Who was William Maple?

This article uncovers the hitherto obscure early life of William Maple, and establishes that he was born into a well-to-do family of mariners of Stepney, Middlesex. He was an apothecary’s apprentice in London (1692–1702) and afterwards worked for the Society of Apothecaries until c . 1709. He moved to Dublin, c . 1711, and began to build his career in Ireland. He was a man of diverse interests and activities, and he was supported through his connections with whig politicians. His training and early career in London explains why he was well prepared for his later work as a chemist, in and beyond Trinity College, and for his position in the intellectual world in which he was a founder-member and officer of the Dublin Society. This article shows how Maple developed a number of different careers, close to Ireland’s governing elite, in the half-century after his arrival in the country, and concludes that he was a significant figure in eighteenth-century Dublin.