Notes

John Locke, senior, was a man of some ability. He educated his two sons – the second was Thomas, who was born in 1637, and died early – with extreme care. In 1646 Locke entered Westminster School, then Parliamentarian under its headmaster, Dr Richard Busby. He was elected King's scholar in 1647 with an annual allowance of £13/4 for livery and 60/10 for tuition. But he himself criticized unfavorably the methods adopted at Westminster. Too much time was wasted on languages, he felt, and too little attention was devoted to Greek.
In 1652 John Locke was elected to a Studentship at Christ Church, Oxford. Here John Owen was just beginning to re-create order out of the chaos after the Civil War. Like Cromwell he was tolerant (in spite of one or two intolerant acts) and never sought to force the University into Independent channels.
He would devote one year to rhetoric and grammar, another to logic and moral philosophy and the third and fourth to logic, moral philosophy, geometry, and Greek. His studies in Eastern languages brought him into contact with Edward Pococke, who seems to have influenced him most in these early years at Oxford.
Sir Robert Boyle was the most important influence on John Locke from the empiricist side. He was a member of the 'Invisible College' which devoted itself to the 'new philosophy'. The Royal Society was formed in 1663 and Boyle was one of its most prominent members. John Locke is thought to have known John Boyle for most of the period between 1654 and 1668, when Boyle was at Oxford and Locke was at Cleves. When Boyle visited Cleves in 1665 he sent letters to Boyle as to a close and respected friend. Boyle submitted his General History of the Air to Locke's judgement before publishing it.
Boyle was the master who taught Locke how to approach nature empirically and scientifically. In his preface to The Origins of Forms and Qualities he summed up the central thesis of the Essay itself with regard to the natural sciences. Boyle's influence is most clearly seen on the distinction between primary and secondary qualities.