Henry Kirke White
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, who died at a young age.
White was born in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, the son of a butcher, a trade for which he was himself intended. However, he was greatly attracted to book-learning. By age seven, he was giving reading lessons (unbeknownst to the rest of the family, being offered after the household were abed) to a family servant. After being briefly apprenticed to a stocking-weaver, he was articled to a lawyer. While in this position, he excelled in studying Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. Seeing the results of White's diligent studies, his master offered to release him from his contract if he had sufficient means to go to college. He received encouragement from Capel Lofft
Capel Lofft
Capel or Capell Lofft was an English lawyer, minor political figure and miscellaneous writer.Born in London, he was educated at Eton College, and Peterhouse, Cambridge, which he left to become a member of Lincoln's Inn...
, the friend of Robert Bloomfield
Robert Bloomfield
Robert Bloomfield was an English labouring class poet whose work is appreciated in the context of other self-educated writers such as Stephen Duck, Mary Collier and John Clare.-Life:...
, and published in 1803 Clifton Grove, a Sketch in Verse, with other Poems, dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The book was violently attacked in the Monthly Review (February 1804), but White was rewarded with a kind letter from Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
.
Through the efforts of his friends, he was able to enter St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, having spent a year beforehand with a private tutor, the Rev Lorenzo Grainger at Winteringham
Winteringham
Winteringham is a village in North Lincolnshire and on the south bank of the Humber Estuary, population 989 .The Romans had a settlement here probably called Ad Abum . The Roman road Ermine Street from London and Lincoln to the south crossed the Humber here by way of a ferry or ford to Brough, and...
, Lincolnshire. Close application to study induced a serious illness, and fears were entertained for his sanity, but he went into residence at Cambridge, with a view to taking holy orders, in the autumn of 1805. The strain of continuous study proved fatal. He was buried in the church of All Saints, Cambridge. The genuine piety of his religious verses secured a place in popular hymnology for some of his hymns. Much of his fame was due to sympathy inspired by his early death; but Lord Byron agreed with Southey about the young man's promise.
His Remains, with his letters and an account of his life, were edited (5 vols., 1807–1822) by Robert Southey. See prefatory notices by Sir Harris Nicolas
Nicholas Harris Nicolas
Sir Harris Nicolas, KCMG, KH was an English antiquary.-Life:The fourth son of John Harris Nicolas , he was born at Dartmouth. Having served in the navy from 1812 to 1816, he studied law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1825...
to his Poetical Works (new ed., 1866) in the Aldine Press
Aldine Press
Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics . The Aldine Press is famous in the history of typography, among other things, for the introduction of italics...
British poets; by Harry Kirke Swann in the volume of selections (1897) in the Canterbury Poets; and by John Drinkwater to the edition in the "Muses' Library." See also John Thomas Godfrey and J. Ward
J. Ward
J. Ward was an English cricketer.Ward represented pre-county club Hampshire in a single first-class match in 1848 against an All-England Eleven. He was dismissed in both of Hampshire's innings by William Hillyer.-External links:* at Cricinfo* at CricketArchive...
, The Homes and Haunts of Henry Kirke White (1908).