John Entick (c.1703 – May 1773) was an English schoolmaster and author. He was largely a
hack writer
''Hack writer'' is a pejorative term for a writer who is paid to write low-quality, rushed articles or books "to order", often with a short deadline. In fiction writing, a hack writer is paid to quickly write sensational, "pulp" fiction such as " ...
, working for
Edward Dilly, and he padded his credentials with a bogus M.A. and a portrait in clerical dress; some of his works had a more lasting value. In the leading case ''
Entick v Carrington'' of 1765 he won a legal victory as plaintiff that defined the limits of
executive power
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state.
In political system ...
in the view of the English judiciary.
Life
He was probably born about 1703, and resided in the parish of
St. Dunstan's, Stepney. In 1755 he agreed with
John Shebbeare
John Shebbeare (1709–1788) was a British Tory political satirist.
Life
He was the eldest son of an attorney and corn-factor of Bideford, Devonshire. A hundred and a village in Devon, where the family had owned land, bear their name. Shebbea ...
and Jonathan Scott to write for their anti-ministerial paper, ''
The Monitor'', appearing every Saturday, at a salary of £200 a year; and his attacks on the government caused his house to be entered and his papers seized under a general warrant in November 1762. He sued the authorities for illegal seizure over this, claiming £2,000 in damages, and obtained a verdict for £300 in 1765.
He died at
Stepney
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...
, where he was buried, on 22 May 1773, being about seventy years old.
Works
His first publication, the ''Speculum Latinum'' (1728), was a simplified scheme to teach Latin. For his ''Evidences of Christianity'' (1729) he styled himself on its title-page student of divinity. In 1736 he issued a proposal, which fell through, to print
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
in two folio volumes, and he put M.A. after his name. In 1754 he published his ''Phaedri Fabulae'', with accents and notes.
He published in 1757 a ''New Naval History'', with lives and portraits, dedicated to Admiral
Edward Vernon
Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was an English naval officer. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 173 ...
. In 1763 he published a ''General History of the Late War.'' He issued in 1765 his ''New Spelling Dictionary'';
each edition comprised twenty thousand copies; in 1766 he brought out an edition of
William Maitland's ''Survey of London'' with additions. In 1771 appeared his ''New Latin and English Dictionary'' and an ''English Grammar''; and he is credited with a ''Ready Reckoner'', pamphlets on
freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, and a share both in the new ''Week's Preparation'' and the new ''Whole Duty of Man''. The ''Lexicon manuale græco-latinvm et latino-græcum. Studio atque opera Josephi Hill, necnon Johannis Entick'' was a revision of
Cornelis Schrevel's Lexicon as edited by
Joseph Hill. He left a large work, in four volumes, ''The Present State of the British Empire'', helped by other hands, nearly ready, which was brought out in 1774. In 1776 appeared a new edition of his ''Survey and History of London''.
William Crakelt and others edited his dictionaries repeatedly, down to 1836.
References
;Attribution
External links
''The General History of the Late War''Vol 1 Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Entick, John
1703 births
1773 deaths
English lexicographers
18th-century lexicographers