The 18th son of a Virginia planter, Beilby Porteus entered Christ's College Cambridge as a sizar (B.A. 1752, Fellow 1752, M.A. 1755, D.D. 1767). Porteus was was chaplain to Archbishop Secker (1762) and Rector of Wittersham, Kent (1762-65), prebendary of Peterborough (1764-76), Rector of Ruckinge, Kent (1764), Rector of Hunton (1765), Rector of Lambeth, Surrey (1767-77), Master of St. Cross, Winchester (1767-87), chaplain to the King (1769), Bishop of Chester (1777-87) and Bishop of London (1787-1809). The Bishop was a liberal churchman, lending support to the Evangelical movement and working towards the abolition of slavery.
TEXT RECORDS:
PUBLICATIONS:
Death: a poetical essay. 1759.
An earnest exhortation to the religious observance of Good-Friday. 1776.
Free and apposite observations on ... the present rapid decline of the clerical credit and character. 1782.
Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew. 2 vols, 1802; 17th edition, 1823.
Sermons on several subjects. 4th edition, 1784; 16th edition, 1823.
Summary of the principal evidence for the truth and divine origin of the Christian revelation. 1800; 19th edition, 1840.
Substance of a speech on... the Curate's Bill. 1808.
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
English
Anglican
Ripon School
Christ's College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Doctor of Divinity
Prebendary of Peterborough
Bishop of Chester
Bishop of London
courtier
clergyman
poet
James Beattie
Rev. William Beloe
Anne Grant
George Hardinge
Rev. William Mason
Hannah More
Bp. Thomas Percy
William Hamilton Reid
Rev. Thomas Twining
REFERENCE:
DNB; not NCBEL.
Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); "Authentic Memoirs of Dr. Beilby Porteus" New London Magazine 4 (January 1788) 22-23 [portrait]; "Dr. Beilby Porteus" European Magazine 28 (October 1795) 219-21 [portrait]; David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); Forbes, in Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806); "Life and Writings of Beilby Porteus" Universal Magazine NS 6 (July 1806) 3-8 [portrait]; "Biographical Sketches: Beilby Porteus, D.D." Flowers of Literature for 1806 (1807) 13-16 [portrait]; obituary in Gentleman's Magazine (May, July 1809) 485-86, 675; obituary in Censura Literaria 10 (1809) 409-10; obituary in Universal Magazine NS 11 (May 1809) 437-43; obituary in Monthly Magazine 27 (June 1809) 464-69; "Biographical Sketch of Beilby Porteus" Scots Magazine 71 (June 1809) 427-30; "Memoirs of Bishop Porteous" Literary Panorama 6 (September 1809) 942-51; "Memoir of Beilby Porteus" Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature 4 (October 1809) 531-38; "Bishop Porteus" Churchman's Magazine [New York] 7 (January-February 1810) 65-67; Robert Hodgson, The Life of the Right Reverend Beilby Porteus in Works (1811) [portrait]; review of Works in European Magazine 59 (June 1811) 433-38; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Biographical Magazine 1 (1829) [portrait]; The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); John Holland, Poets of Yorkshire (1845); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Charles J. Abbey, The English Church and its Bishops (1887); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Fairchild, in Religious Trends in English Poetry (1942); Margaret Forbes, Beattie and his Friends (1904); Valentine, British Establishment (1970).
COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Bp. Beilby Porteus:
BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Bp. Beilby Porteus:
