John Hildrop (30 December 1682 – 18 January 1756) was an English

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, known as a religious writer and essayist. Hildrop authored one of the earliest works on

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

Life

Hildrop was born in

Petersfield, Hampshire Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

, the son of William Hildrop. He was educated at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

, where he graduated B.A. on 7 July 1702, M.A. on 8 June 1705, B.D. and D.D. on 9 June 1743. On 14 April 1703 Hildrop was presented to the mastership of the

Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School, previously known as Marlborough Grammar School and King Edward's School, Marlborough, was a grammar school in the town of Marlborough, in Wiltshire, England, founded in 1550. Originally for boys only, the sc ...

Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (later styled Aylesbury) and 3rd Earl of Elgin (1656 – 16 December 1741), styled Lord Bruce between 1663 and 1685, was an English politician and memoirist. He was the son of Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin, ...

; he was also rector of

Maulden Maulden is a village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire. The village is located 1.5 miles east of Ampthill and about south of Bedford. It has about 1,250 homes and 3130 residents. Maulden is referred to in the Domesday Book ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. He resigned the mastership on 4 December 1733, and the rectory on 23 March 1734. On 13 April 1734 he was instituted to the rectory of Wath-juxta-Ripon on the presentation of Charles, Lord Bruce, whose chaplain he was. In 1740 Hildrop became one of the regular contributors to the ''

Weekly Miscellany Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any newspaper published on a weekly schedule *Alternative newspaper, als ...

''. He died on 18 January 1756. He was a friend and correspondent of

Zachary Grey Zachary Grey (6 May 1688 – 1766) was an English priest, controversialist, and conservative spokesman for the Church of England. He was also an editor, commentator on William Shakespeare, and critic of dissenter historians. Life Grey was the ...

Animal rights

Hildrop authored ''Thoughts Upon the Brute-Creation'', in 1742. The book aimed to defend animals against abuse and to demonstrate their place in Biblical creation. The book strongly criticized and rejected the view held by French Jesuit

Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant, known as le Père Bougeant (4 November 1690, Quimper, Brittany – 17 January 1743, Paris) was a French Jesuit and historian. Bougeant entered the Society of Jesus in 1706, taught classics in the College of Caen and ...

that animals have no reason, moral status or souls.Bekoff, Marc; Meaney, Carron A. (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare''. Routledge. p. 188. It has been described as the "earliest premodern zoophile treatise" and "one of the earliest pleas for animal rights".Perkins, David. (2003). ''Romanticism and Animal Rights''. Cambridge University Press. p. 28.

Works

Under the pseudonyms "Phileleutherus Britannicus" and "Timothy Hooker", and anonymously, Hildrop published satirical essays, mainly directed against the

Deists Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of t ...

. Some of these were reprinted as ''The Miscellaneous Works of John Hildrop, D.D.'', London, 1754, 2 vols. and comprise: * ''An Essay for the better Regulation and Improvement of Free-Thinking''. * ''An Essay on Honour''.
''Free Thoughts upon the Brute Creation or an Examination of Father Bougeant's "Philosophical Amusement"''
an attempt to prove that lower animals have souls in a state of degradation consequent upon the fall of man. * ''A Modest Apology for the Ancient and Honourable Family of the Wrongheads''. * ''A Letter to a Member of Parliament containing a Proposal for bringing in a Bill to revise, amend, or repeal certain obsolete Statutes commonly called the Ten Commandments''. This is a ''jeu d'esprit'', on its first appearance attributed to

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

. It was reprinted in 1834, London. * ''The Contempt of the Clergy considered'', an argument for the removal of the Church from state control. * ''Some Memoirs of the Life of Simon Shallow''. Other work by Hildrop are: * ''Reflections upon Reason'', London, 1722, a satire on

free-thinking Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other metho ...

, attributed at first to

Francis Gastrell Francis Gastrell (10 May 1662 – 24 November 1725) was Bishop of Chester and a writer on deism. He was a friend of Jonathan Swift, mentioned several times in ''A Journal to Stella'', and chaplain to Robert Harley, when Harley was Speaker of th ...

, and discussed by Thomas Morgan in ''Enthusiasm in Distress'', London, 1722. * ''A Caveat against Popery; being a seasonable Preservative against Romish Delusions and Jacobitism now industriously spread throughout the Nation'', London, 1735. * ''A Commentary upon the Second Psalm'', London, 1742.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildrop, John 1682 births 1756 deaths Doctors of Divinity English animal rights scholars 18th-century English Anglican priests English essayists English satirists People from Petersfield