Life

He was the son of William Falconer, recorder of Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, by Elizabeth, daughter of Randle Wilbraham de Townsend. He spent some time at Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

, where he matriculated 12 March 1754; but left without taking a degree, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 on 20 June 1760. With chronic ill-health, he lived a life of studious retirement at Chester.

He took an interest in antiquities, and was a patron of literature; he was called by Anna Seward

Anna Seward

Anna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...

 the Mæcenas of Chester. It was to him that in 1771 Foote Gower addressed his lengthy letter entitled ‘A Sketch of the Materials for a New History of Cheshire.’ He was a friend of John Reinhold Forster, who dedicated to him his translation of Baron Riedesel's ‘Travels through Sicily, and that part of Italy formerly called Magna Græcia,’ London, 1773. He died on 4 September 1792, and was buried in St. Michael's Church, Chester. A monument with a laudatory inscription in St. John's Church, Chester, perpetuates his memory. He never married.

Works

Falconer published ‘Devotions for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, by a Layman,’ London, 1786; 2nd ed. 1798. He read in 1791 before 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...

 a paper in vindication of the accuracy of Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

's description of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. A work by him entitled ‘Chronological Tables, beginning with the Reign of Solomon and ending with the Death of Alexander the Great,’ appeared at Oxford in 1796, edited by Frodsham Hodson

Frodsham Hodson

Frodsham Hodson was an English churchman and academic, the Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford from 1809.-Life:Hodson was the son of the Rev. George Hodson, and was born in Liverpool, England, on 7 June 1770. He entered Manchester Grammar School in January 1784, and left it in 1787 to go to...

. He also left materials for an edition of Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

, which formed the basis of the edition brought out in 1807 by his nephew Thomas Falconer

Thomas Falconer (scholar)

Thomas Falconer was an English clergyman and classical scholar.-Life:The son of William Falconer, M.D., F.R.S., of Bath, Somerset by Henrietta, daughter of Thomas Edmunds of Worsborough Hall, Yorkshire, he was born on 24 December 1772, and educated at the cathedral school, Chester, the grammar...

, M.D.

He was also the author of an ‘Ode to Sleep,’ the date of publication of which is uncertain.