Life and Influences
Petty was a founder member of The Royal Society. He was born and buried in Romsey and was a contemporary and friend of Samuel Pepys.
Petty is best known for economic history and statistic writings, pre-Adam Smith. Of particular interest were Petty's forays into statistical analysis. Petty's work in political arithmetic, along with the work of John Graunt, laid the foundation for modern census techniques. Moreover, this work in statistical analysis, when further expanded by writers like Josiah Child, documented some of the first expositions of modern insurance. Vernon Louis Parrington notes him as an early expositor of the labor theory of value as discussed in Treatise of Taxes in 1692.
In 1858, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, one of Petty's descendants erected a memorial and likeness of Petty in Romsey Abbey. The text on it reads: "a true patriot and a sound philosopher who, by his powerful intellect, his scientific works and indefatigable industry, became a benefactor to his family and an ornament to his country". His grave slab on the floor of the south choir aisle reads HERE LAYES SIR WILLIAM PETY.
Read more about this topic: William Petty
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or influences:
“I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you—it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.”
—Philip Roth (b. 1933)
“I am fooling only myself when I say my mother exists now only in the photograph on my bulletin board or in the outline of my hand or in the armful of memories I still hold tight. She lives on in everything I do. Her presence influenced who I was, and her absence influences who I am. Our lives are shaped as much by those who leave us as they are by those who stay. Loss is our legacy. Insight is our gift. Memory is our guide.”
—Hope Edelman (20th century)