Samuel Pegge
Encyclopedia
Samuel Pegge the elder was an antiquary.
Born at Chesterfield
, Derbyshire, he was the son of Christopher Pegge and his wife Gertrude, daughter of Francis Stephenson of Unstone
, near Chesterfield. Christopher Pegge (died 1723) belonged to a family that had lived for several generations at Osmaston
, near Ashbourne
, Derbyshire, was a woollen dealer in Derby and later a lead merchant
in Chesterfield. Samuel's father was mayor
of Chesterfield three times. Samuel published an important study on the Roman roads of Derbyshire
as well as notes which his son, also Samuel
, continued on the subject of Derbyshire words and phrases.
, Cambridge
, in 1722. He graduated B.A. 1725, M.A. 1729. He was elected to a lay fellowship on the Beresford foundation of his college on 21 March 1726, but was removed in favour of Michael Burton (afterwards vice-master of St. John's), who claimed founder's kin. Pegge was then made an honorary fellow, and in 1729 was elected a ' Platt ' fellow of St. John's. In 1730 he was elected a member of the Spalding Society, to which he contributed some papers, and from 1730 to 1732 belonged to the Zodiac Club, a college literary society consisting of twelve members denominated by the signs of the zodiac. Pegge was the original Mars.
Pegge was ordained in 1729, and in 1730 became curate to Dr. John Lynch
at Sundridge
in Kent
. On 6 December 1731 he became the vicar of Godmersham
, Kent, where he lived for about twenty years, writing on antiquities and collecting books and coins. From 1749 to 1751 he lived at Surrenden, again in Kent, as tutor to the son of Sir Edward Dering. In 1751 he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
, and in the same year was inducted into the rectory of Old Whittington
, near Chesterfield, exchanging Godmersham for the rectory of Brinhill (or Brindle), Lancashire. On 22 Oct. 1758 he exchanged Brinhill for the vicarage of Heath
, near Whittington, holding Heath together with Whittington until his death.
In 1765 he was presented to the perpetual curacy of Wingerworth
, near Whittington.
He was a prebendary of Lichfield
(1757–1796), and in 1772 was collated to a stall in
Lincoln Cathedral
. In 1791 he was created LL.D. by the University of Oxford
. He died, after a fortnight
's illness, on 14 February 1796 at age 92. He was buried in the chancel at Whittington, where a mural tablet was installed. His small collection of English coins and medals were sold by auction on 23 March 1797.
On 13 April 1732, Pegge married Anne (d. July 1746), daughter of Benjamin Clarke of Stanley
, near Wakefield
, Yorkshire, and they had three children : Christopher (died in infancy), Samuel (the younger)
, and Anna Katharine, wife of the Rev. John Bourne of Spital
, near Chesterfield. A portrait of Pegge, drawn by Gustavus Brander
, and engraved by James Basire
, is prefixed to Pegge's Forme of Cury
(see illustration above) however there was an oil-painting of him (reputed a better likeness) by Elias Needham.
; the horn as a charter or instrument of conveyance; shoeing horses among the ancients ; cock-fighting; the right of sanctuary; the manner of King John
's death ; Kit's Coty House
; the commencement of day among the Saxons and Britons; ' the mistaken opinion that Ireland and the Isle of Thanet are void of Serpents and prehistoric remains generally. He wrote seven memoirs in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, including The Story of Guy, Earl of Warwick (1783); The History of Eccleshall Manor (1784); The Roman Roads of Derbyshire (1784) ; The Textus Roffensis (1784) ; History of Bolsover
and Peak Castles, Derbyshire (1783). He also wrote a large number of articles for the Gentleman's Magazine from 1746 to 1795, signing himself ' Paul Gemsege - an anagram of Samuel Pegge), T. Row ( = The Rector Of Whittington), and 'L. E.' ( = [Samue]L [Pegg]E) . While vicar of Godmersham Pegge made collections relating to Kent, including a ' Monasticon Cantianum ' in two folio manuscript volumes, and an account of the antiquities of Wye. He compiled a manuscript 'Lexicon Xenophonticum,' and possessed various lexicons annotated by himself, as well as two volumes of collections in English history.
