Circumferentor

Also known as a surveyor's compass, a circumferentor is an instrument used in surveying to measure horizontal angles. .Henry Sutton (fl. 1624-1665), probably the son or nephew of Baptist Sutton, a maker of engraved scales, was a member of the Joiner's Company and a well-known engraver, publisher and instrument maker who worked in Threadneedle Street, Cornhill in the City of London throughout his career.. Sutton was bound to Thomas Brown in 1638, and received his freedom in 1647/48. He had at least eight apprentices, including the instrument maker John Marks. Sutton was particularly famed 'for his accuracy and was in demand for drawing diagrams for mathematical books. His premises were behind the Royal Exchange, in Threadneedle Street, where he sold mathematical books as well as insctruments. Here too he observed a lunar eclipse...in August 1663. Among his workmen were Samuel Knibb and John Marks, the latter, according to John Collins, taking over his house when he died, (though he is not known at the Threadneedle Street addresss). Sutton died in 1665. His A Description and Use of a Large Quadrant was posthumously published in 1669. Other books for which he is know to have made engravings are John Collins, The Sector on a Quadrant.; A Treatise containing the Description of Three Separate Quadrants...of great use to seamen (London, 1688), John Collins, Geometricall Dyalling (London, 1659) and Navigation by the Mariners Plain Seale new plan'd; or Treatige of Geometircal and Artithmetical Navigation etc. (London, 1659) and Joh Brown, The Description and Use of a Joynt-Rule (London, 1661). Dated instruments signed by Henry Sutton, sold at auction and in public collections range from 1637 to 1669 (some evidently posthumous products). The magnetic azimuth dial in the museum's circumferentor served Sutton as a trade card. See also, a surveyor's quadrant illustrated in The Field, for October 1938, p.933. The prestige of Sutton's scale division was such that even a century after his death his name was still used as a guarantee of quality