Life

He was the son of Charles Yallop of Bowthorp Hall, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, by his wife Ellen, daughter and heiress of Sir Edward Barkham, bart., of Westacre, Norfolk. Edward's grandfather, Sir Robert Yallop, married Dorothy, daughter of Clement Spelman. Edward, who in later life adopted the surname of Spelman, added classical literature to the pursuits of a country gentleman. He lived at High House, near Rougham

Rougham

Rougham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 152 in 69 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland....

, Norfolk. He died unmarried on 12 March 1767 at Westacre.

Works

In 1742 he translated Xenophon

Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...

's Anabasis

Anabasis (Xenophon)

Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...

, under the title ‘The Expedition of Cyrus into Persia, with Notes Critical and Historical,’ London. It went through several editions, and was republished as late as 1849. Spelman's translation was styled by Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...

 ‘one of the most accurate and elegant that any language has produced’. He also translated ‘A Fragment out of the Sixth Book of Polybius,’ London, 1743, and ‘The Roman Antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassus, with Notes and Dissertations,’ London, 1758. The latter work won the praise of Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar, born in the townland of Moybeg Kirley near Tobermore in Ireland...

, the former that of Edward Harwood

Edward Harwood

Edward Harwood was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic.-Life:He was born at Darwen, Lancashire, in 1729. After attending a school at Darwen, he went in 1745 to the Blackburn grammar school under Thomas Hunter, afterwards vicar of Weaverham, Cheshire. Hunter wished him to enter...

.

Spelman was also the author of:

• ‘A Short Review of Mr. Hooke's Observations concerning the Roman Senate and the Character of Dionysius Halicarnassus,’ London, 1758, written in reply to some criticisms of Nathaniel Hooke
  Nathaniel Hooke
  Nathaniel Hooke was an English historian.-Life:He was the eldest son of John Hooke, serjeant-at-law, and nephew of Nathaniel Hooke the Jacobite politician. He is thought by John Kirk to have studied with Alexander Pope at Twyford School, and to have formed a lifelong friendship there.He was...
  
  ; Spelman's tract was answered by William Bowyer in ‘An Apology for some of Mr. Hooke's Observations,’ London, 1783.
• ‘The History of the Civil War between York and Lancaster,’ Lynn, 1792; completed by George William Lemon
  George William Lemon
  The Reverend George William Lemon was the author of an early etymological dictionary of the English language, published in 1783.Lemon graduated at Queens College, Cambridge in 1748...
  
  .

Under the title of ‘Two Tracts’ Lemon also issued an essay by Spelman on Greek accents, with one of his own on the ‘Voyage of Æneas from Troy to Italy,’ London, 1773.