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Thomas Warton (?1688-1745). 1825 engraving. Courtesy AllPosters.com.

Rev. Thomas Warton, the elder (?1688-1745) was an English poet, clergyman, schoolmaster, and academic, known as the 2nd Oxford Professor of Poetry.

Life[]

Overview[]

Warton, son of Anthony Warton, was born at Godalming about 1688. He was educated at Hart Hll and Magdalen College, Oxford. He was satirized for his incompetence as professor of poetry by Nicholas Amhurst in Terrae filius as "squinting Tom of Maudlin." He was vicar of Basingstoke, Hampshire, and master of the grammar-school of the town, where he had among his pupils Gilbert White, the naturalist. He received further preferment's in the church, and died at Basingstoke on 10 September 1745. He published nothing during his lifetime, but after his death his son Joseph published some of his poetry under the title of Poems on Several Occasions (1748).[1]

Youth and education[]

Warton was born about 1688, son of Antony Warton (1650-1715), vicar of Godalming.[2]

He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, on 3 April 1706, but soon migrated to Magdalen College, where he held a demyship from 1706 to 1717, and a fellowship from 1717 to 1724. He earned a B.A. on 17 February 1710, an M.A. in 1712, and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1725.[2]

Career[]

In 1717-18 Warton circulated both in manuscript and in print a satire in verse on George I, which he entitled "The Turnip Hoer," and wrote lines for the Old Pretender James III's picture. No copy of either composition is now known.[2]

Warton's Jacobite sympathies made him popular in the university, and he was elected professor of poetry in succession to Joseph Trapp. He possessed small literary qualifications for the office, and his election provoked the sarcasm of Nicholas Amhurst, who satirized Warton across 3 numbers of his Terrae Filius; "Squeaking Tom of Maudlin" is the sobriquet Amhurst conferred on him.[2]

He married Elizabeth, 2nd daughter of Joseph Richardson, rector of Dunsfold, Surrey, and left 2 sons, Joseph (born 1722) and Thomas (1728), and a daughter, Jane (1723).[2]

After 1723 Warton ceased to reside regularly in Oxford. In that year he became vicar of Basingstoke, Hampshire, and master of the grammar school there. Among his pupils was naturalist Gilbert White.

He remained at Basingstoke till his death, but with the living he held successively the vicarages of Framfield, Sussex (1726), of Woking, Surrey (from 1727), and of Cobham, Surrey.[2]

He died at Basingstoke on 10 September 1745, and was buried in the church there.[2]

Writing[]

Warton was a writer of occasional poetry, but published no collection in his lifetime. After his death his son Joseph issued, by subscription, Poems on Several Occasions by the Rev. Thomas Warton, London, 1748. Some "runic" odes included are said to have drawn the attention of the poet Thomas Gray to those topics.[2] The authenticity of some of the poems has been questioned, David Fairer concluding that "not only had Joseph Warton sometimes heavily edited and improved his father's verses, but that he and his brothers wrote at last ten of the poems themselves."[3] [4]

Recognition[]

Warton was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry on 17 July 1718. He was re-elected, in spite of the opposition of the Constitution Club, for another 5-year term in 1723. He retired from the professorship in 1728.[2]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Poems on Several Occasions (edited by Joseph Warton). London: R. Manby & H.S. Cox, 1748; New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1930.
  • The Three Wartons: A choice of their verse (with Thomas Warton & Joseph Warton; edited by Eric Partridge). London: Scholartis Press, 1927; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]

See also[]

Preceded by
Joseph Trapp
Oxford Professor of Poetry
1718-1728
Succeeded by
Joseph Spence

References[]

  • PD-icon Lee, Sydney (1899) "Warton, Thomas (1688?-1745)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 59 London: Smith, Elder, p. 431 . Wikisource, Web, Jan. 3, 2016.

Notes[]

  1. PD-icon Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Warton, Thomas (1688-1745)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 337.  Wikisource, Web, May 7, 2021.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Lee, 431.
  3. David Fairer, "The Poems of Thomas Warton the Elder?," Review of English Studies XXVI:104 (1975), 395-406. JStor, Web, Jan. 3, 2017.
  4. Jack Lynch, Oxford Handbook of British Poetry, 1660-1800 (Oxford University Press, 2016), 235. Google Books, Web, Jan. 3, 2017.
  5. Search results = au:Thomas Warton the elder, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 19,2014.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

PD-icon 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:Warton, Thomas (1688?-1745)
PD-icon This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.. Original article is at Warton, Thomas (1688?-1745)

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