William Whitehead, Poet Laureate, was the son of a prosperous Cambridge baker. After study at Winchester College he entered Clare College, Cambridge as a sizar in 1735 (B.A. 1739, Fellow 1742, M.A. 1743). Whitehead then became private tutor in the earl of Jersey (1745), traveling in that capacity into Germany and Italy (1754-56). He produced tragedies at Drury Lane and was secretary and registrar to the Order of the Bath (ca. 1755) and Poet Laureate (1757). His works were edited with a memoir by William Mason.
TEXT RECORDS:
1735 ca.The Vision of Solomon.
1744An Ode to a Gentleman, on his pitching a Tent in his Garden.
1748To the Honourable [Charles Townsend].
1748 ca.To the Same [Charles Townsend], on the Death of a Relation.
1751An Hymn to the Nymph of Bristol Spring.
1762A Charge to the Poets.
1763Ode for the New Year, 1763.
1774Hymn to Venus, on a great Variety of Roses being planted around her Cottage.
1774The Sweepers.
1776Ode for the New Year, Jan. 1, 1776.
PUBLICATIONS:
The danger of writing verse. 1741.
Anne Boleyn to Henry the Eighth: an epistle. 1743.
An essay on ridicule. 1743.
Atys and Adrastus: a tale, in the manner of Dryden's fables. 1744.
On nobility; an epistle. 1744.
The Roman father. A tragedy. 1750.
A dissertation on the shield of Aeneas, in Works, ed. J. Warton. 1753.
An hymn to the nymph of Bristol Spring. 1751.
Poems on several occasions. 1754.
Fatal constancy. 1754.
Creusa, Queen of Athens. A tragedy. 1755.
Elegies, with an ode to the Tiber. 1757.
Verses to the people of England. 1758.
A charge to the poets. 1762.
The school for lovers. A comedy. 1762.
A trip to Scotland [a farce]. 1770.
Plays and poems. 2 vols 1774, vol. 3, 1788.
Variety: a tale for married people. 1776.
The goat's beard: a fable. 1777.
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
English
Anglican
Winchester College
Clare College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
College Fellow
Poet Laureate
courtier
tutor
poet
dramatist
The Museum
The World
Richard Owen Cambridge
Robert Dodsley
Thomas Gray
Bp. Richard Hurd
Bp. Robert Lowth
Rev. William Mason
Rev. Samuel Ogden
Rev. Robert Potter
REFERENCE:
DNB; NCBEL.
Robert Dodsley, Collection of Poems (1748-58); William Rider, Living Authors of Great Britain (1762); David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 55 (April 1785) 326; memoir by William Mason in Life and Writings of William Whitehead (1788); "Memoirs of Whitehead" Universal Magazine 82 (March 1788) 114-20 [portrait]; "Sketch of the Character of William Whitehead" Town and Country Magazine 20 (April 1788) 176-77; Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); Robert Anderson, British Poets (1795); "Life of Whitehead" Port Folio [Philadelphia] 4 (14 July-11 August 1804) 219-21, 236-38, 243-44; Robert Southey, Specimens of Later English Poets (1807); Samuel Jackson Pratt, Cabinet of Poetry (1808); Alexander Chalmers, English Poets (1810); Nathan Drake, in Essays illustrative of the Rambler (1810); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15) 3:193-96n; Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets (1819); "Latin Verses by Mr. Whitehead" Gentleman's Magazine 93 (November 1823) 389-91; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); The English Poets, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Austen Dobson, "Laureate Whitehead" in Old Kensington Palace (1910); H. Plattner, William Whitehead, his Life and his Two Dramas (1914); E. K. Broadus, Laureateship (1921); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Austin Dobson, "Laureate Whitehead" in Old Kensington Palace (1926); August Bitter, William Whitehead, poeta laureatus (1933); Fairchild, in Religious Trends in English Poetry (1942); Butt, OHEL (1979); Michael F. Suarez, ed., Dodsley, Collection of Poems (1997) 1:223.
COMMENTARY RECORDS
for William Whitehead:
BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Whitehead:
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)
1. | 1758 Rev. William Mason: William Whitehead, "To Mr. Mason" in Dodsley, Collection of Poems (1758) 6:312-14. |
2. | 1759 Bp. Robert Lowth: William Whitehead, "Verses to Dr. Lowth, on his second Edition of the Life of William of Wykeham" London Chronicle (2 June 1759) 423. |
3. | 1762 John Milton: William Whitehead, in A Charge to the Poets (1762) 17. |
4. | 1774 Richard Owen Cambridge: William Whitehead, "To Richard Owen Cambridge, Esq." Whitehead, Poems and Plays (1774) 2:182-85. |