Author: Berkeley, George Monck
Biography:
BERKELEY, George Monck (1763-1793: ODNB)
He was the elder of two sons born to Eliza Frinsham Berkeley, a literary editor, and her husband the Rev. George Berkeley, prebendary of Canterbury. They had married in London on 24 Mar. 1761. George was born on 8 Feb. 1763 and baptised on the same day at Bray, Berkshire, where his father was the vicar. His grandfather was George Berkeley the philosopher. Much of what is known about his early life is from his mother’s preface to his posthumous Poems; it describes him as precocious, generous, and self-willed. His younger brother, George Robert Berkeley (b 1766), died of fever in Apr. 1775 and Berkeley was then the sole focus of his parents’ attention and anxiety. He studied at King’s School, Canterbury, before being dispatched early to Eton in 1775 when his brother fell ill. In 1777 he returned home to be tutored by his father before going to St. Andrews University; his parents accompanied him to Scotland and lived nearby during his three and a half years there. On 21 May 1783 he entered the Inner Temple to study law but seems not to have been called to the bar. On 2 Dec. 1786 he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford; Alumni Oxonienses does not record a degree but the title page of Poems identifes him as LL.B. In 1789 he visited Ireland but his failing health sent him first to Dover and then to Cheltenham where he died on 26 Jan. 1793. His other publications include The Independent: A Novel (1784), Maria, or, The Generous Rustic (1785), Spanish Memoirs (1787), Heloise, or, the Siege of Rhodes. A Legendary Tale (1788), and Literary Relics (1789). Nina, or, The Madness of Love is a two act comedy that he translated from French; his one act musical, Love and Nature, was published in 1797. (ODNB [G. M. Berkeley and Eliza Frinsham Berkeley] 5 Apr. 2023; ancestry.co.uk 5 Apr. 2023, 8 July 2025; Eliza Berkeley, “Preface,” in Poems; ECA) SR
Other Names:
- G. M. Berkeley