John Carr (1722–1807) was a

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

born schoolmaster and writer. Cuthbert Sharp, in his " The Bishoprick Garland” of 1834 and many other sources give the dates as 1732-1807 and age 75 at the time of his death

Early life

John Carr LL.D. was born in Muggleswick,

in 1722 (or 1732 - see above). He was the son of a local farmer and was educated firstly at the village school and privately by the local curate Rev Daniel Watson, then later at St Paul’s School where he remained longer than most as his parents could not afford a place at University. He became a master at

Hertford Grammar School Richard Hale School is a boys' secondary school located in Hertford in the south east of England. In the 2014–2015 academic year, the school had over 1,000 pupils including students attending the optional sixth form, which is also open to gi ...

and eventually received a degree of LL.D. from Marischal College, Aberdeen

Later life

He died on 6 June 1807 after an illness lasting almost a year and was buried in St. John’s church,

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

. On the headstone is an epitaph in Latin, written by himself.

Family

His father and mother were William and Ann Carr. He had a younger brother Joseph, who became the Rev. Joseph Carr who died in

Allenheads Allenheads is a former mining village in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland, England. Lead extraction was the settlement's industry until the mine closed in the late 19th century. Allenheads, which is above sea level, is si ...

, Northumberland 27 April 1806 aged 60 years. He also had a brother, William T. Carr, to whom he dedicated a poem in his 1807 edition. John Carr was married to Mary, but his wife predeceased him, as the memorial plaques All Saints, Hertford records:-

"Beneath this stone is interred the body of Mary Carr, wife of John Carr, of Hertford, LL.D who died 20th Jan 1793, aged 58”. South Panel of the same “Here are deposited the remains of said John Carr, many years Master of the Free Grammar school of this town, who departed this life 6 June 1807, aged 76 yrs”.

Legacy

Possibly his main legacy is his "Translation of

Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...

" from ancient Greek language, on which he spent almost 25 years from 1773 to 1798. This was published in 5 volumes. At the time it was considered to be of great importance in the literary world, but this importance has since diminished with the appearance of other more classical translations.

Other works

Dr. Carr considered his other works to be mere trifles on which he set little value. These included :- * Vol. III of Tristram Shandy – an imitation of the original by Laurence Sterne M.A., 1760 * "Filial Piety" a mock heroic, 1763 * Extract of a Private Letter to a Critic, 1764 * Eponi-na, a Dramatic Essay, addressed to the ladies, 1765 * Ode to the River Derwent – with its 40 verses. This appears in The Bishoprick Garland of 1834 by Sir Cuthbert Sharp

References

Notes

Douglas in ''History of the Baptist Churches in the North of England'' has further, though contradictory, details of Carr's family.

External links

Chalmers Biography vol. 8, p. 281

The Bishoprick Garland

Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century volume VIII by John Nichols

Bibliotheca Britannia by Robert Watt M.D. 1824 – page 196
* Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Carr, John (1732-1807) https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/4748 {{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, John 1722 births 1807 deaths 18th-century English non-fiction writers 18th-century English male writers 18th-century English writers English dramatists and playwrights English male poets English translators Geordie songwriters People from County Durham (district) Burials in Hertfordshire English male dramatists and playwrights English male non-fiction writers 18th-century British translators