Editing John Wilkins (section)

==In London, Oxford and Cambridge==
[[File:Rev John Wilkins, Chester.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|An 18th-century engraving of John Wilkins, Chester]]
Wilkins was one of the group of savants, interested in experimental philosophy, who gathered round [[Charles Scarburgh]], the royalist physician who arrived in London in summer 1646 after the fall of Oxford to the parliamentarian forces. The group included [[George Ent]], [[Samuel Foster]], [[Francis Glisson]], [[Jonathan Goddard]], [[Christopher Merrett]], and [[John Wallis]].

Others of Scarburgh's circle were [[William Harvey]] and [[Seth Ward (bishop)|Seth Ward]]. This London group, the [[Gresham College group of 1645]], was described much later by Wallis, who mentions also [[Theodore Haak]], anchoring it also to the Palatine exiles; there are clear connections to the Wilkins [[Oxford Philosophical Club]], another and less remote precursor to the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Citation|author-link=Adrian Tinniswood|first=Adrian|last=Tinniswood|title=His Invention So Fertile: A life of Christopher Wren|year=2001|pages=23–24}}.</ref>

From 1648 Charles Louis was able to take up his position as [[Elector of the Palatinate]] on the [[Rhine]], as a consequence of the [[Peace of Westphalia]]. Wilkins travelled to continental Europe, and according to [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]] visited [[Heidelberg]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara J. Shapiro|title=John Wilkins, 1614–1672: An Intellectual Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap|url-access=registration|year=1969|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnwilkins161410000shap/page/23 23]|id=GGKEY:BA7AHU7B3TC}}</ref>

In 1648 Wilkins became [[Warden of Wadham College]] in Oxford, and under him the college prospered. He fostered political and religious tolerance and drew talented minds to the college, including [[Christopher Wren]].<ref name="Wilkins, John 2004"/> Although he was a supporter of [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Cavalier|Royalist]]s placed their sons in his charge. From those interested in experimental science, he drew together a significant group known as the [[Oxford Philosophical Club]], which by 1650 had been constituted with a set of rules. Besides some of the London group (Goddard, Wallis, Ward, and Wren who was a young protégé of Scarburgh), it included (in the account of [[Thomas Sprat]]) [[Ralph Bathurst]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[William Petty]], [[Lawrence Rooke]], [[Thomas Willis]], and [[Matthew Wren (1629-1672)|Matthew Wren]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Margery | last = Purver | title = The Royal Society: Concept and Creation | year = 1967 | page = 205}}.</ref> [[Robert Hooke]] was gradually recruited into the Wilkins group: he arrived at [[Christ Church, Oxford]] in 1653, working his way to an education, became assistant to Willis, became known to Wilkins (possibly via [[Richard Busby]]) as a technician, and by 1658 was working with Boyle.<ref>{{Citation | author-link = Lisa Jardine | first = Lisa | last = Jardine | title = The Curious Life of Robert Hooke | year = 2003 | pages = 63–75}}.</ref>

In 1656, Wilkins married Robina French (née Cromwell), youngest sister of Oliver Cromwell, who had been widowed in 1655 when her husband Peter French, a canon of [[Christ Church, Oxford]], had died. Wilkins thereby joined a high stratum of Parliamentary society, and the couple used rooms in [[Whitehall Palace]]. Shortly before his death, Oliver Cromwell arranged for Wilkins a new appointment as Master of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 | title = The Master of Trinity | publisher = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] | place = UK | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080319025839/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 | archive-date = 19 March 2008 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{acad |id=WLKS639J|name=Wilkins, John}}</ref> an appointment that was confirmed by [[Richard Cromwell]] who succeeded his father as [[Lord Protector]]. Wilkins was there long enough to befriend and become a patron of [[Isaac Barrow]].<ref>{{Citation | first = Mordechai | last = Feingold | title = Before Newton: The Life and Times of Isaac Barrow | year = 1990 | pages = 52–3}}.</ref>