John Wallis

John Wallis was an English mathematician, theologian and cryptographer who held the Savilian chair of geometry at Oxford.

Wallis worked as a codebreaker for Parliament and later served the restored monarchy, making him an important link between Civil War intelligence and Restoration scholarship. In An Instance of the Fingerpost he is one of the four narrators and uses his experience of cryptography, politics and Oxford rivalries to construct his account.