Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry

Poet, calligrapher, and arithmetician, best known for his work in penmanship. Little information available on his early life. Married Joanna (Joane). Taught writing and arithmetic in St Paul’s Churchyard, London. Published numerous copybooks, including The Pen’s Triumph. Also engraved plates for other authors and produced Tutor to Writing and Arithmetic(1664). His legacy largely rests on Cocker’s Arithmetick (1678), published posthumously by John Hawkins. After relocating multiple times, possibly due to financial struggles and the Great Fire of 1666, he spent his final years teaching in Southwark before dying in poverty in 1676. Biographical information: ODNB. (NM)