Subject

Humanist, scholar and intellectual. Born Aberdeen, came to London in 1719 to be a tutor but then became a bookseller in the Royal Exchange and also worked as a press-reader, earning the nickname "Alexander the Corrector". His main achievement was the Concordance to the Bible, published in 1737 and still used today. An eccentric man, he travelled the country lecturing against profanity and the breaking of the Sabbath, and he always carried a sponge to remove any offensive graffiti. Died at his lodgings in Camden Passage, while at prayer.