Edward King (161210 August 1637) is the subject of John Milton's poem "

Lycidas "Lycidas" () is a poem by John Milton, written in 1637 as a pastoral elegy. It first appeared in a 1638 collection of elegies, ''Justa Edouardo King Naufrago'', dedicated to the memory of Edward King, a friend of Milton at Cambridge who dro ...

". King was born in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1612, the son of Sir John King, a member of a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

family who had migrated to Ireland, and Catherine Drury (died 1617), daughter of Robert Drury and a grand-niece of Sir

William Drury Sir William Drury (2 October 152713 October 1579) was an English statesman and soldier. Family William Drury, born at Hawstead in Suffolk on 2 October 1527, was the third son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503–1577) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamsh ...

Lord President of Munster The post of Lord President of Munster was the most important office in the English government of the Irish province of Munster from its introduction in the Elizabethan era for a century, to 1672, a period including the Desmond Rebellions in Munste ...

. Sir John was Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper and MP for

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

, a valued servant of the Crown and a major landowner. Edward was one of nine children: his siblings included Sir Robert King of

Boyle Abbey Boyle Abbey ( ga, Mainistir na Búille) is a ruined Cistercian friary located in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. It was founded by Saint Malachy in the 12th century. History In the 12th century, Saint Malachy became aware of two new mona ...

and the writer Dorothy Dury. Edward King was admitted a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge, on 9 June 1626, and four years later was elected a fellow. Milton, though two years his senior and himself anxious to secure a fellowship, became his close friend as well as his rival. King served from 1633 to 1634 as praelector and tutor of his college, and was to have entered the church. His career, however, was cut short by the tragedy which inspired Milton's verse. In 1637 he set out for Ireland to visit his family, but the ship in which he was sailing struck on a rock near the Welsh coast, and King was drowned. Of his own writings many

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

poems contributed to different collections of Cambridge verse survive, but they are not of sufficient merit to explain the esteem in which he was held.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Edward 1612 births 1637 deaths British poets Deaths due to shipwreck Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom Accidental deaths in Wales Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge British male poets