Geddy, John

Epithet: Representative of the Borough of St Andrews

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000446.0x000358

John Geddy or John Geddes was probably born in St Andrews to one of the local Geddes families, and studied at St Leonard's College from 1571 to 1574. He worked as amanuensis to George Buchanan, the well-known Scottish historian and poet, and twice received a royal pension from James VI, in 1577 and 1588. He is also thought to have been responsible for a bird's eye plan of St Andrews, known as the Geddy map, as the writing on the map captions matches that of the Methodi, sive compendii mathematici, and was probably produced in the early 1580's. Perhaps his mathematical treatise was dedicated to James VI in an attempt to gain a royal post. He was secretary to a commission sent by James VI to the princes of Germany in 1590, and may have served on earlier diplomatic missions, but later seems to have been working for the English. In late 1593 or early 1594, after a shipwreck on the way to the Low Countries, in which he may have perished, incriminating documents were discovered on the beach. Nothing more was heard of him after this date.

Geddy may also be the same man mentioned in GB 0227 msDA788.G4B91, being appointed secretary to the Queen, Anne of Denmark, in 1591.

From the guide to the John Geddy, Methodi, sive compendii mathematici, 1586, 1586, 1631, (University of St Andrews)