Author: Boyce, Thomas
Biography:
BOYCE, Thomas (1732-93: ODNB)
He was born at Swanton, Norfolk, and baptized on 11 Sept. 1732 at St. Andrew’s, Norwich, the son of John Boyce, brewer, and his second wife Abigail Palmer, who had married at Swardeston, Norfolk, in 1731. He was educated locally in Norwich and Scarning before proceeding to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (matric. 1750, BA 1754, MA 1767). He was ordained deacon (1755) and priest (1768). He was curate at Cringleford and Brampton (both Norfolk) from 1755 and rector of Great Worlingham, Suffolk (1780-93), a valuable living in the gift of the crown for which he was recommended by his friend, Edward Thurlow, the Lord Chancellor. He was also chaplain to the Earl of Suffolk. His two elegies, in A Specimen of Elegiac Poetry (1773), and a verse tragedy, Harold (1786), gave him a local literary reputation but were rarely read and the tragedy was overshadowed by The Battle of Hastings (1778) by Richard Cumberland (q.v.). He died on 4 Feb. 1793 at Worlingham and was buried on 10 Feb. at All Saints. Although there are several records of a Thomas Boyce marrying in Norfolk in the period, there is nothing to indicate it was him. (ODNB 26 Dec. 2022; CCEd 26 Dec. 2022; Ipswich Journal 1 Jul. 1780, 9 Feb. 1793; Bury and Norwich Post 13 Feb. 1793; D. Baker, Biographia Dramatica [1812] 2: 285) AA