Thomas Percival (1719–1762) was an English antiquary.

Life

The son of Richard Percival of Royton Hall, near

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, he was born there on 1 September 1719. He was brought up a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, but joined 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 Britai ...

A Whig in politics, he was an advocate of the

Hanoverian succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

. Percival was elected Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

on 25 November 1756, and Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

on 12 June 1760. He died in December 1762, and was buried in St. Paul's Church,

Royton Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...

Works

In 1748 Percival wrote two pamphlets in opposition to local

High Church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

clergy: ''A Letter to the Reverend the Clergy of the Collegiate Church of Manchester'', and ''Manchester Politics: a Dialogue between Mr. Trueblew and Mr. Whiglove''. He attacked in particular

John Clayton John Clayton may refer to: Arts and entertainment Writing *John Clayton (architect) (died 1861), English architect and writer *John Bell Clayton and Martha Clayton, John Bell Clayton (c. 1907–1955), American writer *John Clayton (sportswriter) ( ...

, who had demonstrated Jacobite sympathies during the 1745 rebellion. In this he was following up

Josiah Owen Josiah Owen (1711?–1755) was a Welsh Presbyterian minister in north England, known as a controversialist. Life Owen was born about 1711, a nephew of James Owen (1654–1706) and Charles Owen. He is generally said to have been the son of their ...

and his ''Jacobite and Non-juring Principles freely Examined'' (1747). In 1758 Percival took part with some weavers in a dispute with their masters about wages. He published about his experiences ''A Letter to a Friend occasioned by the late Dispute betwixt the Check-Makers of Manchester and their Weavers; and the Check-Makers' Ill-usage of the Author'', Halifax, 1759. Percival wrote about Roman roads in '' Philosophical Transactions'' and '' Archæologia'', and discovered that

Kinderton Kinderton is an electoral ward in Middlewich, Cheshire, England. Kinderton was also historically the name of a township in Middlewich on the opposite side of the River Croco from the current ward. In the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wale ...

was the site of the Roman salt production centre ''Condate''. Some of the plans of ancient remains given in John Aikin's ''Country round Manchester'' were drawn by him.

Family

Percival married Martha, daughter of Major Benjamin Gregge of Chamber Hall, Oldham. She died in 1760, aged 45. Their only child Katherine, married Joseph Pickford of Alt Hill, Lancashire. Pickford was later known as Sir Joseph Radcliffe, 1st Baronet, of Milnesbridge, Yorkshire, and it was to him that Percival's collection of manuscript pedigrees and other papers passed.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Percival, Thomas 1719 births 1762 deaths English antiquarians Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London