Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Walkingame, Francis
WALKINGAME, FRANCIS (fl. 1751–1785), ‘writing master and accomptant and master of the boarding-school in KensingKensington,' was author of 'The Tutor's Assistant; being a Compendium of Arithmetic and a Complete Question-Book in five parts,' London, 1751, 12mo. The author himself brought out a twenty-first edition in 1785 and the work has passed through countless editions since that date, remaining the most popular 'Arithmetic' both in England and America down to the time of Colenso. A so-called seventy-first edition appeared in 1831 (London, 12mo), and a so-called fifty-first in 1843 (Derby, 12mo). Except the section dealing with the rule of three which needed modification, the work remained little altered down to 1854, when an 'improved edition' was issued under the care of Professor J. K. Young. A comic 'Tutor's Assistant' with cuts by Crowquill, was published in 1843 (London, 12mo).
[Walkingame's Tutor's Assistant, 1751, with a list of subscribers: De Morgan's Arithmetical Books, pp. 30, 96; Notes and Queries, 1s ser. v. 441, xi 57, xii. 66, 2nd ser. iv. 295; Gent. Mag. 1788, i. 81; Athenæum, 1882, i. 754; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.; Brit. Mus. Cat. enumerating over thirty editions between 1751 and 1868.]