Author: Burt, William
Biography:
BURT, William (1778-1826: ODNB)
He was born on 23 Aug. 1778 at Plymouth, Devon, and baptised on 18 Sept. at St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, the son of Joseph Burt (c.1743-90) and his wife Elizabeth Stevens (1746-79), who had married in 1766. He was educated at Exeter Grammar school and then articled to an attorney at Bridgwater. He practised as a solicitor for the rest of his life, and--with less success--as a banker. He also edited the Plymouth and Dock Telegraph for several years. He probably first married Catherine Ripping on 22 Nov. 1797 at St. Charles the Martyr, Plymouth, and then as a widower married Elizabeth Broad on 19 May 1800 at St. James’s, Bath. They had one son. Catherine Burt’s death has not been located so it is possible he first married someone else out of county. During the French Revolutionary War, under threat of invasion, he served in the local North Devon militia. His first work, Political and Moral Reflections during Twelve Rambles in London . . . By Amicus Patriae (London 1810) is misdescribed in Watkins, the memoir, and DNB; ignored by ODNB; and unattributed in library catalogues. It was followed by Desultory Reflections on Banks in General . . . By Danmoniensis (1810) and The Consequences of the French Revolution to England (1811) dedicated to Lord Holland. In 1814 he was appointed secretary to the Chamber of Commerce at Portsmouth and published A Review of the Mercantile, Trading and Manufacturing State, Interests, and Capabilities of the Port of Plymouth (1814). He wrote the preface and notes to Nicholas Toms Carrington’s (q.v.) Dartmoor (1826). Two works were published posthumously: Observations on the Curiosities of Nature(1836) and the work listed here, Christianity: A Poem (1835), to which his nephew, Major Thomas Seymour Burt, prefixed a memoir which included an extensive list of Burt’s manuscripts in his possession. He died at Briton Side, Plymouth, on 1 Sept. 1826 and was buried at St. Andrew’s, Plymouth. (ODNB 11 June 2023; DNB; “A Biographical Memoir,” Christianity; A Poem [1835], ix-xxvi; ancestry.co.uk 11 June 2023; findmypast.co.uk 11 June 2023; West Country Poets, 69-70; Watkins, 49; Dorset County Chronicle 14 Sept. 1826) AA