Edward Atkyns Bray (1778–1857) was a British poet,

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

, and miscellaneous writer. Bray was the only son of Edward Bray, solicitor, and manager of the

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

shire estates of the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

, was born at the Abbey House,

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

, 18 Dec 1778. His mother, Mary, a daughter of Dr. Brandreth of

Houghton Regis Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, East of England. The parish is located in Central Bedfordshire, which includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Bedfordshire, Bidwell, Thorn, Bedfordshire, Th ...

, and the widow of Arthur Turner, would not allow her son to be sent to a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

, and he was educated by himself, a circumstance which engendered in him habits of isolation and restraint. At an early age he cultivated poetry, two small selections from his effusions circulating among his friends before he was twenty-three. Bray became a student at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1801 and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1806. For some time he went to the western circuit, but the profession of the law had from the first ill accorded with his disposition, and after five years of trial he abandoned it for the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

by the Bishop of Norwich about 1811, and in the following year, by the favour of the Duke of Bedford, became the

St Eustachius' Church, Tavistock St Eustachius' Church, Tavistock is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. I ...

and the perpetual curate of Brent Tor. Almost immediately after his ordination he entered himself at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, and took the degree of

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

as a

ten-year man A ten-year man was a category of mature student at the University of Cambridge. Under the University's statutes of 1570, a man over twenty-four could proceed to a Bachelor of Divinity, BD degree ten years after matriculation without first gaining ...

in 1822. He lived in Tavistock for the rest of his life, and if he differed from his parishioners on politics or preached over their heads, he retained their respect. In 1822, he married Anna Eliza, the widow of

Charles Alfred Stothard Charles Alfred Stothard (5 July 1786 – 28 May 1821) was an English antiquarian draughtsman, with a special interest in monumental effigies. Life Stothard was born in London, the son of the painter, Thomas Stothard. He was educated at a sch ...

, and an amusing account of the habits of the worthy vicar and his wife is embodied in the latter's autobiography. Bray died at Tavistock 17 July 1857. During his lifetime, he published several selections of sermons: :''Sermons from the Works of the most eminent Divines of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries'', 1818 :''Discourses from Tracts and Treatises of Eminent Divines'', 1821 :''Select Sermons by Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man'', 1823 :''Discourses on Protestantism'', 1829 (his own sermons) His poetical productions were for the most part circulated privately. After Bray's death his widow collected and published his ''Poetical Remains'' (1859, 2 vols), and also ''A Selection from the Sermons, General and Occasional, of Rev. E. A. Bray'' (1860, 2 vols). At one time he projected a history of his native town of Tavistock, and made considerable collections for it, but the undertaking was never completed. Many extracts from his journals describing the curiosities of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

and many of his poems are inserted in his wife's ''A Description of the Part of Devonshire Bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy'' (1836). When she published her work on

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

she embodied with it many passages in the diary which her husband kept whilst on the tour.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Edward Atkyns 1778 births 1857 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Writers from Tavistock English male poets Clergy from Devon