Royal Mint
Isaac Newton in old age in 1712, portrait by Sir James Thornhill
In the 1690s, Newton wrote a number of religious tracts dealing with the literal and symbolic interpretation of the Bible. A manuscript Newton sent to John Locke in which he disputed the fidelity of 1 John 5:7—the Johannine Comma—and its fidelity to the original manuscripts of the New Testament, remained unpublished until 1785.[107]
Newton was also a member of the Parliament of England for Cambridge University in 1689 and 1701, but according to some accounts his only comments were to complain about a cold draught in the chamber and request that the window be closed.[108] He was, however, noted by Cambridge diarist Abraham de la Pryme to have rebuked students who were frightening locals by claiming that a house was haunted.[109]
Newton moved to London to take up the post of warden of the Royal Mint during the reign of King William III in 1696, a position that he had obtained through the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. He took charge of England's great recoining, trod on the toes of Lord Lucas, Governor of the Tower, and secured the job of deputy comptroller of the temporary Chester branch for Edmond Halley. Newton became perhaps the best-known Master of the Mint upon the death of Thomas Neale in 1699, a position he held for the last 30 years of his life.[110][111] These appointments were intended as sinecures, but Newton took them seriously. He retired from his Cambridge duties in 1701, and exercised his authority to reform the currency and punish clippers and counterfeiters.
As Warden, and afterwards as Master, of the Royal Mint, Newton estimated that 20 percent of the coins taken in during the Great Recoinage of 1696 were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was high treason, punishable by the felon being hanged, drawn and quartered. Despite this, convicting even the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult, but Newton proved equal to the task.[112]
Disguised as a habitué of bars and taverns, he gathered much of that evidence himself.[113] For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton had himself made a justice of the peace in all the home counties. A draft letter regarding the matter is included in Newton's personal first edition of Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which he must have been amending at the time.[114] Then he conducted more than 100 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers, and suspects between June 1698 and Christmas 1699. He successfully prosecuted 28 coiners, including serial counterfeiter William Chaloner, who was subsequently hanged.[115]
Coat of arms of the Newton family of Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, afterwards used by Sir Isaac[116]
Newton was made president of the Royal Society in 1703 and an associate of the French Académie des Sciences. In his position at the Royal Society, Newton made an enemy of John Flamsteed, the Astronomer Royal, by prematurely publishing Flamsteed's Historia Coelestis Britannica, which Newton had used in his studies.[117]
Knighthood
In April 1705, Queen Anne knighted Newton during a royal visit to Trinity College, Cambridge. The knighthood is likely to have been motivated by political considerations connected with the parliamentary election in May 1705, rather than any recognition of Newton's scientific work or services as Master of the Mint.[118] Newton was the second scientist to be knighted, after Francis Bacon.[119]
As a result of a report written by Newton on 21 September 1717 to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, the bimetallic relationship between gold coins and silver coins was changed by royal proclamation on 22 December 1717, forbidding the exchange of gold guineas for more than 21 silver shillings.[120] This inadvertently resulted in a silver shortage as silver coins were used to pay for imports, while exports were paid for in gold, effectively moving Britain from the silver standard to its first gold standard. It is a matter of debate as to whether he intended to do this or not.[121] It has been argued that Newton conceived of his work at the Mint as a continuation of his alchemical work.[122]
Newton was invested in the South Sea Company and lost some £20,000 (£4.4 million in 2020[123]) when it collapsed in around 1720.[124]
Toward the end of his life, Newton took up residence at Cranbury Park, near Winchester, with his niece and her husband, until his death.[125] His half-niece, Catherine Barton,[126] served as his hostess in social affairs at his house on Jermyn Street in London; he was her "very loving Uncle",[127] according to his letter to her when she was recovering from smallpox.
Death
Death mask of Newton, photographed c. 1906
Newton died in his sleep in London on 20 March 1727 (OS 20 March 1726; NS 31 March 1727).[a] He was given a ceremonial funeral, attended by nobles, scientists, and philosophers, and was buried in Westminster Abbey among kings and queens. He was the first scientist to be buried in the abbey.[128] Voltaire may have been present at his funeral.[129] A bachelor, he had divested much of his estate to relatives during his last years, and died intestate.[130] His papers went to John Conduitt and Catherine Barton.[131]
Shortly after his death, a plaster death mask was moulded of Newton. It was used by Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack in making a sculpture of Newton.[132] It is now held by the Royal Society,[133] who created a 3D scan of it in 2012.[134]
Newton's hair was posthumously examined and found to contain mercury, probably resulting from his alchemical pursuits. Mercury poisoning could explain Newton's eccentricity in late life.[130]
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