Thomas Wotton (genealogist)

Thomas Wotton (c. 1705 - 1 April 1766), was an English antiquarian and genealogist, best remembered for his work The English Baronetage (1727, 1741).

Origins

Wotton was the son of Matthew Wotton, who kept a bookshop at the Three Daggers and Queen's Head, near St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, London (where the 1741 edition of his Baronetage was published).^[1] According to John Dunton, the elder Wotton was "a very courteous, obliging man" of the highest character, whose trade "lay much among the lawyers". Thomas Wotton succeeded to his father's business and carried it on for many years, but had retired by the time of his death.

Career

Wotton was Warden of the

In 1741, Wotton published in five octavo volumes a revised and enlarged edition, which often is erroneously attributed to Collins. The title is The English Baronetage, Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of all the English Baronets now Existing, their Descents, Marriages and Issues, Memorable Actions both in War and Peace, Religious and Charitable Donations, Deaths, Places of Burial and Monumental Inscriptions, etc.... In it were incorporated manuscript notes furnished by Robert Smyth, who had published a volume of corrections and additions. Peter Le Neve, who published three folio volumes on the same subject, also rendered valuable assistance to Wotton in preparing this edition. Letters, notes, and pedigrees furnished to Wotton for his Baronetage are in the British Library catalogued as British Museum Additional Manuscripts, 24114–21.

• The English Baronetage, Volume 1, 1741
• The English Baronetage, Volume 2, 1741
• The English Baronetage, Volume 3, 1741
• The English Baronetage, Volume 4, 1741
• The English Baronetage, Volume 5, 1741

English Baronetage, 3rd Edition (1771)

In 1771, after Wotton's death, a further edition of the Baronetage was issued in three volumes, under the editorship of Richard Johnson and Edward Kimber. The copy in the British Museum contains manuscript notes by Francis Hargrave. The arrangement of each edition is chronological.

• The English Baronetage, Volume 1, 1771
• The English Baronetage, Volume 2, 1771
• The English Baronetage, Volume 3, 1771

Death

Wotton died at Point Pleasant, Surrey, on 1 April 1766.

References

Norgate, Gerald le Grys (1900). "Wotton, Thomas" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

• John Nichols, Lit. Anecd. i. 62, iii. 440, 441 nn. 602, v. 48, 49 n.
• The Gentleman's Magazine 1766, p. 199
• John Dunton, Life and Errors, 1818, i. 210
• Samuel Austin Allibone, Dict. Engl. Lit.
• Wotton's Baronetages; art. Collins, Arthur.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Norgate, Gerald le Grys (1900). "Wotton, Thomas". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.