:''To be distinguished from his grandson

William Popple (colonial administrator) William Popple (1701–1764) was an English official, dramatist and Governor of Bermuda. Life He was the youngest of three sons of William Popple of the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, who died in 1722, and his wife Anne; William Popple ( ...

(1701–1764), government official and writer''. William Popple (1638–1708) was an English Unitarian merchant, the translator of John Locke's ''

A Letter Concerning Toleration ''A Letter Concerning Toleration'' by John Locke was originally published in 1689. Its initial publication was in Latin, and it was immediately translated into other languages. Locke's work appeared amidst a fear that Catholicism might be taking ...

''.C. Robbins ''Absolute Liberty: The Life and Thought of William Popple'', 1638-1708 Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society, V 1967

Life

He was son of Edmund Popple, sheriff of Hull in 1638, who married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Andrew Marvell, and sister of

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

the poet; he was therefore the nephew of Marvell, under whose guidance he was educated, and with whom he corresponded. He became a London merchant, and in 1676 was residing at

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. Ten years later, he dated from there a small expository work, entitled ''A Rational Catechism'' (London, 1687). He was appointed secretary to the board of trade in 1696, and became intimate with John Locke (a commissioner of the board from 1696 to 1700), whose ''Letter'' on toleration he was the first to translate from the Latin (London, 1689). Some manuscript translations in his hand are in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(Add. MS. 8888). He died in 1708, in the parish of St Clement Danes; his widow Mary was living in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

in 1709.

References

;Attribution

External links

* 1638 births 1708 deaths English Unitarians {{England-bio-stub