The Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

Anthony Blackwall (baptized Kirk Ireton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, 17 July 1672, died

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle o ...

8 April 1730), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

classical scholar and schoolmaster.

Early life

Blackwall was the son of another Anthony Blackwall, of Blackwall, a hamlet of Kirk Ireton,

. He was educated at

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1695 and MA in 1698.

Career

In 1697, he was appointed headmaster of his old school,

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, and lecturer of All Saints' Church,

. He was Vicar of Elvaston, Derbyshire, from 1699 until 1723. In 1706, he published an edition of the verse of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

poet Theognis, with a translation into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. His next book, ''An Introduction to the Classics'' (1718), was written for schoolboys and had numerous editions. It was revised by

William Fordyce Mavor William Fordyce Mavor (1 August 1758 – 29 December 1837) was a Scottish teacher, priest and compiler of educational books, many of which passed through numerous editions. He also invented a system of shorthand, which he explained in a treatise e ...

as ''Blackwall's Introduction to the Classics'' in 1809. In 1722, he became headmaster of the Grammar School at

, Leicestershire, and enlarged it. He was Rector of

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

from 1726 until his death. At both his schools Blackwall taught from his own Latin grammar, which he eventually published anonymously in 1728 as ''A new Latin Grammar: being a short, clear, and easy introduction of young scholars to the knowledge of the Latin tongue''. Blackwall's last work was ''The Sacred Classics Defended and Illustrated, or, An essay humbly offered towards proving the purity, propriety, and true eloquence of the writers of the New Testament'' (1725).

Family

Blackwall and his first wife had one son, another Anthony Blackwall, who graduated BA from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1722. With his second wife, the widow of the Reverend Thomas Cantrell (1649–1698), there were four more sons and a daughter: Henry (died 1728), fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Robert (born 1704), a dragoon, John (baptized 1707, died 1762), an attorney at

Stoke Golding Stoke Golding is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, close to the county border with Warwickshire.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : According to the 2001 census ...

, William (born about 1708), who died young, and Mary, who married John Pickering on 20 September 1733.

Bibliography

*''Theognis'' (1706) *''An Introduction to the Classics'' (1718, new edition as ''Blackwall's Introduction to the Classics'', 1809) *''A new Latin Grammar: being a short, clear, and easy introduction of young scholars to the knowledge of the Latin tongue'' (published anonymously, 1728) *''The Sacred Classics Defended and Illustrated, or, An essay humbly offered towards proving the purity, propriety, and true eloquence of the writers of the New Testament'' (1725)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwall, Anthony 1672 births 1730 deaths Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Headmasters of Derby School People educated at Derby School People from Derbyshire Dales (district)