Sir James Prior (c.1790–1869) was an Irish surgeon and writer. James Prior Eddis

Life

The son of Matthew Prior, he was born at

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

about 1790. He entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

as a surgeon, and sailed from Plymouth in the frigate HMS ''Nisus'' on 22 June 1810. His ship was stationed at

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

from November 1810 to April 1811, when he had charge of the wounded; and, after visiting the

Seychelles Islands Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, Mauritius,

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

(at the reduction of which by the British in September 1811 he was present), and Batavia, returned to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. His next expedition, also in the ''Nisus'', was to

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the fl ...

(February 1812),

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

(January 1813),

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

(October 1813), and

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

(December 1813). Prior was present at the surrender of

Heligoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...

, which was confirmed to the United Kingdom by the

treaty of Kiel The Treaty of Kiel () or Peace of Kiel ( Swedish and or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on the other side on 14 January 1814 ...

on 14 January 1814. In the same year he was ordered to accompany the first regiment of imperial Russian guards from

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, and in 1815 he was on the coast of

La Vendée LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

, and was present at the surrender of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

on 15 July. He then became staff surgeon to the Chatham division of the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

, and to three of the

royal yacht A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head. The royal yacht is most often c ...

s. His next appointment was that of assistant to the director-general of the medical department of the navy, and on 1 August 1843 he was created deputy-inspector of hospitals. Prior was elected member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

and Athenæum Club in 1830, and made a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

on 25 November that year. He was knighted at

St. James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...

on 11 June 1858. For many years before his death he resided at Norfolk Crescent, Hyde Park, London. He died at

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

on 14 November 1869.

Works

Prior's major works were biographies of

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...

and

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian e ...

. The ''Memoir of the Life and Character of Edmund Burke'' appeared in 1824, and was reissued, enlarged to two volumes, in 1826. The third edition came out in 1839, the fourth in 1846, and, after it had been revised by the author, the memoir was included in 1854 in "Bohn's British Classics". His ''Life of Oliver Goldsmith, from a variety of original sources'', was published in 1837 in two volumes; and in the same year he edited in four volumes the ''Miscellaneous Works of Goldsmith, including a variety of pieces now first collected''. When John Forster brought out in 1848 his ''Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith'', he was accused by Prior of wholesale

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

. The case was debated in the ''

Literary Gazette ''The Literary Gazette'' was a British literary magazine, established in London in 1817 with its full title being ''The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences''. Sometimes it appeared with the caption title, "London Lit ...

'', 3 June, 17 June, and 29 July 1848, and '' The Athenæum'', 10 June 1848; the accusation was further rebutted by Forster in 1854 in the second edition of his work.

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...

, in his ''Life of Goldsmith'' (1849), admitted his obligations to Prior; but Prior's short tract ''Goldsmith's Statue'' denounced Irving for having stolen his materials. Prior's other works were: *''Voyage in the Indian Seas in the Nisus frigate during 1810 and 1811'', published by

Sir Richard Phillips Sir Richard Phillips (13 December 1767 – 2 April 1840) was an English schoolteacher, author, publisher and vegetarianism activist. Life Phillips was born in London on 13 December 1767. Following some political difficulties in Leicester w ...

in 1820, and included in the first volume of a collection of ''New Voyages and Travels''. *''Voyage along the Eastern Coast of Africa'' (1819), included in the second volume of Phillips's ''Voyages''. *''The Remonstrance of a Tory to Sir Robert Peel'', 1827, in which Prior attacked Peel's position on Catholic emancipation. *''The Country House and other Poems'', 1846. *''Invitation to Malvern'', a poem with introductory poetical epistle to Charles Phillips, 1851. *''Lines on reading Verses of Admiral Smyth'', 1857. *''Llangothlen'', a sketch (no place or date). *''Life of Edmond Malone, with Selections from his Manuscript Anecdotes'', 1860.

Family

Prior married, in 1817, Dorothea, widow of a Mr. E. James. She died at Oxford Terrace, Hyde Park, on 28 November 1841. In 1847 he married Carolina, widow of Charles H. Watson, who died on 14 December 1881, aged 85.

Notes

Attribution

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, James 1790s births 1869 deaths Irish surgeons Irish writers Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London People from Lisburn Medical doctors from County Antrim Irish military doctors Military personnel from County Antrim Irish officers in the Royal Navy Scholars and academics from County Antrim