Joseph Wolstenholme
British mathematician (1829–1891)
Joseph Wolstenholme (30 September 1829 – 18 November 1891) was an English mathematician.
Wolstenholme was born in Eccles near Salford, Lancashire, England, the son of a Methodist minister, Joseph Wolstenholme, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Clarke. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge as Third Wrangler in 1850 and was elected a fellow of Christ's College in 1852. Collaborating with Percival Frost, a Treatise on Solid Geometry was published in 1863.
Wolstenholme served as Examiner in 1854, 1856, and 1863 for Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, and according to Andrew Forsyth his book Mathematical Problems made a significant contribution to mathematical education:
...gathered together from many examination papers to form a volume, which was considerably amplified in later editions, they exercised a very real influence upon successive generations of undergraduates; and "Wolstenholme's Problems" have proved a help and stimulus to many students.
In 1869 he resigned his fellowship to marry Térèse Kraus, his Swiss bride.
He became a professor of mathematics at the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill, Egham, Surrey from 1871 to 1889.
In 1878 he published an expanded version of Mathematical Problems, and in 1888 Examples for Practice in the Use of Seven-figure Logarithms.
He was a close friend of Leslie Stephen from his undergraduate studies at Cambridge. Virginia Woolf used his personality for the character Augustus Carmichael in her novel To the Lighthouse.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Joseph Wolstenholme” as british mathematician (1829–1891). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british mathematician (1829–1891). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q163906. VIAF identifies the subject as 74213949. The Library of Congress control number is n84805314. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1829, 1891, 1850 and 1852.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Joseph Wolstenholme”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Joseph Wolstenholme primary sources, Joseph Wolstenholme archive and Joseph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Joseph Wolstenholme”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Wolstenholme” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.