John Whitaker (historian)
John Whitaker B.D., F.S.A. (1735 in Manchester – 1808 in Ruan Lanihorne), was an English historian and Anglican clergyman. Besides historical studies on the Roman Empire and on the early history of Great Britain he was a reviewer for London magazines and a poet.
Life
He was the son of James Whitaker, innkeeper, and was born in Manchester on 27 April 1735. In 1771, he published the first volume of The History of Manchester; and the second volume in 1775. A copy of Whitaker's manuscript of the continuation to the fifteenth century is in Chetham's Library, Manchester.
Whitaker's views on early British society were
He took his degrees at Oxford: B.A. 1755; M.A. 1759; and B.D. 1767: he was elected a
He studied the decline of the Cornish language and concluded in his work The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall[3]
- The English Liturgy, was not desired by the Cornish, but forced upon them by the tyranny of England, at a time when the English language was yet unknown in Cornwall. This act of tyranny was at once gross barbarity to the Cornish people, and a death blow to the Cornish language.
Selected works
- The Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall Historically Surveyed (1804) (in 2 volumes). London: John Stockdale [An account of the church of St Germans]
- The Course of Hannibal Over the Alps Ascertained (1794). London: John Stockdale
- The Genuine History of the Britons Asserted (1772). [London] : sold by Dodsley
- The History of Manchester (1771 & 1775). Books 1 & 2 (3 parts in 2 volumes). London: sold by Dodsley [et al.] [Ancient British, Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods only]
- The Life of Saint Neot, the Oldest of all the Brothers to King Alfred (1809). London: John Joseph Stockdale (published posthumously: Stockdale was also the editor)
- Mary Queen of Scots Vindicated (1787) (in 3 volumes) London: John Murray
- The Origin of Arianism Disclosed (1791) London : Printed for John Stockdale
- The Real Origin of Government (1795). London: John Stockdale
References
- ^ Elizabeth A. R. Brown, "Reflections on Feudalism: Thomas Madox and the Origins of the Feudal System in England," in Feud, Violence and Practice: Essays in Medieval Studies in Honor of Stephen D. White, ed. Belle S. Tuten and Tracey L. Billado (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010), 135-155 at 145-149.
- ^ John Whitaker (1773). The History of Manchester: In Four Books. J. Murray. p. 359.
- ^ Fred W. P. Jago (1882), The Ancient Language and the Dialect of Cornwall. Truro: Netherton and Worth (reissued by AMS Press, NY, 1983), pp.4 ff.
External links and bibliography
His numerous writings are listed in Bibliotheca Cornubiensis by Boase and Courtney and in Palatine Note-book, vol. i., p. 77.
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- John Eglington Bailey (1879) John Whitaker