Richard Pococke
| Richard Pococke | |
|---|---|
 Richard Pococke in Oriental Costume, 1738 — by Jean-Étienne Liotard. |
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| Born | 19 November 1704 Southampton, England. |
| Died | 25 September 1765 (aged 60) Charleville Castle, near Tullamore, Ireland. |
| Nationality | English |
| Ethnicity | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Genres | Travel writer and diarist. |
Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)[1] was an English prelate and anthropologist. He was Protestant Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church of Ireland. However, he is best known for his travel writings and diaries.
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[edit] Biography
Pococke was born in Southampton and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, receiving a Bachelor of Law degree. His father was Rev. Richard Pococke and his mother was Elizabeth Milles,[1][2] the daughter of Rev. Isaac Milles. His parents were married on 26 April 1698. Pococke's uncle, Thomas Milles, was a Professor of Greek. He was also distantly related to Edward Pococke, the English Orientalist and biblical scholar.[3]
His family connections meant he advanced rapidly in the church, becoming vicar-general of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
[edit] Travels in Europe (1733-36) and the Near East (1737-42)
He seems to have spent far more time travelling than attending to his duties as a churchman and spent 1733-36 undertaking a series of tours in Europe. Detailed accounts of his first tours (1733–34, 1736–37) survive in a set of letters he wrote to his mother (British Library, Add. Ms. 19939). The unpublished manuscript includes probably the most detailed description of Venice's "Marriage to the Sea" ceremony as well as precious information on contemporary music, especially opera.[4] The manuscript includes From 1737-42 he visited the Near East,[3] visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Palestine and Greece. These travels were later published in his Description of the East of 1743 and 1745, works which were praised by Edmund Gibbon. Among other things, he was one of the European travellers to give an account of the origins of the medieval Arabic document, the Achtiname of Muhammad, which claims that the Prophet Muhammad had personally confirmed a grant of protection and other privileges to the monks of Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai.[5]
[edit] Irish tour (1747-60)
During the years 1747-60, Pococke made a number of tours around various parts of Ireland. The longest of these tours occurred in 1752, when he travelled to just over half of Ireland's counties. He kept a record of this tour, but did not publish it. It ended up in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Eventually, in 1891, an edited edition of Pococke's 1752 tour was published by George Thomas Stokes.
[edit] Episcopal office and further travels
He was made bishop successively of Ossory, Elphin and of Meath in 1765. He spent many of his later years in travel throughout Britain and Ireland, publishing accounts of many of his journeys.
He died of apoplexy during a visitation at Charleville Castle, near Tullamore, County Offaly,[6] Ireland, in 1765. On his death, many of his manuscripts were given to the British Library.[7]
He was buried at Ardbraccan, County Meath, Ireland.
[edit] Works
- A Description of the East and Some other Countries, Vol. I: Observations on Egypt, W. Boyer, London, 1743.
- A Description of the East and Some other Countries, Vol. II, W. Boyer, London, 1745 — divided into two parts:
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- Part 1, Observations on Palæstina or the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia.
- Part 2, Observations on the islands of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and some other parts of Europe.
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Notes and Queries, p. 129.
- ^ Milles (or Mills).
- ^ a b Nichols, p. 157.
- ^ Chrissochoidis, "Musical References in Richard Pococke's Early Correspondence (1734-37)"
- ^ Ratliff, "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate."
- ^ Then officially called King's County by the British Administration in Ireland.
- ^ ODNB
[edit] Sources
- Notes and Queries. London, 1859.
- Nichols, John. Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. 6 vols. Vol. 2. London, 1812.
- St. John, James Augustus. The Lives of Celebrated Travellers. 3 vols. Vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1859.
- Ratliff, Brandie. "The monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Christian communities of the Caliphate." Sinaiticus. The bulletin of the Saint Catherine Foundation (2008).
- Stokes, George Thomas (ed.). Pococke's Tour in Ireland in 1752. Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co., 1891.
- Chrissochoidis, Ilias. "Musical References in Richard Pococke's Early Correspondence (1734–37)". Society for Eighteenth-Century Music Newsletter 17 (September 2010–April 2011), 5.
[edit] External links
- Google Book Search, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World: Many of which are Now First Translated Into English, 1811. The full text of Pococke's "A Description of the East and Some other Countries, Vol. II (1745)" p. 406 - p. 770
- Google Book Search, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World: Many of which are Now First Translated Into English, 1814. The full text of Pococke's "A Description of the East and Some other Countries, Vol. I (1743)" p. 163 - p. 402
- Letters from Abroad: The Grand Tour Correspondence of Richard Pococke and Jeremiah Milles. Volume 1 (1733-34). Finnegan, Rachel (Ed.), Published by Pococke Press, 2011.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
