John Chamberlayne

Antony's:

translator into English for publication in Philosophical Transactions

Baptism:

1666

Death or Burial date:

November 2, 1723

John Chamberlayne learned Dutch while he was studying at Leiden University, beginning in May 1688. Back in England, he was a courtier. In 1702, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and later had three articles in Philosophical Transactions. He gained fame as a translator of Gerard Brandt's History of the Reformation in the Low Countries, 4 vols.

Between 1700 and 1722, but mostly from 1700 to 1712, Chamberlayne translated around sixty of Leeuwenhoek's later letters into English for publication in Philosophical Transactions. He wrote about the difficulties of translating Leeuwenhoek's Dutch in letters to Hans Sloane. See What happened below for examples.

Similar letters:

July 30, 1700 O.S. 10 August 1700 N.S.
British Library, Sloane MS 4038, f. 40

20 January 1702/03 O.S. 31 January 1703 N.S.
British Library, Sloane MS 4039, 73-74

Parents

Father:

Edward Chamberlayne

Mother:

Susannah Clifford

What happened?

Date	Event
July 15, 1700	Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-374 to Leeuwenhoek about the three living larvae that he was sending
August 14, 1700	John Chamberlayne wrote to Hans Sloane about whether his Dutch was good enough to translate Leeuwenhoek's letters
November 9, 1700	John Chamberlayne wrote to Hans Sloane about difficulties translating Leeuwenhoek's letters, full of "frequent tautologies, incoherent expressions, ungrammatical & unsyntaxical sentences without number"
April 24, 1701	Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-387 of 1701-04-24 to Leeuwenhoek to introduce him to his new translator, John Chamberlayne
April 24, 1701	John Chamberlayne wrote Letter L-386 to Leeuwenhoek to ask about the taste of water and whether razors are spoiled by extreme heat and cold
June 6, 1701	John Chamberlayne wrote to Hans Sloane about difficulties translating Leeuwenhoek's Dutch, "so abstruse that even his own countrymen cannot explain him"
September 12, 1702	John Chamberlayne wrote Letter L-406 to Leeuwenhoek about a friend’s dental problems as well as his dental hygiene practices, enclosing one of the teeth that fell out of his friend’s mouth
November 1, 1703	Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-411 sometime before November 1703 as a cover letter for the book on Peruvian silver mines and some numbers of Philosophical Transactions
December 2, 1704	Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-429 of 1704-12-02 to Leeuwenhoek as a cover letter for Letter L-430 and enclosing a piece of ash from a haystack fire
December 2, 1704	John Chamberlayne wrote Letter L-430 of 2 December 1704 about a dinner with an archbishop and bishop, who gave him an odd ash from a haystack fire that Sloane had enclosed with Letter L-429
December 6, 1704	John Chamberlayne wrote to Hans Sloane that even native Dutch speakers have trouble helping him translate Leeuwenhoek's letters
March 31, 1707	John Chamberlayne wrote Letter L-450 to inquire about Leeuwenhoek's health
October 15, 1708	John Chamberlayne wrote to Hans Sloane about difficulties translating Leeuwenhoek's "ungrammatical language"
August 13, 1709	John Chamberlayne wrote Letter L-469 to Leeuwenhoek to ask again about razors and the effects of cold weather on their performance
October 24, 1713	Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-500 to Leeuwenhoek about responses to his recent letters
November 2, 1723	translator John Chamberlayne died

Learn more

Related sources:

Year	Author	Title
1702	Leeuwenhoek, A. van	Sevende Vervolg
1992	Vermij, R. H. and L. C. Palm	John Chamberlayne als Vertaler van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

Learn more about ...
Leeuwenhoek's translators
Period 5 - 1702-1712

Related letters:

What Leeuwenhoek wrote ...
Wrote Letter L-389 of 1701-06-21 to John Chamberlayne about salt crystals in rain-water and notches in a sharpened knife
Wrote Letter L-407 of 1702-12-08 to John Chamberlayne about cleaning and preserving teeth by polishing them with salt and ash of tobacco and whether tea and coffee harm teeth; requested a book on Peruvian silver mines
Wrote Letter L-427 of 1704-10-03 to John Chamberlayne as a follow-up to Letter L-407 about tobbacco ashes, the salt crystals obtained from them, and an oily substance obtained by heating the ashes of tobacco
Wrote Letter L-434 of 1705-03-03 to John Chamberlayne about vitrified matter from a haystack that had caught fire, sent to Leeuwenhoek with Letter L-429
Wrote Letter L-452 of 1707-05-17 to John Chamberlayne to complain that his four most recent letters to the Society had not been answered; about a bezoar stone and the visit of Corner; offered to send a copy of Letter L-436 to Magliabechi
Wrote Letter L-470 of 1709-09-10 to Hans Sloane, a cover letter for the following Letter L-471 to John Chamberlayne.
Wrote Letter L-471 of 1709-09-10 to John Chamberlayne about the cutting edge of a razor and its nicks as well as its setting and maintenance
Wrote Letter L-472 of 1709-11-22 to John Chamberlayne about human beard hairs and muscle fibres of a cod, both cut off with a razor

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Life in Holland

in the 1600's

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in the 1600's

John Chamberlayne

Life in Holland

in the 1600's