John Pettus

Sir John Pettus (1613–1690) was an English royalist, politician and natural philosopher. Pettus was an expert on metallurgy and became a deputy governor of the royal mines in England and Wales under Charles I and II. He is known for the first English translation of the work of the German metallurgist Lazarus Ercker.

Life

He was the third son of Sir Augustine Pettus of Rackheath, Norfolk, by his second wife, Abigail, third daughter of Sir Arthur Heveningham of Heveningham, Suffolk. He matriculated at Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1632. He entered the service of Charles I in 1639, and was knighted on 25 November 1641, as a mark of the king's favour to Sir Richard Gurney, his father-in-law. Taken prisoner during the First English Civil War by Oliver Cromwell at Lowestoft, he was exchanged after 14 months' confinement in Windsor Castle.

He left also unpublished and unfinished works, including an autobiography to 1645.