John Whalley (theologian)

John Whalley

John Whalley (1699 – 12 December 1748) was an English academic at the University of Cambridge, clergyman, and poet.

Whalley was the son of John Whalley, Rector of Riddlesworth, Norfolk.[1]

He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1715, graduating B.A. 1720, M.A. 1723, B.D. 1732, D.D. 1737 (from Peterhouse). He was appointed a Fellow of Pembroke College in 1721, Taxor in 1730, and served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge 1733–48, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1738–39, and Regius Professor of Divinity 1742–48.[2]

Ordained deacon in 1724 and priest in 1725, he held the following livings in the church:[2]

Whalley was also a poet, who composed Cuddy, why sitten wee thus mute, ne cast (1738), a rustic elegy for Queen Caroline imitating the style of Edmund Spenser.[3] Whalley was Master of Peterhouse when the poet Thomas Gray was a student then a Fellow there; Gray wrote that Whalley hated him, and had described him publicly as "a kind of atheist".[4]

Family

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Whalley married Mary Squire, daughter of Francis Squire, Chancellor of Wells Cathedral. They had the following children:[1]

  • John Whalley (1737–1763), officer in the 23rd Regiment (Welch Fusiliers), died on a voyage to India[5]
  • Susan Whalley (1739–), married Dr. Crane
  • Mary Whalley (1742–1817), married James Wickham
  • Francis Edwardes Whalley (1743–1813), Colonel of the Somerset Militia
  • Elizabeth Whalley (1745–1778), married Isaac Sage
  • Thomas Sedgwick Whalley (1746–1828), clergyman and writer
  • Richard Chapple Whalley (1748–1817), clergyman[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Burke, J. & J. B. (1847). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry. Vol. 2. p. 1407. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Whalley, John (WHLY715J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ "Cuddy, why sitten wee thus mute, ne cast". spenserians.cath.vt.edu. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Rev. John Whalley". spenserians.cath.vt.edu. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Whalley, John (WHLY754J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  6. ^ "Whalley, Richard Chapple (WHLY787RC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.