Message #27795

[Rebecca]

Appointment to the Mint

At one time Newton's friends had nearly succeeded in getting him appointed provost of King's College, Cambridge, but the college offered a successful resistance on the ground that the appointment would be illegal, as the statutes required that the provost should be in priest's orders. Charles Montagu, afterwards Earl of Halifax, was a fellow of Trinity and an intimate friend of Newton; and it was on his influence that Newton relied for promotion to some honourable and lucrative post. His hopes, however, were spoiled by long delay. In one of his letters to Locke at the beginning of 1692, when Montagu, Lord Monmouth and Locke were exerting themselves to obtain some appointment for him, Newton wrote that he was "fully convinced that Montagu, upon an old grudge which he thought had been worn out, was false to him."

Newton was now 55 years old, and whilst those of his own standing at the university had been appointed to high posts in church or state, he still remained without any mark of national gratitude. At last, in 1694, when Montagu was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, he put this right. He had previously consulted Newton upon the subject of the recoinage, and on the opportunity occurring he appointed Newton to the post of warden of the Royal Mint in 1696. In a letter to Newton announcing the news, Montagu writes: "I am very glad that at last I can give you a good proof of my friendship, and the esteem the king has of your merits. Mr Overton, the warden of the mint, is made one of the Commissioners of Customs, and the king has promised me to make Mr Newton warden of the mint. The office is the most proper for you. 'Tis the chief office in the mint: 'tis worth five or six hundred pounds per annum, and has not too much business to require more attendance than you can spare."

This letter must have convinced Newton of the sincerity of Montagu's good intentions towards him; we find them living as friends on the most intimate terms until Halifax's death in 1715.

Newton's chemical and mathematical knowledge proved of great use in carrying out the recoinage. This was completed in about two years. In 1699 Newton was appointed to the mastership of the mint, a post worth between £1200 and £1500 per annum. While he held this office, Newton drew up a very extensive table of assays of foreign coins, and composed an official report on the coinage. Newton continued in this position until his death in 1727.