Richard Valpy (7 December 1754 – 28 March 1836) was a British schoolmaster and priest of 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 ...

Richard Valpy's tomb, Kensal Green Cemetery

Life and career

Valpy was born the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Valpy in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

. He was sent to schools in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and completed his education at Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1777 he was ordained. After holding a mastership at Bury, in 1781 he became head master of Reading Grammar School, a post which he held for 50 years. From 1787 he held also the rectory of Stradishall, Suffolk. During the early part of Valpy's long head-mastership the school flourished greatly. At least 120 boys attended it. He was the author of Greek and Latin grammars which enjoyed a large circulation. His Greek ''Delectus'' and Latin ''Delectus'' were long familiar to public school boys. He is said to have been a mighty flogger, and to have refused two bishoprics. In 1800 he was requested by his old pupils to sit for a full-length portrait and 30 years later, on the occasion of his jubilee, he was presented with a service of plate.

Mary Russell Mitford Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for '' Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characte ...

spoken of him as vainer than a peacock. The school was declining before Valpy's long reign closed. His successor was his son, Francis Valpy (1797-1882), appointed in 1830. Richard Valpy died in London. He is buried in a mausoleum in front of the main chapel in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

. A statue was erected in St Lawrence's Church to commemorate him. He was also the father of printer and publisher Abraham John Valpy and of New Zealand pioneer

William Henry Valpy William Henry Valpy (2 January 1793 – 25 September 1852) was a noted early settler of Dunedin, New Zealand. He is sometimes referred to locally as "The father of Saint Clair", as he was the first settler in the area now occupied by the suburb ...

Bowdlerisation

"The Second part of King Henry the Fourth, altered from William Shakespeare as it was acted at Reading School in October 1801. Published as it was performed for the benefit of the Humane Society" By Richard Valpy. "WHEN the First Part of King Henry the Fourth was played at Reading School, it was sufficient to curtail some tedious pages, and to omit some exceptionable expressions. In the Second Part it was absolutely necessary to do more. This Play in the original is disfigured not only with indelicate speeches, but with characters that cannot now be tolerated on a public theatre."

References

Sources

* * * "The Town of Reading during the early part of the Nineteenth century", (1910). By W. M. Childs, M.A., Principal of University College, Reading. (Available onlin
The Town of Reading during the early part of the Nineteenth century
)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valpy, Richard 1754 births 1836 deaths Heads of schools in England 18th-century English Anglican priests 19th-century English Anglican priests Jersey Anglicans Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery People from Reading, Berkshire Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Valpy-Fulton-Jeffreys family 18th-century British educators 19th-century British educators