Author: Garratt, Thomas
Biography:
GARRATT, Thomas (1796-1841: “Memoir”)
He was born on 22 Feb. 1796 and baptised at St. Michael’s Baddesley, Warwickshire, on 10 Mar., the second of at least twelve children of Thomas Garratt, a small farmer and butcher, and his wife Anne White, who had married in 1793. He was educated at the village school and by the local vicar, John Adamthwaite, DD (1745-1819), who was so impressed by him that he offered to prepare him for the ministry. Charles Forshaw, his later editor, states that he eloped to Scotland with Adamthwaite’s independently wealthy niece and ward (Ann Cooper),and married her there but it appears they married at Kingsbury, Warwickshire, on 20 July 1818. They had a child, John Adamthwaite Garratt, who was baptised at Baddesley on 20 Dec. 1821. Mother and child died in childbirth. Forshaw also states that she supported him through two years of study in Edinburgh. He later married Frances Dorothea White on 16 Apr. 1823 at the Cathedral, Manchester. There appears to have been no issue from this marriage. Garratt was awarded an honorary degree (AM) by the King’s College, Aberdeen, in 1825. He was ordained in 1821 and became Curate of Altcar, near Liverpool, before moving to Prestbury, near Manchester (1825-8), Wilmslow, near Manchester, and Christ Church, Southport (1828-9), before becoming Vicar of Audley, Staffs. (1830-41). His wife died 21 on July 1841. He went to London seeking medical attention and died at his brother’s house in Holloway on 9 Dec. 1841. He was buried at Audley next to his wife. Forshaw also mentions a poem published prior to the Original Poems of 1818 and reprinted it: The Batchelor’s Whim; or, The Hermit of Lathom (n.d.). It was listed in the Catalogue of the . . . Manchester Free Library (1864) as a 12-page work printed at Altringham but its whereabouts is now not known. The Contrast of Scripture and Tradition, or Protestantism and Popery: A Poetic and Descriptive Colloquy (1836) reflects Garratt’s long-standing defence of Protestantism against Catholicism which he also explored in prose. A Manual of Christian Faith and Practice (1831) and Duty and Privilege (1835) gather representative discourses and sermons. (“Memoir,” in C. F. Forshaw, ed., The Poetical Works of Thomas Garratt [1892], 1-48; ancestry.co.uk 15 May 2022; findmypast.co.uk 15 May 2022; CCEd 15 May 2022; Chester Courant 22 Apr. 1823; Manchester Courier 31 Dec. 1841; GM Apr. 1842, 447) AA
Other Names:
- the Rev. Thomas Garratt
- Thomas Garratt, Jr.