Tollet, George (d. c.1721/2), mathematician and early scientist, had (although details of his parents and date of birth are unknown) three brothers, Charles, John, and Thomas, and a sister, Mary. All of his siblings were married, and had children: Charles had a son named after himself; John had a son, Charles, and daughter, Mary; Thomas had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth; and Mary had a daughter, also named Mary. George was also married, his wife's maiden name being Cooke. They had two sons, George (b. c.1697) – father of the Shakespearean critic George Tollet (1725–79) – and Cooke (b. c.1698), and a daughter, Elizabeth (1694–1754), a poet of note. While all his children were well educated, George was a self-educated man who ‘by his own industry’ achieved an ‘eminency in mathematics’ (Tanner letters, 496).
For many years during the restoration period Tollet worked as a private teacher of mathematics in Dublin. Although a competent mathematician, he was not considered to be first-rate. He was interested in natural philosophy, and in 1675 imported scientific instruments from England, conducted magnetical experiments, and corresponded with a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1679 William Petty (qv) offered him the post of rent collector for his Kerry estates, though Tollet declined the offer. Along with Petty, William Molyneux (qv), Narcissus Marsh (qv), St George Ashe (qv), and Robert Huntington (qv), Tollet was one of the fourteen people named on the first list of members of the Dublin Philosophical Society, who met on 28 January 1684 to subscribe the society's first set of rules. Tollet and a catholic, Mark Baggot, were the only two founding members who had not attended a British or Irish university. At this time, Tollet also established a lasting friendship with William King (qv), future bishop of Derry and archbishop of Dublin, who was an early attender at and contributor to the Philosophical Society meetings. Most of Tollet's own contributions to the society were connected with his work as a mathematician, and included a paper on gunnery, which focused on the calculation of the angles of elevation and depression for artillery pieces when on sloping or high ground. This particular interest arose out of the fact that in 1685 Tollet received from William Molyneux's father a formula for calculating such elevations, which had originally been given to Molyneux by Edmund Halley. Tollet made the formula the basis for his paper, which was also read at the Royal Society. In 1686 Molyneux sent Tollet an extract from Halley's own paper on ballistics, which also contained the formula. Tollet in turn sent Molyneux a critical view on Halley's paper, which Molyneux forwarded to Halley, thereby sparking a controversy which ended with Tollet backing down and Molyneux patching up relations between the two men.
The Dublin Philosophical Society also became involved in the ongoing seventeenth-century quest for an accurate measurement of longitude, and in 1685 Tollet carried out a review of progress on the subject to that date, in the hope of encouraging new experiments. Later that year he acted on behalf of Dr Samuel Haworth in a dispute on the subject with John Ker, who was represented at the society by William Hearne. Tollet argued that the lines of longitude ran north and south, and Hearne argued east and west. Not surprisingly, the society favoured Tollet's argument. It would also appear that Tollet was the society member who was reputed to have a particularly good memory for mathematical calculations, an ability he also discovered in one of his students. In 1686 he brought to a society meeting an 11-year-old female who had extraordinary mathematical ability and was able to extract the square root of a number of twenty digits from memory. The girl attended six meetings to prove her knowledge of algebra, mechanics, chronology, geography, and astronomy. She also played the fiddle with accompaniment. On one such occasion, the countess of Clarendon, wife of the lord lieutenant, was in attendance and was suitably impressed.
In November 1688 Tollet left Ireland for London, ostensibly on the grounds that his scholars in Dublin had failed him. Narcissus Marsh, bishop of Ferns gave a glowing recommendation of his abilities and energy to the archbishop of Canterbury. Tollet took up residence in a house at the Tower of London. After his arrival, he began to act as unofficial agent for William King, at first transmitting information from King to leading English ministers about the situation in Ireland in early 1689, and later in 1690 pressing various political and religious figures to promote King's case for appointment to the vacant see of Derry. Thereafter he continued to correspond with King on matters relating to King's prospects for further promotion.
Tollet's decision to move to London proved fruitful for his own career, as evidenced by his appointment to various lucrative government posts. At the same time, he also became well acquainted with the diarist Samuel Pepys, who had spent much time calculating gambling odds and had approached Tollet for help in solving a particular problem regarding the throwing of dice. Tollet duly obliged by carrying out mathematical calculations on the subject of averages and chance. However, not everyone thought highly of his abilities. When Tollet and Edward Smyth (qv), future bishop of Down and Connor, visited Greenwich in 1689 and assisted during an observation, the astronomer royal, John Flamsteed, concluded that Tollet was a poor practitioner of astronomy.
Tollet's administrative career commenced in March 1691, when he was appointed secretary to the English commission for public accounts. At the end of that year he was appointed to the Irish post of comptroller- and accountant-general. In January 1695 he surrendered the office by deed to William Burgh. Thereafter Tollet's appointments were all to English offices. In 1697 he was made comptroller of the foreign post office and, later that year, along with a Col. Hutchinson, succeeded ‘Mr Knight and his brother in the custom house’ (Luttrell, iv, 306). In June 1700 Tollet was appointed secretary to the commission of excise, in which capacity he was able to gratify Pepys by obtaining a promotion for a friend of the diarist. In early 1702 he introduced Edmund Halley to Richard Hill, one of the treasury lords. Together with St George Ashe, bishop of Clogher, they had ‘a deal of learned chat’ for three hours (Private correspondence, ii, 250). In 1702 Tollet was appointed as a commissioner of the navy board, where Charles Tollet (either his brother or nephew) served as his clerk during his period of office. At Pepys's funeral in 1703, Tollet was included on a list of people who received gold rings. He was removed from the navy board in November 1714, after the Hanoverian succession. About 1720 Tollet purchased Betley Hall and estates in Betley and Audley, Staffordshire. His will, dated 9 June 1718, was proved 28 September 1722.