See also [Memoir in Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, vi. 'pp. 224 ff., principally based on memoirs by Samuel Pegge the younger; Chalmers's Biography Diet.; Brit. Mus. Cat.] W. W.
Born at Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
, Derbyshire, he was the son of Christopher Pegge and his wife Gertrude, daughter of Francis Stephenson of Unstone
Unstone
Unstone is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. It is in the North East Derbyshire district of the county. Unstone is situated approximately one mile south east of Dronfield, and is also close to the town of Chesterfield. The village has a population of over 1,000 residents...
, near Chesterfield. Christopher Pegge (died 1723) belonged to a family that had lived for several generations at Osmaston
Osmaston, Derbyshire Dales
Osmaston is a small village in the Derbyshire Dales in the county of Derbyshire in England.Located two and a half miles south of Ashbourne, Osmaston is an archetypal English village with thatched cottages and a village pond.-History:...
, near Ashbourne
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Ashbourne is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales, England. It has a population of 10,302.The town advertises itself as 'The Gateway to Dovedale'.- Local customs :...
, Derbyshire, was a woollen dealer in Derby and later a lead merchant
Derbyshire lead mining history
This article details some of the history of lead mining in Derbyshire, England.- Background :On one of the walls in Wirksworth church is a crude stone carving, found nearby at Bonsall and placed in the church in the 1870s. Probably executed in Anglo-Saxon times, it shows a man carrying a kibble or...
in Chesterfield. Samuel's father was mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Chesterfield three times. Samuel published an important study on the Roman roads of Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
as well as notes which his son, also Samuel
Samuel Pegge (the younger)
Samuel Pegge - the younger was an antiquarian, poet, musical composer and lexicographer. He was the son of Samuel Pegge and their work is frequently intertwined. He was the only surviving son of Samuel and his wife Anne, daughter of Benjamin Clarke, esq., of Stanley, near Wakefield,...
, continued on the subject of Derbyshire words and phrases.
Education
Samuel Pegge was educated at Chesterfield and he became a pensioner and scholar of St. John's CollegeSt 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....
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, in 1722. He graduated B.A. 1725, M.A. 1729. He was elected to a lay fellowship on the Beresford foundation of his college on 21 March 1726, but was removed in favour of Michael Burton (afterwards vice-master of St. John's), who claimed founder's kin. Pegge was then made an honorary fellow, and in 1729 was elected a ' Platt ' fellow of St. John's. In 1730 he was elected a member of the Spalding Society, to which he contributed some papers, and from 1730 to 1732 belonged to the Zodiac Club, a college literary society consisting of twelve members denominated by the signs of the zodiac. Pegge was the original Mars.
Vicar and antiquarian
John Lynch (clergyman)
John Lynch was an 18th-century Church of England clergyman. He was Dean of Canterbury from 1734 to 1760.Lynch was born on 5 December 1697 at Staple , son of John Lynch John Lynch (1697—1760) was an 18th-century Church of England clergyman. He was Dean of Canterbury from 1734 to 1760.Lynch was...
at Sundridge
Sundridge, Kent
Sundridge is a village within the civil parish of Sundridge with Ide Hill, in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The village is located on the A25 road to the east of WesterhamIts church is dedicated to St Mary....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. On 6 December 1731 he became the vicar of Godmersham
Godmersham
Godmersham is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is located on the Great Stour river where it cuts through the North Downs...
, Kent, where he lived for about twenty years, writing on antiquities and collecting books and coins. From 1749 to 1751 he lived at Surrenden, again in Kent, as tutor to the son of Sir Edward Dering. In 1751 he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, and in the same year was inducted into the rectory of Old Whittington
Old Whittington
Old Whittington is a village in Derbyshire and north of Chesterfield and is/ south-east of Sheffield. The village lies on the River Rother....
, near Chesterfield, exchanging Godmersham for the rectory of Brinhill (or Brindle), Lancashire. On 22 Oct. 1758 he exchanged Brinhill for the vicarage of Heath
Heath, Derbyshire
Heath is a village in the North East Derbyshire district of the English county of Derbyshire.- Location :Heath is immediately adjacent to junction 29 of the M1 motorway and the A617 dual carriageway into Chesterfield....
