Author: Duncombe, John
Biography:
DUNCOMBE, John (1729-86: ODNB)
Pseudonym Crito
The only child of the writer William Duncombe (1690-1769) and his wife Elizabeth Hughes (d 1736), he was born in London on 29 Sept. 1729 and baptised at St. Andrew’s, Holborn, on 2 Nov. Duncombe was educated at schools in Essex and admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge on 1 July 1745 (BA 1748/9, Fellow 1751-58, MA 1752). He was ordained in 1753 and, in the first of a succession of ecclesiastical posts, he became curate at Sundridge, Kent. Duncombe later became vicar at West Thurrock, Essex; preacher at St. Anne’s, Soho; preacher at Canterbury Cathedral; rector at St. Andrew with St. Mary Bredman in Canterbury; and vicar at Herne near Canterbury. He was also the domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. On 20 Apr. 1761 at St. Anne’s, Soho, he married Susanna Highmore, daughter of the painter Joseph Highmore and his wife Susanna, a writer. They had four children but only one, Ann Maria (1765-1825), survived infancy. Duncombe was a friend of William Cowper (q.v.). He was a prolific writer and his publications included contributions to GM (as “Crito”), translations from Latin, and editions. An Evening Contemplation in a College, a parody of Thomas Gray’s Elegy (q.v.), was published in 1753 and Duncombe’s Feminiad, a poem celebrating the achievements of British women poets including Susanna Highmore, appeared in 1754. Duncombe suffered a stroke in June 1785 and he died at home on 19 Jan. 1786. He was buried in his church of St. Mary Bredman on 28 Jan. (ODNB 9 Aug. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 9 Aug. 2024; ACAD; CCEd 9 Aug. 2024; Rowland Freeman, Kentish Poets [1821]) SR