James Carkesse (c.1636–after 1683) was an English naval official and schoolteacher, a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

now known for poetry written in Bethlem Hospital and an asylum in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...

Life

Carkesse was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. He became head of Magdalen College School, in 1663, and was elected F.R.S. in 1664. He worked in the Naval Office in London later in the 1660s, clerking under William Brouncker in 1666. There he was known to

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

, and Pepys's ''Diary'' gives details of Carkesse and his dismissal from the office in 1667 and reinstatement. He finally lost his position, in 1673. In the later 1670s he became delusional, and wrote a volume ''Lucida intervalla'' (1679) of doggerel verse, by which he is now remembered. He was confined in the private asylum of

Thomas Allen Thomas Allen may refer to: Clergy *Thomas Allen (nonconformist) (1608–1673), Anglican/nonconformist priest in England and New England *Thomas Allen (dean of Chester) (died 1732) *Thomas Allen (scholar) (1681–1755), Anglican priest in England * ...

at Finsbury, and then in the Bethlem Hospital, as indicated by the subtitle of the book. In 1683 he was head of

Chelmsford School King Edward VI Grammar School, or KEGS, is a British grammar school with academy status located in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It takes pupils between the ages of 11 and 18, ie. school years 7 to 13. For years 7 to 11 the school is bo ...

.Allan Ingram, ''Patterns of Madness in the Eighteenth Century: a reader'' (1998), p. 22
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carkesse, James 1636 births Date of death unknown Fellows of the Royal Society English male poets