Life

He was born 8 December 1778 at Palgrave, Suffolk

Palgrave, Suffolk

Palgrave is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located on the south bank of the River Waveney, opposite Diss and adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line. In 2005 its population was 780.hi Palgrave has a small primary school, and church...

. He was educated at a school at Diss

Diss

Diss is a town in Norfolk, England close to the border with the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk.The town lies in the valley of the River Waveney, around a mere that covers . The mere is up to deep, although there is another of mud, making it one of the deepest natural inland lakes...

 and under a private tutor. He began as a medical student, but became assistant to a bookseller. This he also shortly dropped to study for the ministry at Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

, but experienced a sudden change in his religious views.

In 1797 he came to London, and after his marriage to Maria Southgate, who subsequently edited ‘Tales for Children from the German,’ became classical master at Thorp Arch School, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. To master German language he went in 1801 to Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

, where he supported himself by teaching English.

In 1814 he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner, and graduated B.A. in 1821 and M.A. in 1822, with mathematical honours. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1829, and adopted the practice of conveyancer and chamber counsel, but on account of his shy manner was not very successful.

He became a recluse, and died 4 December 1851.

Works

He published a ‘German Grammar for Englishmen,’ ‘Extracts from German Authors,’ and ‘German and English Conversations,’ all popular instruction books which passed through many editions. He also wrote an ‘English Grammar for Germans.’

His main legal publications were:

• ‘History of English Law,’ 1829, based on John Reeves
  John Reeves
  John Reeves , was a British judge, public official and conservative activist. In 1792 he founded the Association for Preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers to campaign against the ideas of the French Revolution and their British supporters...
  
  's ‘History of English Law;’
• ‘Digest and Index of all the Statutes at Large,’ 4 vols., 1841–7;
• ‘Law of Real Property,’ 2 vols., 1846;
• ‘Series of Precedents in Conveyancing and Common and Commercial Forms,’ 3rd ed. 1845.

He was also the author of dictionaries which obtained wide popularity, including

• ‘Dictionary of English Synonymes,’
• ‘Universal Technological Dictionary,’
• ‘Universal Historical Dictionary,’
• ‘Dictionary of General Knowledge;’ and
• ‘New Pantheon or Mythology of all Nations.’