Reuben Burrow, a farmer's son, was born on 30th December 1747 near Leeds. With an early interest in mathematics, he became a teacher but in March 1771 he was appointed assistant to the astronomer royal, Nevil Maskelyne. In January 1774 he accompanied Maskelyne on the Royal Society's expedition to Schiehallion, Perthshire, to measure the mountain's gravitational attraction. However, although Maskelyne received the Copley medal for his astronomical observations, Burrow felt his contribution was undervalued and left this post. In 1776 he became the editor of the 'Ladies and gentlemen's diary', a rival to the 'Ladies diary', which ran until 1786 and which included mathematical puzzles set by Burrow. In 1779 Burrow published, 'A restitution of the geometrical treatise of Apollonius Pergaeus on inclinations; also the theory of gunnery or the doctrine of projectiles in a non-resisting medium'.
Through his patron, Colonel Henry Watson, Burrow obtained a post in India in 1782. He contacted the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, obtaining the post of mathematical master to the corps of engineers and then chief surveyor to the East India Company. He learned Sanskrit and collected many Sanskrit and Persian manuscripts. Burrow died at Buxar, Hindustan, on 7 June 1792, leaving his papers to his friend Isaac Dalby, who published 'A short account of the late Mr. Burrow's measurement of a degree of longitude and … latitude near the Tropic in Bengal' (1796).
Sources
Dolan, Graham. "People: Reuben Burrow". The Royal Observatory Greenwich . 2020: http://www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org/articles.php?article=1140
Stephen, Leslie. "Burrow, Reuben (1747–1792)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 2020: https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4110
