Thomas Alcock (1709 – 24 August 1798) was a

clergy 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 ...

man in 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 ...

, a pluralist and an author.

Early life

He was born at

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre. History Aston wa ...

, near

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

the third son of David Alcock and his wife Mary née Breck. David Alcock was a descendant of Bishop John Alcock, the founder of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

. Thomas was educated at Boteler Grammar School Warrington, then matriculated from

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

in 1728, proceeded

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1731 and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1741.Woodland, Patrick, ‘Alcock, Thomas (1709–1798)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 200

accessed 1 March 2007

Ministry

He was licensed as

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 ...

Stonehouse, Plymouth East Stonehouse was one of three towns that were amalgamated into modern-day Plymouth. West Stonehouse was a village that is within the current Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall. It was destroyed by the French in 1350. The terminology used ...

in 1731. In November 1732 he began acting as the minister of the nearby parish of

St Budeaux St Budeaux is an area and ward in the north west of Plymouth in the English county of Devon. Original settlement The name St Budeaux comes from Saint Budoc, the Bishop of Dol (Brittany). Around 480, Budoc is said to have founded a settlement ...

to which he was officially licensed the following year. He was also instituted 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 Runcorn in 1756 and ran this parish as a pluralist with the aid of curates. He was a Cheshire J.P. but continued to spend most of his time in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and only returned to Runcorn towards the end of his life. He became popular locally, particularly when he omitted to collect

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

s. He was also noted for his eccentric habits, his

spartan Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...

lifestyle, and his kindness to the poor to whom he also acted as doctor and lawyer. In 1769 the living of

St Andrew, Plymouth The Minster Church of St Andrew, also known as St Andrew's Church, Plymouth is an Anglican church in Plymouth. It is the original parish church of Sutton, one of the three towns which were later combined to form the city of Plymouth. The church i ...

became vacant and Alcock expected to be elected to it. He was unsuccessful and refused to preach his regular sermon at the church or indeed to enter the church again. In 1771 he helped to purchase land at Weston Peverel to provide a master for the St Budeaux

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

and to clothe the poor. In 1769 he was granted the freedom of the borough of

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

Farmer and cidermaker

Thomas Alcock farmed at Ernesettle and described himself as ‘A Cydermaker’. He attacked the excise duty on

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

and this was

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

ed in 1766. It had been suggested that a severe

colic Colic or cholic () is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube ( small and large intestine, gall bladder, ureter, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content out ...

peculiar to Devon was the result of

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. The brain is the most sensitive. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inferti ...

from the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

es, pipework, and storage vessels of cider. This was refuted by Alcock who argued that the colic resulted only from the small

shot Shot may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard *''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck *''Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy * "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus * ''Shot'' (2017 fi ...

used in bottle cleansing.

Personal and family life

He married Mary Harwood of Ernesettle, Plymouth and through his marriage he obtained considerable property locally. The marriage was childless and Mary died in 1777. Alcock married again at the age of 78 and returned to Runcorn where he died in 1798. His estate included £20,000 in 3% consols as well as land and property in Runcorn. After the death of his brother

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

in 1779, Thomas produced ''Some Memoirs of the Life of Dr Nathan''. In 1796 he also edited and arranged for the publication of Nathan's ''The Rise of Mahomet, Accounted for on Natural and Civil Principles''.

Publications

*''Observations on the Defects of the Poor Laws'' (1752) *''Remarks on Two Bills for the Better Maintenance of the Poor'' (1752) *''Observations on that Part of the Late Act of Parliament which Lays an Additional Duty on Cider'' (1763) *''Cursory Remarks on Dr. Baker's Essay on the Endemial Colic in Devon'' (1767) *''The Endemial Colic of Devon not Caused by a Solution of Lead in the Cyder'' (1769)

References

Citations Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcock, Rev Thomas 18th-century English farmers English non-fiction writers Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford People from Runcorn 1709 births 1798 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests English male non-fiction writers