James Hurdis
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/72/James_Hurdis_1763-1801_frontispiece_from_The_Village_Curate.jpg/220px-James_Hurdis_1763-1801_frontispiece_from_The_Village_Curate.jpg)
James Hurdis (1763–1801) was an English clergyman and poet.
Life[]
Born in Bishopstone, East Sussex, Hurdis studied at St Mary Hall, Oxford, and Magdalen College, Oxford, later becoming a Fellow of Magdalen College.[1]
Hurdis was curate for the East Sussex village of Burwash from 1786, and it was there that he wrote The Village Curate, a blank verse poem published anonymously in 1788.[2]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/St_Andrew%27s_Church%2C_Bishopstone_-_geograph.org.uk_-_720514.jpg/220px-St_Andrew%27s_Church%2C_Bishopstone_-_geograph.org.uk_-_720514.jpg)
In 1791 he became the vicar of his home church at Bishopstone. The following year his sister Catherine died.[2] In 1793 he was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.[3]
Sussex shepherds at this time used to catch wheatears in small cage traps to sell as songbirds. Hurdis used to free the trapped birds, but would leave coins in their place.[3]
Hurdis died in 1801 and there is a memorial to him in . The Town Council Offices were at Hurdis House named in his honour.[citation needed] His eldest son James Henry Hurdis was a notable amateur artist.
References[]
- ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). . Dictionary of National Biography. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Hurdis, James (bap. 1763, d. 1801), Church of England clergyman and poet". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14251. Retrieved 2 October 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Jump up to: a b Whittick, Christopher. "Hurdis, James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14251. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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- People from Seaford, East Sussex
- 1763 births
- 1801 deaths
- English Anglican priests
- Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford
- Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
- Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford
- Oxford Professors of Poetry
- People from Lewes District