Fourth child of Samuel West and Margaret Mein, his father died in 1766. West matriculated in the
University of Saint Andrews in 1769 thanks to financial help of the presbytery clerk Dr. Adamson. He, like his brothers, studied mathematics under professor
Nicolas Vilant. He was assistant of professor Vilant, who had poor health, but lacking of prospects in his native land, he emigrated to
Jamaica, in 1784, the same year that
Elements of Mathematics and
A System of Shorthand were published. In Jamaica, West was initially teacher in the Manning's Free School at
Savanna-la-Mar in
Westmoreland Parish. In 1790 he was appointed rector of
Saint Thomas in
Morant Bay, where he died in 1817. During his life in Jamaica he never left his mathematical studies, despite his academic isolation. Before his death, he sent the manuscript of
Mathematical Treatises to his old student John Leslie, who published it in 1838. == References ==