1627

29 November – born at Black Notley, son of local blacksmith
6 December – christened

1638

September – started at Braintree Grammar School

1644

Entered Cambridge University, sponsored by money from the will of Thomas Hobbs. Started at Catherine Hall college as a pupil of Daniel Duckfield

1646

Transferred to Trinity as a pupil of James Duport after Duckfield’s death

1647/1648

Took his B.A. degree from the University of Cambridge

1649

Elected Minor Fellow at Trinity College

1650

Suffered a long illness
During convalescence took long walks and began the study of botany

1651

Appointed Lecturer in Greek and later that year achieved his M.A.

1653

Appointed Tutor and spent the next nine years teaching Greek, mathematics and humanities. Among his pupils were Francis Willughby, Peter Courthope and Phillip Skippon. It was during this time that he began his travels throughout the U.K.

1660

Ordained at London by Bishop Robert Sanderson of Lincoln.

Published: Cambridge Flora

1662

Act of Uniformity passed. Ray refused to subscribe to it and left the University of Cambridge.

1663

Began travelling widely on the Continent with Willughby, Skippon and other friends, studying local floral and fauna, with a brief spell during the winter of 1664 studying anatomy in Padua. Ray’s notes added to drawings of fishes obtained in Hamburg (Germany) is now kept in the British Library (https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/john-ray-a-book-of-fishes)

1666

Returned to Essex

1667

Admitted Fellow of the Royal Society

1668

Finalised the purchase of the house ‘Dewlands’ at Black Notley for his mother (his father having died in 1656). Spent part of the year at Middleton, Warwickshire, the family home of Willughby.

1669

At Middleton experimenting with sap, seeds and leaves. Discovered mono- and di-cotyledons. Was consulted by settlers in America on the best method of obtaining sap from the maple tree to make into syrup

1670

Changed his name to the spelling of Ray which we know today, without the W. Published ‘Catalogue of English Plants’ and ‘Collection of English Proverbs’

1672

5 June married Margaret Oakley.

1673

Published: Observations, including Catalogue of European Plants

1674

Published: Collection of English Words and Proverbs

1675

Published: ‘Three-Language Dictionary’ of Greek, Latin and English

1676

Published: ‘The Ornithology of Francis Willughby’ (in Latin, [SK2] published in English in 1678). Latin was still the common international language of university educated people. Willughby’s widow contributed to the cost of the illustrations.

1679

Mother died. He and his wife moved into ‘Dewlands’ at Black Notley

1682

Birth of their first children, twin girls named Margaret and Mary

1686

Published: ’History of Fish’ (in Latin) based on Willughby’s notes, but augmented by Ray and Martin Lister. Its publication was financially supported by the Royal Society, and the first volume of the ‘History of Plants’ (in Latin)

1687

Birth of his daughter Catherine.

1688

Published: Volume Two of the ‘History of Plants’ (in Latin), and Collection of British Plants

1689

Birth of daughter Jane. He also published the second volume of his dictionary of three languages.

1690

Published: Wisdom of God, his important theological work.

1698

Death of daughter Mary and illness of his wife and daughter Margaret.

1704

Ray seriously ill. Doctor William Derham and Sir Hans Sloane visit Ray to discuss the future of his works.

Published: Volume three of History of Plants and continued to work on insects, begun by Willughby.

1705

Ray died at ‘Dewlands’ on 17 January.

1710

Posthumous publication of his History of Insects, Synopsis of Birds and Fish, Philosophical Letters and Select Remains.

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