John Worsley (30 March 1696, Hertford – 16 December 1767, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England) was an English schoolmaster and scholar of classical Greek. He made a translation of the New Testament, which was published in 1770.

Life and works

He was for fifty years a successful schoolmaster at

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 ...

, with a school run in

Hertford Castle Hertford Castle was built in Norman times by the River Lea in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire, England. Most of the internal buildings of the castle have been demolished. The main surviving section is the Tudor gatehouse, which is ...

. Worsley made a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

, into contemporary English, supposed to be the first such translation since the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

. It omitted the traditional division into verses. After his death it was published by subscription in 1770, as ''The New Testament or New Covenant'', edited by Matthew Bradshaw and one of the author's sons, Samuel Worsley (22 September 1740 – 7 March 1800). The system of substitutions for words, such as "mote", no longer current in spoken English, by "chaff" or "splinter", met with approval from the ''

Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

''. Other works by Worsley were grammatical tables (1736), and ''Exemplaria Latino-Anglica'' (1745). A ''Short, Plain and Comprehensive Grammar for the Latin Tongue'' was published in 1771.

Family

In , John married Grace Hughes (2 November 1696 – 23 October 1786), great-granddaughter of George Hughes (clergyman). Another son, also called John Worsley (died 1807), was his successor as schoolmaster, and was the father of

Israel Worsley Israel Worsley (1768−1836) was an English Unitarian minister. Born at Hertford in 1768, Israel Worsley entered at Daventry Academy in 1786, under Thomas Belsham who made him a Unitarian. In December 1790 a committee of merchants at Dunkirk ( ...

References

1767 deaths English classical scholars Schoolteachers from Hertfordshire New Testament scholars Translators of the Bible into English 1696 births English male writers 18th-century translators {{England-academic-bio-stub