← Fame through time1700-1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 18th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
James Watt22 decades - 2
Joseph Priestley22 decades - 3
John Harrison22 decades - 4
William Carey22 decades - 5
James Hutton22 decades - 6
Jethro Tull22 decades - 7
William Murdoch13 decades - 8
James Hargreaves17 decades - 9
Samuel Crompton15 decades - 10Philip Miller22 decades
- 11
Thomas Pennant21 decades - 12
George Edwards22 decades - 13
George Shaw21 decades - 14
William Curtis22 decades - 15Elizabeth Fulhame0 decades
- 16
Home Riggs Popham1 decades - 17
Samuel Goodenoughnot measured- - 18
Patrick Brydonenot measured- - 19
Thomas Shawnot measured- - 20
Thomas Henrynot measured- - 21
Richard Watsonnot measured- - 22
Abraham Reesnot measured- - 23
Michael Toppingnot measured- - 24William Houstounnot measured-
- 25
Francis Blomefieldnot measured- - 26
Alexander Hunternot measured- - 27
James Poundnot measured- - 28James Valouenot measured-
- 29Margaret Flamsteednot measured-
- 30
William Laxnot measured-
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.