James Upton (1670–1749) was an English

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man,

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

, and literary editor.

Life

Upton was born at

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, on 10 December 1670. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, and was elected a fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he graduated B.A. in 1697, and M.A. in 1701. At the request of John Newborough, the headmaster, Upton returned to Eton as an assistant master, around 1698. In 1704, at the request of Lord Poulett and others, Upton moved from Eton to Ilminster Grammar School,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, where he took pupils. In 1712, he was appointed headmaster of Taunton Grammar School, which became, according to

Joshua Toulmin Joshua Toulmin ( – 23 July 1815) of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian (1761–1764), Baptist (1765–1803), and then Unitarian (1804–1815) congregations. Toulmin's sympathy for bot ...

, the largest provincial school in England, having over two hundred boys. Before 1711 he received the rectory of

Brimpton Brimpton is a mostly rural village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. Brimpton is centred ESE of the town of Newbury. Toponymy One suggested origin of the name of Brimpton comes from "Brynni's Town"; Brynni was an Anglo-Saxon o ...

, near

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

, and in 1712 the rectory of

Monksilver Monksilver is a village west of the town of Williton in Somerset, England, on the eastern flank of the Brendon Hills and the border of the Exmoor National Park. The Coleridge Way footpath passes through the village. History The name of the vil ...

, near

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

, both from the Sydenham family. In 1731 Upton received the vicarage of

Bishop's Hull Bishop's Hull is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, in the western suburbs of Taunton. It includes the areas of Rumwell, Rumwell Park, Roughmoor and Longaller and is close to the River Tone. The parish, which includes the hamlet o ...

, Somerset. He died at Taunton on 13 August 1749.

Works

Upton edited Theodore Goulston's ''Poetics of Aristotle'' (1623), with selected notes, Cambridge, 1696;

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...

, 1702 (reprinted 1728 and 1747); and

Roger Ascham Roger Ascham (; 30 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, his pr ...

's ''Scholemaster'', 1711 (reprinted 1743, 1761, and 1815). He published ''A Selection of Passages from Greek Authors'', 1726.

Family

Upton married Mary Proctor of Eton, by whom he had six sons and two daughters. From the second daughter Ann descended the Tripp family of

Huntspill Huntspill is a village and former civil parish on the Huntspill Level in Somerset, England. It lies on the A38 road, south of Highbridge. The village is the principal settlement in the civil parish of West Huntspill. In 2019 it had an estimat ...

and

Sampford Brett Sampford Brett is a village and civil parish situated at the south-western edge of the Quantock Hills, Somerset, England, less than south of Williton, just off the A358 road to Taunton. Geography It lies in a shallow valley cut by the Sampford ...

, Somerset. The second son was John Upton (1707–1760), now remembered as editor of the ''

Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English Epic poetry, epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and ov ...

''.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Upton, James 1670 births 1749 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests People educated at Eton College Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Schoolteachers from Cheshire People from Wilmslow Heads of schools in England Teachers at Eton College