Elias Ashmole ( 1617 - 1692 )

Birth: Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, Europe (23 May 1617) Death: Lambeth, England, Europe (18 May 1692) Burial: St Mary's Church, Lambeth, England, Europe (26 May 1692) Occupation: Antiquary Solicitor Research Field: astrology; chemistry; botany Education: Lichfield Grammar School; chorister at Lichfield Cathedral; Brasenose College, Oxford (before 1644); DMed (1669) Career: Solicitor in Chancery (1638); Attorney of the Court of Common Pleas (1640); Commissioner of Excise at Lichfield (1644); Commissioner of Excise at Worcester (1644-1646); King's Gentleman of the Ordnance of the Garrison (May 1645); Captain of Foot, Royalist Infantry (March 1646); became a Freemason, Warrington (16 October 1646); Barrister-at-law of the Middle Temple (1660); Windsor Herald (1660); Comptroller, later Accountant-General, of Excise; Commissioner for Surinam; Comptroller of the White Office; used his own collections and those of his friend John Tradescant to found the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (1682); bequeathed his library to Oxford University (1675) Memberships: Freemason, first recorded Englishman to have been initiated in England, 16 October 1646, at Warrington, Lancashire Membership: Original Fellow Election Date: 20/05/1663 Committee appointments include: Committee for Collecting all the Phenomena of Nature hitherto observed (1664) Other RSActivity: Proposed on 26 December 1660; Brought in an account on comets (1660s).