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]
- Rector of Hungry Hatley, Cambridgeshire, 1728
- Vicar of Shepreth, Cambridgeshire, 1730
- Vicar of Hatley St George, Cambridgeshire, 1731–32
- Vicar of Tilney, Norfolk, 1732–48
- Rector of Glaston, Rutland, 1734
- Rector of Somersham, Huntingdonshire, 1742–48
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
editWhalley 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
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "Whalley, John (WHLY715J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Cuddy, why sitten wee thus mute, ne cast". spenserians.cath.vt.edu. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "Rev. John Whalley". spenserians.cath.vt.edu. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
- ^ "Whalley, John (WHLY754J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Whalley, Richard Chapple (WHLY787RC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.