WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785)

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 605 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: WAT-WIL

WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785) , English poet-laureate, son of a baker, was born at

Cambridge

, and baptized on the 12th of February 1715. His father had extravagant tastes, and spent large sums in ornamenting a piece of land near Grant-cheater, afterwards known as " Whitehead's Folly." William was his second son, and through the patronage of Henry Bromley, afterwards Lord Montfort, was admitted to Winchester College. In 1735 he entered Clare

Hall

Cambridge

, as a sizar, and became a fellow in 1742. At Cambridge Whitehead published an epistle " On the Danger of writing Verse "1 and some other poems, notably an heroic epistle, Ann Boleyn to Henry the Eighth (1743), and a didactic Essay an Ridicule (1743). In 1745 he became tutor to Viscount Villiers, son of the

earl

EARL

Jersey

JERSEY
JERSEY, EARLS OF

, and took up his residence in London. He produced two tragedies: The Roman Father (Drury Lane, 24th of February 1750), and Creusa, Queen of Athens (Drury Lane, loth of April 1754). The plots are based respectively on the Horace of Corneille, and the Ion of Euripides. In June 1754 he went abroad with Lord Villiers,
1 Printed in A Collection of Poems by several Hands (vol. ii., 1748).
and his companion Viscount Nuneham, son of

Earl

EARL

Harcourt, only returning to England in the autumn of 1756. In 1757 he was appointed poet-laureate in succession to Cibber, and proceeded to write annual effusions in the royal honour. That he was not altogether happy in his position, which was discredited by the fierce attacks made on his predecessor, Colley Cibber, appears from " A Pathetic Apology for all Laureates, past, present and to come." Charles Churchill attacked him in 1762, in the third book of The Ghost, as the

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a house, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

of Dullness and Method. In the same year Whitehead produced his most successful work in the comedy of the School for Lovers, produced at Drury Lane on the loth of February. This success encouraged David Garrick to make him his reader of plays. Whitehead's farce, The Trip to Scotland, was performed on the 6th of January 1770. He collected his Plays and Poems in 1774. He had for some time, after his return from the Continent, resided in the houses of his patrons, but from 1769 he lived in London, where he died on the ,4th of April 1785. Beside the works already mentioned, Whitehead wrote a

burlesque

BURLESQUE (Ital. burlesco, from burla, a joke, fun, playful
trick
- TRICK
)

poem, The Sweepers, a number of verse conies, of which " Variety " and " The Goat's Beard " are good examples, and much occasional and official verse.
See memoirs by his friend William Mason, prefixed to a complete edition of his poems (

York

YORK
YORK (HOUSE OF)
YORK, EDMUND OF
LANGLEY
- LANGLEY, SAMUEL PIERPONT (1834-1906)
, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
YORK, EDWARD
YORK, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS
- AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)
, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

, 1788). His plays are printed in Bell's British Theatre (vols. 3, 7, 2o) and other collections, and his poems appear in Chalmers's Works of the English Poets (vol. 17) and similar compilations.

End of Article: WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/WAT_WIL/WHITEHEAD_WILLIAM_1715_1785_.html">
WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM (1715-1785)
</a>

(Previous)
WHITEHAVEN

(Next)
WHITEING, RICHARD (184o )

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email