eventually graduated BD in 1800. In 1790 he was presented to the vicarage of Potterspury in Northamptonshire. On 10 November 1794 he married Anne Brock of North Tawton. He founded the village school in Potterspury: today the John Hellins Primary School bears his name.
Recognition of his scientific contribution
His mathematician and astronomical learning was noted. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1796. Three years later (1799), he was awarded the Copley Medal largely for his paper on computing the perturbations of planets.
