Dr. Benjamin Hoadly (1706-1757). Portrait by William Hogarth (1697-1764). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Dr. Benjamin Hoadly FRS (10 February 1706 - 10 August 1757) was an English poet, playwright, and physician.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Hoadly was the son of Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Winchester. He was born on 10 February 1706 in Broad Street, London.[1]
He was educated at Dr. Newcome's academy at Hackney.[1]
He was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge on 8 April 1722. He read mathematics, and attended the lectures of the blind professor, Saunderson. He earned an M.B. in 1727, and an M.D. April 1728.[1]
He was registrar of Hereford while his father was bishop (1721-1724).[1]
Career[]
He married, originally, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Betts, and by her had a son, Benjamin; then Anne, daughter of General Armstrong.[1]
He settled in London, and was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians 29 December 1736, and in the following spring he delivered the Gulstonian lectures on the organs of respiration (which were printed, but are uninteresting). A copy bound in red morocco, presented by the author, is preserved in the college library.[1]
In 1739 he was elected censor, and in 1742 delivered a commonplace Harveian oration, which was printed.[1]
On 9 June 1742 he was made physician to the king's household, and on 4 January 1746 physician to the household of the Prince of Wales.[1]
He died at Chelsea on 10 August 1757.[1]
Writing[]
Hoadly was fond of the stage, and was author of The Suspicious Husband, a comedy, which was acted at Covent Garden on 12 February 1747. David Garrick wrote a prologue for it, and acted the part of Ranger. It hit the popular taste, was often repeated on the stage, and was published in 1747 with a dedication to George II, who sent Hoadly 100l. Foote praised it in his Roman and English Comedy Compared, 1747; Genest calls it "one of our very best comedies." A farce by Charles Macklin, The Suspicious Husband Criticized, was produced at Drury Lane on 24 March 1747. Hoadly's comedy was perhaps more justly called by a contemporary "Hoadly's profligate pantomime," consisting as it does of entrances and exits through windows at night, and of dissolute small talk.[1]
Hoadly also wrote a comedy, The Tatlers, which was acted at Covent Garden on 29 April 1797 for Holman's benefit, but was never printed. [1]
In 1756 he published Observations on a series of Electrical Experiments by Dr. Hoadly and Mr. Wilson.[1]
Recognition[]
Hoadly was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.[1]
5 of his poems were included in Dodsley's Collection of Poems in Six Volumes; by several hands.[2]
Publications[]
Plays[]
- The Suspicious Husband: A comedy, in five acts. London: J. & R. Tonson / S. Draper, 1747; Philadelphia: William Spottiswood, 1791; Dublin: J. Chambers, for William Jones, 1794; London: W. Simpkin & R. Marshall 1820.
Non-fiction[]
- Three lectures on the organs of respiration. London: W. Wilkins, 1740.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]
See also[]
References[]
Moore, Norman (1891) "Hoadly, Benjamin (1706-1757)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 27 London: Smith, Elder, p. 16 Wikisource, Web, July 5, 2020.
Notes[]
External links[]
- Poems
- Benjamin Hoadly at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (5 poems)
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Hoadly, Benjamin (1706-1757)
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