Author: GILPIN, Joshua
Biography:
GILPIN, Joshua (c. 1751-1828: findmypast.co.uk)
His age at death was given as 73 which suggests a birth year of about 1755. No records have been located for a man of that name born in 1755 but he might have been the Joshua Gilpin, son of Joshua Gilpin and his wife Elizabeth Parcivall, who was born on 4 Sept. 1751 in Kirkstall, Leeds, Yorkshire. He was baptised in St. Peter’s, Leeds, on 2 Oct. 1751. Nothing is known about his education and ordination. Gilpin became a curate to the Rev. John Fletcher (q.v.) at his parish in Madeley, Shropshire, probably before 1782, the year in which he became vicar at Wrockwardine, Shropshire. He was also an incumbent of Buildwas, Shropshire. Gilpin’s translations of Fletcher’s works from the original French, including the one listed in this bibliography and Portrait of St. Paul (1793; numerous editions), made Fletcher known to an English-speaking audience. Gilpin was interested in the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg and in 1784 he was listed as a member of the Theosophical Society in London. He married Anna Maria Davies in Madeley on 3 Apr. 1784; they had one child, Joshua Rowley Gilpin, who was born on 30 Jan. 1788 in Wrockwardine. Joshua, the son, died of tuberculosis on 9 Sept. 1806 and Gilpin published A Monument of Affection to a Dear and Only Son in 1808; it became the title by which he was best known in his lifetime. Anna Maria died in Nov. 1814 and on 6 Dec. 1815 Gilpin married Jane Wadkiss (1773-1856) at Wrockwardine. Gilpin is credited with having improved the church at Wrockwardine and with maintaining both a small orchestra and a choir. Church records show that he was a good preacher but had a weak voice and drew only a small congregation. Gilpin died in Apr. 1828 and was buried in the churchyard on 28 Apr. His will was proved on 16 Aug. 1828 and, after a number of bequests, left his property to his second wife. Gilpin’s other works include Select Psalms and Hymns for the Use of Churches (1811?), The Pilgrim’s Progress…a New and Corrected Edition (1811), Practical Discourses (1817), and Twenty-One Discourses, Delivered in the Parish Church of Wrockwardine (1827). (ancestry.co.uk 29 Aug. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 29 Aug. 2024; William White, Emanuel Swedenborg [1868]; CCEd 29 Aug. 2024; J. Gilpin, A Monument of Affection [1808]; “Wrockwardine: Church” in British History Online 29 Aug. 2024)