Samuel Shuckford (1693?–1754) was an English cleric, antiquarian, and mythographer.

Life

The son of Samuel Shuckford of

Palgrave, Suffolk Palgrave is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located on the south bank of the River Waveney, opposite Diss and adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line. Palgrave has a small primary sch ...

, he was born at

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

about 1694, and educated at the grammar schools of Norwich and

Botesdale Botesdale is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. The village is about south west of Diss, south of Norwich and north east of Bury St Edmunds. The village of Rickinghall merges with Bote ...

, Suffolk. From 1712 to 1719 he was scholar of Caius College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1716 and M.A. in 1720, and later being awarded the

Lambeth degree A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 (25 Hen VIII c 21) (Eng) as successor of the papal legate in England. The degrees conferred most commonl ...

of D.D. Shuckford was ordained deacon on 16 June 1717, and priest on 28 October 1718. In 1722 he was presented to the rectory of Shelton, Norfolk, which he resigned in 1746. He held with it the living of Hardwick, and was also vicar of Seething and Mundham, Norfolk. He was instituted to the tenth prebend in

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

on 21 March 1738. Subsequently he was given the living of All Saints, Lombard Street, London; and was one of George II's chaplains. Shuckford died on 14 July 1754, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

Works

Shuckford's major work was ''The Sacred and Profane History of the World, connected from the creation of the world to the dissolution of the Assyrian empire at the death of Sardanapalus, and to the declension of the kingdom of Judah and Israel, under the reigns of Ahaz and Pekah'', 2 vols. 1728. This work was intended to serve as an introduction to

Humphrey Prideaux Humphrey Prideaux (3 May 1648 – 1 November 1724) was a Cornish churchman and orientalist, Dean of Norwich from 1702. His sympathies inclined to Low Churchism in religion and to Whiggism in politics. Life The third son of Edmond Prideaux, he was ...

's ''Old and New Testament Connected''; it was reprinted, 3 vols., London, 1731–40; 4 vols. London, 1743 seq.; London, 1754; 4 vols. 1808, edited by

Adam Clarke Adam Clarke (176226 August 1832) was a British Methodist theologian who served three times as President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference (1806–07, 1814–15 and 1822–23). A biblical scholar, he published an influential Bible commentary ...

; new edition, with ''The Creation and Fall of Man'' (1753), 2 vols. Oxford, 1810. There was another edition of both works with notes and analyses, by

James Talboys Wheeler James Talboys Wheeler (Oxford, December 1824 – Ramsgate, 13 January 1897) was a bureaucrat-historian of the British Raj. Early life and career James Talboys Wheeler was born in Oxford 22 or 23 December 1824. His parents were James Luft Wheele ...

, 2 vols. London, 1858. Shuckford's approach to

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

has been called "a sobering example of the literalist mentality". ''A Connection of Sacred and Profane History, from the death of Joshua to the decline of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (intended to complete the works of Shuckford and Prideaux)'', by Michael Russell, appeared in 3 vols. London, 1827.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Shuckford, Samuel 1693 births 1754 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests English antiquarians Mythographers Antiquarians from Norwich Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Burials at Canterbury Cathedral People from Shelton and Hardwick Clergy from Norwich