William Warburton
William Warburton | |
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Bishop of Gloucester | |
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Diocese | Diocese of Gloucester |
In office | 1759–1779 |
Predecessor | James Johnson |
Successor | James Yorke |
Other post(s) | Dean of Bristol (1757–1760) |
Personal details | |
Born | Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England | 24 December 1698
Died | 7 June 1779 Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England | (aged 80)
Denomination | Anglican |
William Warburton (24 December 1698 – 7 June 1779) was an English writer,
Life
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Warburton was born on 24 December 1698 at
Sir Robert Sutton gave Warburton the small living of Greasley, in Nottinghamshire, exchanged next year for that of Brant Broughton in Lincolnshire. He was, in addition, rector of Firsby from 1730 until 1756, although he never lived in the village.[2] In 1728, he was made an honorary M.A. of the University of Cambridge.[3]
At Brant Broughton for 18 years he spent his time in study, the first result of which was his treatise on the Alliance between Church and State (1736). The book brought Warburton into favour at court, and he probably only missed immediate preferment by the death of Queen Caroline.[2]
A series of articles defending the writings of Alexander Pope against charges of religious unorthodoxy,[1] led to a friendship with the poet which contributed greatly to Warburton's social advancement. Pope introduced him to both William Murray, later Lord Mansfield, who obtained for him the preachership of Lincoln's Inn in 1746, and to Ralph Allen, who, in Dr Johnson's words, "gave him his niece and his estate, and, by consequence, a bishopric." Warburton married Gertrude Tucker, in September 1745,[1] and from that time lived at Allen's estate at Prior Park, in Gloucestershire, which he eventually inherited in 1764.[2]
He became prebendary of Gloucester in 1753, chaplain to the king in 1754, prebendary of Durham in 1755, Dean of Bristol in 1757, and Bishop of Gloucester in 1759.[2]
Literary works
By 1727 Warburton had written the notes he contributed to Lewis Theobald's edition of Shakespeare,[2] published a Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Miracles,[1] and contributed anonymously to a pamphlet on the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, The Legal Judicature in Chancery stated (1727). This was an answer to another anonymous pamphlet, written by Philip Yorke, later Lord Chancellor.[2]
The Divine Legation
After Alliance between Church and State, his next and best-known work,
Defence of Pope
Either in quest of
Edition of Shakespeare
In 1747 his edition of Shakespeare was published, incorporating material from Pope's earlier edition. He had previously entrusted notes and emendations on Shakespeare to Sir
Later works
Warburton was further kept busy by replying to the attacks on his Divine Legation from all quarters, by a dispute with
He continued to write for as long as the infirmities of age allowed, collecting and publishing his sermons, and attempting to complete the Divine Legation, further fragments of which were published with his posthumous Works. He wrote a defence of revealed religion in his View of Lord Bolingbroke's Philosophy (1754), and
In 1762 he launched a vigorous attack on
Death
Warburton died at Gloucester on 7 June 1779. He left no children, his only son having predeceased him.[1] In 1781 his widow, Gertrude, married[1] the Rev. Martin Stafford Smith.[5]
Posthumous publications and biographies
His works were edited in seven volumes (1788) by Richard Hurd with a biographical preface, and the correspondence between the two friends—an important contribution to the literary history of the period—was edited by Samuel Parr in 1808. Warburton's life was also written by John Selby Watson in 1863, and Mark Pattison made him the subject of an essay in 1889.[6]
Arms
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See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Knight, Charles, ed. (1858). "Warburton, William". The English Cyclopaedia. Biography—Volume 6. London: Bradbury and Evans.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chisholm 1911, p. 318.
- ^ "Warburton, William (WRBN728W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 318–319.
- ISBN 9781421407319.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 319.
- ^ "1760 Warburton W, Bishop of Gloucester". Baz Manning. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Warburton, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 318–319. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Stephen, Leslie (1899). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Young, B. W. "Warburton, William (1698–1779)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28680. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Works by William Warburton at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Warburton at Internet Archive
- Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury
- Works by William Warburton at Post-Reformation Digital Library
- Faith working by charity to Christian edification. A sermon preach'd at the last episcopal visitation for confirmation, in the diocese of Lincoln (MDCCXXXVIII)
- The nature of national offences truly stated : and the peculiar case of the Jewish people rightly explained : shewing that Great Britain ... may reasonably aspire to the distinguished protection of heaven (1746)
- A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry Into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as Related by Historians: With an Essay Towards Restoring a Method and Purity in History (1727)