William Fleetwood Sheppard

Who was William Fleetwood Sheppard?

William Fleetwood Sheppard Australian-British civil servant, mathematician and statistician remembered for his work in finite differences, interpolation and statistical theory, known in particular for the eponymous Sheppard's corrections.

William Fleetwood Sheppard was born near Sydney, Australia. He was the second child of Edmund Sheppard, an Englishman who had gone to Australia in 1859, and his wife Mary Grace Murray; the couple had married in 1860. Edmund Sheppard was a lawyer and became a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. When he was about ten William was sent to Brisbane Grammar School. However he stayed for only one term for the headmaster believed that the school could not do justice to such a brilliant pupil and that he had better go to school in England.

In England Sheppard went to Charterhouse School where he had a very successful academic career and was finally head of the school. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge as a Foundation Scholar. When he graduated in 1884 it was as the Senior Wrangler. This was a great prize and the Senior Wrangler was somebody. Shortly after the results came out, a letter found him, addressed only to "The Senior Wrangler, Cambridge." The third wrangler was William Bragg and the fourth was W. H. Young. All the top wranglers that year were coached by E. J. Routh.