Thomas Wilson (1747–1813) was an English cleric, known as master of Clitheroe grammar school.

Life

The son of William and Isabella Wilson, he was born at

Priest Hutton Priest Hutton is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is located north east of Carnforth, in the City of Lancaster, close to the boundary with Cumbria. In the 2001 census Priest Hutton had a population of 177, increasing to 1 ...

, in the parish of Warton, near Lancaster, on 3 Dec. 1747, and educated at Archbishop Hutton's Grammar School, in Warton, and Sedbergh Grammar School. At Sedbergh he was an assistant under Dr. Wynne Bateman from 1768 to 1771. Wilson was ordained deacon at Westminster on 13 January 1771, and priest at Chester on 2 August 1772. In the following June he was licensed as headmaster of

Slaidburn Slaidburn () is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The parish covers just over 5,000 acres of the Forest of Bowland. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Slaidburn lies near the head of ...

grammar school, and in June 1775 became master of Clitheroe grammar school, Lancashire, and incumbent of the parochial chapel of the town. In 1779 Wilson entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, and he took the degree of B.D. there in 1795, as a

ten-year man A ten-year man was a category of mature student at the University of Cambridge. Under the University's statutes of 1570, a man over twenty-four could proceed to a Bachelor of Divinity, BD degree ten years after matriculation without first gaining ...

under an Elizabethan statute. In 1807 he was appointed rector of Claughton, near Lancaster. The living was provided by

Thomas Fenwick Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

of Borough Hall, Westmorland, a former pupil. Towards the end of the eighteenth century Wilson became friends with

Thomas Dunham Whitaker Thomas Dunham Whitaker (1759–1821) was an English clergyman and topographer. Life Born at Raynham, Norfolk, on 8 June 1759, he was the son of William Whitaker (1730–1782), curate of Raynham, Norfolk, and his wife Lucy, daughter of Robert Du ...

, and joined his literary club. He was a successful schoolmaster, a versifier, and a social favourite, wit and raconteur, fond of

punning A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic ...

. Wilson died on 3 March 1813, and was buried in the chancel of Bolton-by-Bowland church, where a tablet was erected with a Latin inscription by Whitaker. It copied from a monument put up by Wilson's pupils in Clitheroe church.

Works

Wilson published in 1782 an ''Archæological Dictionary, or Classical Antiquities of Jews, Greeks, and Romans''. It was dedicated to

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

. Two of his assize sermons (1789 and 1804) were printed. His ''Lancashire Bouquet'' and other occasional verses were circulated in manuscript. They were collected and printed in 1857, along with his correspondence, by Francis Robert Raines for the Chetham Society.

Family

Wilson married, on 29 April 1775, Susannah Tetlow of Skirden, widow of Henry Nowell, rector of

Bolton-by-Bowland Bolton-by-Bowland is a village and civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. Before 1974, the village was part of Bowland Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the census of 2001, the parish ha ...

. She was 44, and he 28.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Thomas 1747 births 1813 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests 18th-century English educators Schoolteachers from Lancashire 19th-century English Anglican priests