Rev. Luke Booker (20 October 1762 – 1 October 1835)

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

, FRLS was an English

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman, poet and

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, with a long list of published sermons and poetry. As a cleric he was strongly linked with the town of

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, then an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

Early years

Booker was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England. As a young man, he pursued the religious studies of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, and took Holy Orders in 1785.

Frederick Cornwallis Frederick Cornwallis (5 March 1713 – 19 March 1783) served as Archbishop of Canterbury, after an illustrious career in the Anglican Church. He was born the seventh son of an aristocratic family. His twin brother Edward Cornwallis had a mili ...

Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West M ...

ordained Booker without a title.

Career

Shortly after his ordination, Booker became a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

St Peter's Collegiate Church St Peter's Collegiate Church is located in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate chur ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, after which he became a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

Oldswinford The name Oldswinford is now used for a small area of Stourbridge, close to the parish church. History Originally, it was an extensive ancient parish, covering the whole of the former Municipal Borough of Stourbridge, except Pedmore. This include ...

. Then for many years he served as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of Church of St. Edmund in

. In 1806, he became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Tedstone Delamere Tedstone Delamere is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, north-east of Bromyard. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 138. The etymology of the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon, Teodic after whom the villages ...

, after an introduction by his brother-in-law,

Richard Blakemore Richard Blakemore (8 August 1775 – 17 April 1855), MP was an ironmaster and politician. Born in the West Midlands region of England, he held seats in southern Wales at The Leys, near Monmouth, and Velindre House, in Whitchurch, Cardiff. ...

. He returned to Dudley in 1812 through his association with William Lord Viscount Dudley and Ward. Booker laid the cornerstone for Dudley's St Thomas Church on 25 October 1816. He remained at Dudley until shortly before his death, having preached 173 sermons. During the

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, Booker was one of the Chaplains in Ordinary to

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. A charity preacher and an early contributor to the ''Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine'', Booker was a prolific publisher of poems and sermons, and at least one play. In 1823, he edited ''Poetical Blossoms'' by poet

Robert Millhouse Robert Millhouse (1788–1839) was an English Spenserian poet, born in Nottingham, England. Contemporaneously compared to Robert Bloomfield and John Clare, he too obtained some fame as a provincial poet, though his own life was affected by h ...

. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

, and a philanthropist. Booker also served as

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the counties of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, and

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

Personal life

Booker married four times. One marriage was to Ann, daughter of Thomas Blakemore. Ann and Luke Booker had two children. The son, Thomas William Booker, was adopted by Blakemore, raised at

Melingriffith Tin Plate Works The Melingriffith Tin Plate Works (alternate: Melingriffith Tin and Iron Works; Welsh, ''Melingruffydd''; translation, "Griffith's Mill") were post medieval tin and iron works located on Tŷ-mawr Road, in Whitchurch, Cardiff, Wales. Founded s ...

, and became MP for

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

. The daughter was Harriet-Esther Booker. Booker died at

Bower Ashton Bower Ashton is a small district in south west Bristol on the western boundary with North Somerset, lying within the Southville, Bristol, Southville ward, approximately two miles from the city centre. Ashton Court estate, a recreational area ow ...

, England on 1 October 1835. William J. Pringle's portrait of him is in the Dudley Museum's collection.

Political views

During his time at Dudley, Booker became involved in the controversy over political reform. In particular, he opposed the enfranchisement of Dudley both before and after the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...

had allowed the voters of Dudley to elect an MP for the first time in modern history.

Selected works

*''The Highlanders, a poem'', 1778 *''Poems on subjects sacred, moral, and entertaining'', 2 vols, 1785 *''A Sermon, preached in the parish church of old Swinford, Worcestershire'', 1788 *''Miscellaneous Poems'', 1789 *''A Sermon, preached at St. Edmund's church, in Dudley; and published for the purpose of erecting a monument'', 1791 *''Britain's Happiness; an assize sermon ... exhibiting an historical review of providential interpositions in favour of the British Empire'', 1792 *''A Sermon preached in the parish church of St. Thomas; at Dudley ... and an address to the common people, &c. on the subject of riots'', 1793 *''Sermons on various subjects'', 1793 *''Malvern, a descriptive and historical poem'', 1798 *''The Hop-Garden, a didactic poem'', 1799 *''A Discourse, (addressed chiefly to parents) on the duty and advantages of inoculating children'', 1802 *''Calista; or, a picture of modern life'', 1803 *''Poems'', 1803 *''Tobias, a poem'', 1805 *''A Moral Review of the Conduct and Case of Mary Ashford, in refutation of the arguments adduced in defence of her supposed violator and murderer'', 1818 *''The Foundations of a Kingdom Endangered by Iniquity, and its ruin prevented by righteousness'', 1820 *''Euthanasia; or, the state of man after death'', 1822 *''A Descriptive and Historical Account of Dudley Castle, and its surrounding scenery; with graphic illustrations'', 1825 *''Tributes to the Dead, consisting of ... epitaphs'', 1830 *''The Champion of Cyrus: a drama'', 1831 *''The Springs of Plynlimmon: a poem'', 1834

References

External links

Oil painting of Luke Booker by William J. Pringle, part of the Dudley Museums Service collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booker, Luke 1762 births 1837 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests 19th-century English Anglican priests People from Nottingham English male poets