, near Whittington, holding Heath together with Whittington until his death.
In 1765 he was presented to the perpetual curacy of Wingerworth
Wingerworth
Wingerworth is a relatively large village and parish near to Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is one of the largest and most populous villages in the district of North East Derbyshire. Wingerworth is only two miles south west of the town of Chesterfield, 12 miles south of Sheffield and 120...
, near Whittington.
He was a prebendary of Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
(1757–1796), and in 1772 was collated to a stall in
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...
. In 1791 he was created LL.D. by the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. He died, after a fortnight
Fortnight
The fortnight is a unit of time equal to fourteen days, or two weeks. The word derives from the Old English fēowertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights"....
's illness, on 14 February 1796 at age 92. He was buried in the chancel at Whittington, where a mural tablet was installed. His small collection of English coins and medals were sold by auction on 23 March 1797.
Family
Stanley, West Yorkshire
Stanley is an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is about north-east of Wakefield city centre.Stanley was an Urban District in the West Riding of Yorkshire prior to 1974, being made up the four electoral wards of Lake Lock, Outwood, Stanley and Wrenthorpe...
, near Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
, Yorkshire, and they had three children : Christopher (died in infancy), Samuel (the younger)
Samuel Pegge (the younger)
Samuel Pegge - the younger was an antiquarian, poet, musical composer and lexicographer. He was the son of Samuel Pegge and their work is frequently intertwined. He was the only surviving son of Samuel and his wife Anne, daughter of Benjamin Clarke, esq., of Stanley, near Wakefield,...
, and Anna Katharine, wife of the Rev. John Bourne of Spital
Spital
-Placenames:In the United Kingdom:*Spital, Berkshire, close to Windsor*Spital, Derbyshire, part of Chesterfield*Spital, Merseyside, on the Wirral Peninsula*Spital, Tamworth, a Ward of Tamworth Borough Council*Spitalfields, London...
, near Chesterfield. A portrait of Pegge, drawn by Gustavus Brander
Gustavus Brander
Gustavus Brander , English naturalist, who came of a Swedish family, was born in London in 1720, and was brought up as a merchant, in which capacity he achieved success and became a director of the Bank of England....
, and engraved by James Basire
James Basire
James Basire , also known as James Basire Sr., was an English engraver. He is the most significant of a family of engravers, and noted for his apprenticing of the young William Blake....
, is prefixed to Pegge's Forme of Cury
Forme of Cury
The Forme of Cury is an extensive recipe collection of the 14th century whose author is given as "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II". The modern name was given to it by Samuel Pegge, who published an edition of it in 1791. This name has since come into usage for almost all versions of the...
(see illustration above) however there was an oil-painting of him (reputed a better likeness) by Elias Needham.
Contributions
Pegge contributed to the first ten volumes of the Archaeologia memoirs on a great variety of topics, such as Anglo-Saxon jewellery ; the introduction of the vine into Britain; the stylus: King Alfred; the bull-running at TutburyTutbury
Tutbury is a large village and civil parish of about 3,000 residents in the English county of Staffordshire.It is surrounded by the agricultural countryside of both Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The site has been inhabited for over 3000 years, with Iron Age defensive ditches encircling the main...
; the horn as a charter or instrument of conveyance; shoeing horses among the ancients ; cock-fighting; the right of sanctuary; the manner of King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
's death ; Kit's Coty House
Kit's Coty House
Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is the name of the remains of a Neolithic chambered long barrow on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. It is one of the Medway megaliths....
