Richard Grey

(1694 - 1771)

Richard Grey published his treatise Memoria Technica—inspired by Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory—ten years after being ordained as an Anglican priest. The work proved successful and was reprinted numerous times through 1861. His method for ensuring the recall of facts involves substituting numerical digits with letters, which could then be combined into pronounceable, if nonsensical, words. “Thus in history,” he explains after this introductory essay, “the Deluge happened in the year before Christ 2348; this is signified by the word Deletok: Del standing for Deluge, and etok for 2348.”