John Pinkerton

John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory.

He was born in Edinburgh, as one of three sons to James Pinkerton. He lived in the neighbourhood of that city for some of his earliest childhood years, but later moved to Lanark. His studious youth brought him extensive knowledge of the Classics, and it is known that in his childhood years he enjoyed translating Roman authors such as Livy. He moved on to Edinburgh University, and after graduating, remained in the city to take up an apprenticeship in Law. However, his scholarly and literary inclinations led him to abandon the legal profession. It had been during his brief legal career though that he had begun writing, his Elegy on Craigmillar Castle being first published in 1776.

London and publications

John Pinkerton (politician)

John Pinkerton (1845 – 4 November 1908) was an Irish Protestant nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway Borough from 1886 to 1900.

Born in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, the son of John Pinkerton of Seacon More. He was educated privately. He rose to local prominence as a member of the Ballymoney Debating and Agricultural Societies. He was a tenant farmer, a JP of Co Antrim, and served as a member of the Coleraine Board of Guardians.

In 1873, he married Isabella, daughter of Robert Pinkerton, of Ballaghmore, Co Antrim.

He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1885 general election in which he stood as an independent candidate for the North Antrim constituency, where despite defeat, he so impressed the Irish Parliamentary Party that he, a Protestant tenant farmer, was adopted as the party candidate for Galway Borough in the 1886 general election in which he was successful.

John Pinkerton (computer designer)

John Maurice McClean Pinkerton (2 August 1919 – 22 December 1997) was a pioneering British computer designer. Along with David Caminer, he designed England's first business computer, the LEO computer, produced by J. Lyons and Co in 1951.,

Personal life

John Pinkerton was educated at King Edward's School, Bath, and Clifton College, Bristol. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1937 to 1940, reading Natural Sciences, and graduating with first class honours. He joined the Air Ministry Research Establishment in Swanage, to work on radar, and went with it to Malvern where it was renamed the Telecommunications Research Establishment (where he met Maurice Wilkes). He returned to Cambridge as a research student at the Cavendish Laboratory.

In 1948 he married Helen McCorkindale. They had a son and a daughter.

Colleagues describe him as having "a disarming way of listening intently to what others said", a "quiet, dry sense of humour", a "fine, critical, but constructive intelligence", "an enviable ability to handle detail", and "friendliness and kindness". They also mention his knowledge of music and English literature and his lively appreciation of good food.