; the commencement of day among the Saxons and Britons; ' the mistaken opinion that Ireland and the Isle of Thanet are void of Serpents and prehistoric remains generally. He wrote seven memoirs in the Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, including The Story of Guy, Earl of Warwick (1783); The History of Eccleshall Manor (1784); The Roman Roads of Derbyshire (1784) ; The Textus Roffensis (1784) ; History of Bolsover
Bolsover
Bolsover is a town near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. It is 145 miles from London, 18 miles from Sheffield, 26 miles from Nottingham and 54 miles from Manchester. It is the main town in the Bolsover district.The civil parish for the town is called...
and Peak Castles, Derbyshire (1783). He also wrote a large number of articles for the Gentleman's Magazine from 1746 to 1795, signing himself ' Paul Gemsege - an anagram of Samuel Pegge), T. Row ( = The Rector Of Whittington), and 'L. E.' ( = [Samue]L [Pegg]E) . While vicar of Godmersham Pegge made collections relating to Kent, including a ' Monasticon Cantianum ' in two folio manuscript volumes, and an account of the antiquities of Wye. He compiled a manuscript 'Lexicon Xenophonticum,' and possessed various lexicons annotated by himself, as well as two volumes of collections in English history.
Published works
- 'A Series of Dissertations on some elegant and valuable Anglo-Saxon Remains ' (chiefly coins), London, 1756, 4to.
- 'Memoirs of the Life of Roger de Weseham - Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,' London, 1761, 4to.
- 'An Essay on the Coins of Cunobelin,' London, 1766, 4to. Evans ( Coins of the Ancient Britons, p. 7 t cf. p. 342) remarks that Pegge's division of the coins is judicious, but that many of his descriptions of the types are ' supremely ridiculous.'
- 'An Assemblage of Coins fabricated by authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury,' London, 1772, 4to.
- FitzStephenWilliam FitzstephenWilliam Fitzstephen , died c. 1191, was a cleric and administrator in the service of Thomas Becket, becoming a Subdeacon in his chapel, with responsibility for perusing letters and petitions. He witnessed Becket's murder, and wrote his biography - the Vita Sancti Thomae William Fitzstephen (also...
's ' Description of London ' (translated from the Latin), 1772. - Evelyn's 'Fumifugium,' edited by S. P., 1772, 4to.
- 'Forme of CuryForme of CuryThe Forme of Cury is an extensive recipe collection of the 14th century whose author is given as "the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II". The modern name was given to it by Samuel Pegge, who published an edition of it in 1791. This name has since come into usage for almost all versions of the...
: a Roll of ancient English Cookery,' London, 1780, 8vo ; published from a manuscript belonging to Gustavus BranderGustavus BranderGustavus Brander , English naturalist, who came of a Swedish family, was born in London in 1720, and was brought up as a merchant, in which capacity he achieved success and became a director of the Bank of England....
. - 'Annales Elise de Trickingham,' &c., ed. by S. P., 1789
- 'The Life of Robert GrossetesteRobert GrossetesteRobert Grosseteste or Grossetete was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk. A.C...
Bishop of Lincoln,' London, 1793, 4to (Pegge's principal work). - 'An Historical Account of Beauchief AbbeyBeauchief AbbeyBeauchief Abbey is a former abbey in Sheffield, England. Beauchief is prounounced bee-chiff.-History:The abbey was founded by Robert FitzRanulf de Alfreton. Thomas Tanner, writing in 1695, stated that it was founded in 1183...
' (Derbyshire), ed. by J. Nichols, London, 1801, the printing of which was largely supervised by Pegge's son Samuel. - 'Anonymiana, or Ten Centuries of Observations,' 1809, 8vo; also 1818,8vo.
- 'An Alphabet of Kenticisms/ printed in ' Cleveland Words/ &c. (English Dialect Society), 1876, 8vo. (Nos. 10-12 were posthumous.)
- 'A Disquisition on the Lows or Barrows in the Peak of Derbyshire, Particularly that capital of British Monuments called Arbelows' Archaeologia 7: 131-148 1785
- 'Illustrations of some Druidical remains from the Peak of Derbyshire drawn by Hayman Rooke' Archaeologia 7: 19-24 1785
- 'Observations by the Rev. M Pegge on the Stanton Moor Urns and Drudical Temple' Archaeologia 8: 58-61 1787
- 'Observations on an ancient font at Burnham Deepdale, in Norfolk' Society of Antiquaries Nov 18 1790
See also [Memoir in Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, vi. 'pp. 224 ff., principally based on memoirs by Samuel Pegge the younger; Chalmers's Biography Diet.; Brit. Mus. Cat.] W. W.