Thomas Batchelor (1775–1838) was an English farmer, writer on dialect and agriculture, and poet.

Life

Batchelor was born at

Marston Moretaine Marston Moreteyne (or Marston Moretaine) is a large English village and civil parish located on the A421 between Bedford and Milton Keynes in the county of Bedfordshire. The population was 4,560 at the 2001 census, and 4,556 at the 2011 census ...

, Bedfordshire, into a farming family, the son of Joseph Batchelor and his wife Ann Brandon. The Batchelors from 1792 were tenant farmers at Boughton End. The family finances were difficult, and Batchelor, though not highly educated, sought an income from writing. Initially he was a poet, published in ''

The Monthly Mirror ''The Monthly Mirror'' was an English literary periodical, published from 1795 to 1811, founded by Thomas Bellamy, and later jointly owned by Thomas Hill and John Litchfield. It was published by Vernor & Hood from the second half of 1798. The ''M ...

'' in 1801, and with a book ''Village Scenes'' appearing in 1804. He wrote agricultural articles under the name "Bedfordshire".

Language study

In studying dialect, Batchelor followed

orthoepy Orthoepy is the study of pronunciation of a particular language, within a specific oral tradition. The term is from the Greek ὀρθοέπεια, from ὀρθός ''orthos'' ("correct") and ἔπος ''epos'' ("speech"). The antonym is '' cacoepy' ...

, and documented the

Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...

. He has been praised by Arne Zettersten, in particular for his independence of thought. He did take something from the works of John Walker. He concentrated on the Bedfordshire dialect, publishing in 1807 two works on orthoepy, one concerned with the dialect, bound together. They met with criticism in 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 ...

'', in 1810. A great-nephew of Thomas Gurney, Batchelor recorded conversations in shorthand, and invented an orthoepical alphabet.

Surveys for the Board of Agriculture

In the

General View of Agriculture county surveys The ''General View'' series of county surveys was an initiative of the Board of Agriculture of Great Britain, of the early 1790s. Many of these works had second editions, in the 1810s. The Board, set up by Sir John Sinclair, was generally a pro ...

, Batchelor published ''General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford'' (1808). He also worked on

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, where his survey was edited and published by

William Stevenson William Stevenson may refer to: Government and politics * Sir William Stevenson (colonial administrator) (1805–1863), Governor of Mauritius * William E. Stevenson (1820–1883), American politician, Governor of West Virginia * William Ernest St ...

(1814).

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelor, Thomas People from Marston Moreteyne English male poets Linguists from the United Kingdom 18th-century English farmers 1775 births 1838 deaths 19th-century English farmers