John Duncombe (writer)
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John Duncombe (29 September 1729 – 19 January 1786) was an English clergyman and writer. He studied at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...
, where he became a fellow. He contributed to the ''
Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term '' ...
'' under the pseudonym Crito, was a well-known poet, and wrote in 1754 a celebration of British women poets, '' The Feminead''. He was married to the poet Susanna Duncombe (née Highmore).


Life

Duncombe was born in London on 29 September 1729, the only child of the author and playwright William Duncombe and his wife Elizabeth Hughes. He was educated at two schools in
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, before entering, on 1 July 1745,
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...
, where he proceeded B.A. in 1748 and M.A. in 1752. He was later elected a fellow of his college, and in 1753 was ordained at Kew Chapel by John Thomas, the
bishop of Peterborough The Bishop of Peterborough is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Peterborough in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of Northamptonshire (including the Soke of Peterborough) and Rutland. The see is in ...
. On the recommendation of Archbishop
Thomas Herring Thomas Herring (baptised 10 October 169323 March 1757) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1747 to 1757. Early life and education He was the son of John Herring, rector of Walsoken in Norfolk, who had previously been vicar of Foxton, near Camb ...
, he was appointed to the curacy of Sundridge in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
. Duncombe subsequently became assistant-preacher at
St Anne's Church, Soho St Anne's Church serves in the Church of England the Soho section of London. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop Henry Compton as the parish church of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminst ...
. He was in succession chaplain to
Samuel Squire Samuel Squire (1714 – 7 May 1766) was a Bishop of the Church of England and a historian. Early life Squire was the son of a druggist in Warminster, Wiltshire, and was first educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School. He matriculated at S ...
,
bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...
, and to
John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and 5th Earl of Orrery, FRS (13 January 1707 – 16 November 1762) was an Anglo-Irish writer and a friend of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. Boyle was the only son of Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orr ...
. In 1757 Archbishop Herring, a friend, presented him to the united livings of St Andrew and St Mary Bredan, in
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
. He was later made one of the Six Preachers in the cathedral; and in 1773 obtained from Archbishop
Frederick Cornwallis Frederick Cornwallis (5 March 1713 – 19 March 1783) was a British clergy member who served as Archbishop of Canterbury after a career in the Church of England. He was born the seventh son of an aristocratic family. Early life and education C ...
the living of Herne, near Canterbury. The archbishop also appointed him master of St John's Hospital, Canterbury, and gave him a chaplaincy, which enabled him to hold his two livings. Duncombe died at Canterbury on 19 January 1786 and was buried there.


Personal life

In 1761 Duncombe married Susanna Highmore, a childhood friend, and a poet and artist in her own right. She and an only daughter survived him.


Works

Among Duncombe's many poems, the best known were: * ''An Evening's Contemplation in a College'', a parody of
Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...
's '' Elegy in a Country Churchyard'' (1753) * '' The Feminead'' (1754) * ''Translations from Horace'' (1766–67). He wrote numerous occasional pieces, such as ''On a Lady sending the Author a Ribbon for his Watch''.For a full list see ''Gentleman's Magazine'', June 1786, pp. 451–2, and ''
Biographia Britannica ''Biographia Britannica'' was a multi-volume biographical compendium, "the most ambitious attempt in the latter half of the eighteenth century to document the lives of notable British men and women". The first edition, edited by William Oldys ...
'' ed.
Andrew Kippis Andrew Kippis (28 March 17258 October 1795) was an English nonconformist clergyman and biographer. Life The son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, he was born at Nottingham. Having gone to Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford, Lincolnshire he pas ...
, iv. 511.
As an antiquarian, he wrote: * ''Historical Description of Canterbury Cathedral'', 1772 * A translation and abridgment of John Battely's ''Antiquities of Richborough and Reculver'' 1774 * ''History and Antiquities of Reculver and Herne'', and of the ''Three Archiepiscopal Hospitals at and near Canterbury'', contributed to John Nichols's ''Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica'', vols 1 and 4 (1780). He edited: * ''Letters from Italy'' of
John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork John Boyle, 5th Earl of Cork and 5th Earl of Orrery, FRS (13 January 1707 – 16 November 1762) was an Anglo-Irish writer and a friend of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. Boyle was the only son of Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orr ...
, 1773–74 * ''Letters by several Eminent Persons deceased, including the Correspondence of J. Hughes, Esq.'', 1773 * ''Letters from the late Archbishop Herring to William Duncombe, Esq., deceased'', 1777 * ''Select Works of the Emperor Julian'', 1784 He also published several sermons.


References

*


External links


John Duncombe
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncombe, John 1729 births 1786 deaths English biographers 18th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge English male poets English male non-fiction writers British male biographers 18th-century Anglican theologians