Life

Born at Alwalton

Alwalton

Alwalton is a village in Huntingdonshire in the United Kingdom, five miles to the west of the city of Peterborough....

, Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire

Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...

, a few miles from Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

, on 16 March 1729, he was the eldest of ten children of William Southgate (d. February 1771), a farmer of the parish, who married Hannah (d. 1772), daughter of Robert Wright of Castor, Northamptonshire, a surveyor and civil engineer. He was educated at private schools at Uppingham

Uppingham

Disambiguation: "Uppingham" is the colloquial name for Uppingham SchoolUppingham is a market town in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, located on the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, about 6 miles south of the county town, Oakham.- History :A little over a mile to the...

 and Fotheringay

Fotheringay

Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by singer Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from her 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots had been imprisoned...

 and at the Peterborough grammar school. With an exhibition

Exhibition (scholarship)

-United Kingdom and Ireland:At the universities of Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, and at Westminster School, Eton College and Winchester College, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a financial award or grant to an individual student, normally on grounds of merit. The...

 from the school he went to 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....

, in 1745, and graduated B.A. in the Easter term of 1749.

Southgate took holy orders in 1752, and, after serving the curacy of Weston, Lincolnshire

Weston, Lincolnshire

Weston is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England, located about north east of the town of Spalding....

, held the rectory of Woolley, Huntingdonshire from 8 November 1754 till 1759. From 1759 to 1763 he served numerous curacies in Lincolnshire, but on 9 January 1763, for the sake of literary society, he accepted the curacy of St James's, Westminster, which he retained until the end of 1765. On Christmas Day 1765 he accepted the same post at St Giles-in-the-Fields, London, and held it for the rest of his life.

On settling in London Southgate took pupils in classics, and collected books, coins, and medals. Later in life his means increased. He obtained in May 1783 the small rectory of Little Steeping

Little Steeping

Little Steeping is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district, about three miles from the town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England.The parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, and is a Grade II* listed building...

 in Lincolnshire, and in May 1790 was instituted to the more valuable rectory of Warsop

Warsop

Warsop is a civil parish in the District of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, England, located on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 12,365....

 in Nottinghamshire. On 3 November 1784 he was appointed assistant librarian (with a residence) at the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. Southgate became a member of the Spalding Society on 24 May 1753, and was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 6 June 1763.

He died at the British Museum, on 25 January 1795, and was buried in a vault under St Giles's Church on 3 February, a marble tablet being placed to his memory on the south-east pillar in the church. He left no will, and his property was shared by his five surviving brothers.

Works

Southgate was a student of history, the classics, and of French and German literature, and knew some Italian and Spanish. He owned best series of English pennies to be found in the country. He assisted John Pinkerton

John Pinkerton

John Pinkerton was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory....

 in his Essay on Medals (1784). Collections were made by him for a ‘History of the Saxons and Danes in England,’ illustrated by coins, but the work was not completed.

Southgate's books and prints were sold by Leigh & Sotheby in 2,599 lots on 27 April 1795 and eleven following days. His coins and medals were announced for sale in eight days, but, according to John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

, they passed by private contract to Samuel Tyssen. The shells and natural curiosities were sold on 12 and 13 May 1795. Each catalogue was printed separately, and the whole was bound up, with life prefixed by Charles Combe

Charles Combe

-Life:He was born on 23 September 1743, in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, London where his father, John Combe, carried on business as an apothecary. He was educated at Harrow School, and among his schoolfellows were Sir William Jones and Samuel Parr...

, as Museum Southgatianum. The frontispiece was a medallion portrait of him at the age of fifty-five.
Sermons preached to Parochial Congregations by Southgate were published in 1798 (2 vols.), with a biographical preface by George Gaskin

George Gaskin

George Gaskin was a lecturer at St Mary's, Islington for forty-six years, resigning in 1822, to become a prebendary at Ely Cathedral. He was also Rector of Stoke Newington and of St Benet, Gracechurch....

which was mainly borrowed from Combe.