John Horsley FRS (1685 – 12 January 1732) was a British antiquarian, known primarily for his book ''Britannia Romana'' or ''The Roman Antiquities of Britain'' which was published in 1732.

Early life

John Hodgson, in a memoir published in 1831, held that Horsley was born in 1685, at

Pinkie House Pinkie may refer to: Biology * Pinky finger or little finger * Pinkie, a baby mouse used as a food for exotic pets * Bilby or pinkie, an animal in Southern Australia * Pinkie, a rosemary cultivar People * Pinkie Barnes (1915–2012), English ...

, in the parish of

Inveresk Inveresk (Gaelic: ''Inbhir Easg'') is a village in East Lothian, Scotland situated to the south of Musselburgh. It has been designated a conservation area since 1969. It is situated on slightly elevated ground on the north bank of a loop o ...

, Midlothian, and that his father was a Northumberland nonconformist, who had migrated to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, but returned to England soon after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. John Hodgson Hinde, in the '' Archaeologia Aeliana'' of February 1865, held that he was a native of

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

, the son of Charles Horsley, a member of the Tailors' Company of the town. David Boyd Haycock writing in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' comments that none of the suggestions made for Horsley's background is verifiable. He was educated at the

Royal Grammar School, Newcastle (By Learning, You Will Lead) , established = , closed = , type = Grammar SchoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Geoffrey Stanford , r_head_label = , r_head = , chair_label = , cha ...

and at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, where he graduated MA on 29 April 1701. There is evidence that he "was settled in

Morpeth Morpeth may refer to: *Morpeth, New South Wales, Australia ** Electoral district of Morpeth, a former electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in New South Wales * Morpeth, Ontario, Canada * Morpeth, Northumberland, England, UK ** Morpeth (UK ...

as 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 ...

minister as early as 1709." Hodgson, however, thought that up to 1721, at which time he was residing at Widdrington, "he had not received ordination, but preached as a licentiate."

Educator

Horsley communicated to the '' Philosophical Transactions'' notes on the rainfall at Widdrington in the years 1722 and 1723. At Morpeth Horsley opened a private school, attracting pupils irrespective of religious connection, among them

Newton Ogle Newton Ogle (1726 – 1804) was a Church of England clergyman and member of the landowning Ogle family. The son of Nathaniel Ogle and Elizabeth Newton, he served as a prebendary of Durham Cathedral and from 1769 to 1804 as Dean of Winchester. His ...

, later

dean of Winchester The Dean of Winchester is the head of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral in the city of Winchester, England, in the Diocese of Winchester. Appointment is by the Crown. The first incumbent was the last Prior, William Kingsmill, Catherine Ogl ...

. He gave lectures on

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to object ...

and

hydrostatics Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body "fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imme ...

in Morpeth, Alnwick and Newcastle, and was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

on 23 April 1730, or in May, 1729.

Death

Horsley died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

on 12 January 1732, on the eve of the publication of the ''Britannia Romana'' and was buried in Morpeth.

Family

He married Anne Hamilton daughter of Rev William Hamilton, minister of

Cramond Cramond Village (; gd, Cathair Amain) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman ac ...

near

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and later Principal of

Works

It is as an archaeologist and antiquarian that Horsley is now known. His major work, ''Britannia Romana'', or ''The Roman Antiquities of Britain'' was published in 1732. One of Horsley's achievements in this book was to identify for the first time which

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

s of the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

were stationed in Britain. There was 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 ...

a copy with notes by John Ward. He also published two sermons and a handbook to his lectures on mechanics, etc., and projected a history of Northumberland and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, collections for which were found among his papers.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horsley, John 1685 births 1732 deaths People from Morpeth, Northumberland People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne British antiquarians British historians Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of the University of Edinburgh