Jedediah Buxton

[2][3] Buxton was born in 1707 and although his father was schoolmaster of Elmton, and his grandfather had been the vicar, he could not write; and his knowledge, except of numbers, was extremely limited.

It appears that he had invented an original nomenclature for large numbers, a 'tribe' being the cube of a million, and a 'cramp' (if Mr. Holliday's statement can be trusted) a thousand 'tribes of tribes'.

[1] His mental acuity was tested in 1754 by the Royal Society when he walked to London,[1] who acknowledged their satisfaction by presenting him with a handsome gratuity.

[1] Similarly, he set himself to count the steps of the dancers; and he declared that the innumerable sounds produced by the musical instruments had perplexed him beyond measure.

A memoir appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for June 1754, to which (probably through the medium of a Mr Holliday, of Haughton Hall, Nottinghamshire), Buxton had contributed several letters.

In this memoir, his age is given as forty-nine, which points to his birth in 1705; the date adopted above is on the authority of Daniel and Samuel Lysons' Magna Britannia (Derbyshire).

The caption reads: Jedediah Buxton, A poor Day Labourer: born at Elmton in Derbyshire: who without being able to write or cast Accounts in the Ordinary method: perfor'md the longest Calculations and solv'd the most difficult Problems in Arithmetics, by the strength of his Memory; – neither Noise, nor Conversation cou'd interrupt him: he would either go on with his Calculations all the time or leave off in the midst and resume them again eventhough it should be Years afterwards.
Engraving of Buxton's examination by the Royal Society.