William Whitehead

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:

1.	1750  W., "To the Author of the Roman Father" Gentleman's Magazine 20 (April 1750) 183.
2.	1755  William Mason to Thomas Gray, 27 June 1755; Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 33-34.
3.	1757  William Shenstone to Richard Graves, 7 March 1757; Letters, ed. Williams (1939) 464.
4.	1757  Richard Owen Cambridge, "To Mr. Whitehead on his Being Made Poet Laureate" 1757; Dodsley, Collection of Poetry (1758) 6:3-09-10.
5.	1757  Richard Hurd to William Mason, 21 December 1757; in Correspondence of Hurd and Mason, ed. Pearce and Whibley (1932) 42.
6.	1757  John Free, "Extempore Verses upon the late Choice of a Poet-Laureat" Gentleman's Magazine 27 (December 1757) 564.
7.	1757  Horace Walpole, 1757; in Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of King George II (1847) 3:81-82.
8.	1758  Aonymous, "To Mr. Whitehead, on his Verses to the People of England" London Magazine 27 (March 1758) 148.
9.	1761  R. S., "To the Laureat at Bath" London Chronicle (27 August 1761) 200.
10.	1762  Charles Churchill, in The Ghost Book III (1762); Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, ed. William Tooke (1804) 2:82-86.
11.	1762  Thomas Gray to William Mason, 21 December 1762; Correspondence of Gray and Mason ed. John Mitford (1853) 292-93
12.	1765  Cuthbert Shaw, in The Race (1765; 1766) 10.
13.	1765  T., "Extempore, on reading the last Birth-Day Ode" St. James's Chronicle (29 June 1765).
14.	1769  W. G. E., "To W. W—d, Esq; Poet Laureat" Middlesex Journal (13 January 1769).
15.	1770 ca.  William Cole, "Collectanea for Athenae Cantabrigienses" 1770 ca.; Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 3 (1815) 52.
16.	1772  Paul Pinchwell, in Middlesex Journal (4 January 1772).
17.	1772  Anonymous, in "Catalogue of the most celebrated Writers" Letters concerning the present State of England (1772) 401.
18.	1773  Christopher Anstey, "A Parody on the Laureat's Ode for the New Year" Westminster Magazine 1 (January 1773) 105-06.
19.	1774  John Langhorne, Review of Whitehead, Plays and Poems; The Monthly Review 51 (October 1774) 318.
20.	1774  Anonymous, "An Ode humbly inscribed to William Whitehead" London Magazine 43 (July 1774) 351.
21.	1774  The Bellman, "Old New-Year's-Day. An irregular Burlesque Ode" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (12 January 1774).
22.	1775  Americanus, "W. W. Poet Laureat" Newcastle Chronicle (15 June 1775).
23.	1776  Alcibiades, "Extempore Verses on the Poet Laureat's Ode for 1776" London Evening Post (11 January 1776).
24.	1776  Philo-Musa, "A Recipe for making a Birth-day Ode" Morning Chronicle (24 June 1776).
25.	1777  Anonymous, "A Parody of the New Year's Ode for 1777" Public Advertiser (4 January 1777).
26.	1777  Philo-Musa, "A Comment on the New Year's Ode" Morning Chronicle (14 January 1777).
27.	1778  Anonymous, "A Parody of the New Year's Ode for 1778" Public Advertiser (7 January 1778).
28.	1780  Anonymous, "The Birth-Day Ode, anticipated" Public Advertiser (3 June 1780).
29.	1785  C. J., "An Epitaph on W. W—te—d, Esq. intended for his Monument in Westminster Abbey" St. James's Chronicle (26 April 1785).
30.	1785  H. S., in "An Epistle to William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 8 (November 1785) 385.
31.	1785  Edmond Malone to Thomas Warton, 25 April 1785; in Warton, Correspondence, ed. Fairer (1995) 529.
32.	1785  Anonymous, in Probationary Odes for the Laureateship (1785) ix-x.
33.	1785  Anna Seward to Court Dewes, 27 May 1785; Letters, ed. Scott (1811) 1:69.
34.	1786  Robert Potter to Edward Jerningham, April 1786; Lewis Bettany, Edward Jerningham and his Friends (1919) 353.
35.	1786  Anonymous, "The Laureate, An Ode" in Asylum for Fugitive Pieces 2 (1786) 270-71.
36.	1788  William Mason, in Memoir, Whitehead, Poems (1788) 3:10-12.
37.	1788  Anonymous, in Review of Mason's Whitehead, The Critical Review 65 (March 1788) 177.
38.	1788  Anonymous, "Sketch of the Character of William Whitehead" Town and Country Magazine 20 (April 1788) 176-77.
39.	1795  Robert Anderson, in Works of the British Poets (1795) 11:892-93.
40.	1795  Anonymous, in Morning Chronicle (9 January 1795).
41.	1804  Joseph Dennie, "Headnote to Life of William Whitehead" Port Folio [Philadelphia] 4 (14 July 1804) 219.
42.	1804  William Tooke, Note to The Prophecy of Famine; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) 1:135n.
43.	1806  George Richards, "Lines, written October 6, 1806" The Sun (21 November 1806).
44.	1807  Robert Southey, in Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807) 3:249.
45.	1809  Nathan Drake, in Essays Illustrative of the Rambler (1809-10) 2:294-95.
46.	1811  Anonymous, "Portfolio of a Man of Letters: Whitehead" The Monthly Magazine 31 (May 1811) 351.
47.	1824  Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 95-96.
48.	1851  David Macbeth Moir, in Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the Past Half-Century (1851; 1852) 12.
49.	1860  George Gilfillan, in Specimens with Memoirs of the less-known British Poets (1860) 3:242-43.
50.	1880  Thomas Humphry Ward, in The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880) 3:337.
51.	1910  Ralph Straus, in Robert Dodsley, Poet, Publisher, and Playwright (1910) 111-14.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Whitehead:

1.	1762  William Rider, in Living Authors of Great Britain (1762) 23.
2.	1764  David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) 2:Sig. Hh5.
3.	1782  Isaac Reed, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1782) 1:469.
4.	1785  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 55 (April 1785) 326.
5.	1789  Anonymous, in Bell's Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poets (1789-97) 8:169-72.
6.	1808  Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:132-33.
7.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 31:445-58.
8.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 581-84.
9.	1832  William Clarke and Robert Shelton Mackenzie, in The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most eminent Persons who have flourished in Great Britain (1832-34) 3:536.
10.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:118.
11.	1879  Walter Hamilton, in The Poets Laureate (1879) 182-90.

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.